writing styles

Clive wrote:

Hi, what does individual writing style mean?? Here are two brief thoughts on this. Show me 6 anonymous pieces of writing, of which one is by my wife. I will be able to tell you which one my wife wrote. Two people write about a sunset. One piece of writing makes you cry. Yhe other makes you feel nothing special at all. Best wishes, Clive

How does one change their writing style so that noone recognizes your writing style?? Are there websited that you know of can help in doing that?? Thank you

People can change their writing style if they write for a different purpose. When I write fiction, my writing tends to be very tongue-in-cheek, and I take a lot of liberties with grammar, using a lot of fragments, especially in dialogue. When I write for work, there isn't any humor (in the final versions, anyway) and I follow a formal writing style. My friends who read a short story might well guess it is mine. My co-workers who read my professional writing would probably not be able to identify it as mine. Yet I have one co-worker who refuses to split infinitives, no matter how awkward the sentence becomes. He also favors certain words, such as "likely" intead of "may." I can usually tell his writing from those of my other co-workers right away.

Rather than thinking about "your" style and whether it's recognizable, think about the purpose of your writing: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, etc. Then think of your audience. Are you writing in a way that will "speak" to them?

I don't know if there are Web sites, but the best thing to do is just WRITE. Then have your friends and colleagues review your writing to see if you're using a style that is appropriate for your purpose and your audience.

Saiing wrote:

I think GG makes some good points. Right now, effective communication and accuracy are more important for you than writing style.  I'm sorry to be a little negative, and please don't be offended, but your first question: "what is individual writing style mean??" contains a fairly simple grammatical error.  It's important to concentrate on this before you even think about developing your style. Writing in a particular style is incredibly difficult for non-native speakers.  I used to teach a postgraduate English writing course for students who were training to be professional translators, and even they stuggled.

The forum experts have very valid points.  Speaking from an “ESL” point of view, one must have a solid foundation with grammar which entails sentence structure, good understanding of word usage and basic grammar.  Style is not something one can learn and master overnight. Though, style can be emulated.  By reading different writers’ work and listening to speech patterns from good speakers, we can merge what we learn into our writing.  I am still learning how to be an effective writer myself.  One obstacle that ESL learners must over come is the thought composing process. One can not expect to develop an effective writing style without developing the ability to think in English first because thoughts and ideas conceived in the learner’s native language often produce confusing results.