Part Four: Style

Style is concerned with the selection and ordering of words to create effect. Classical rhetoric treats style as distinct from invention and arrangement, but there are many parallels.

Style As Expression

In its most fundamental form, style determines how ideas are expressed. This can be plainly, vividly, with rhetorical flourish, etc..

Word choice, the difference between “walk” and “stride”, determines not only specificity but tone, and is highly dynamic.

As far a arrangement, the order in which words appear alters emphasis. Compare: “The fire burned” vs. “Burned(,) the fire.”

As well, style is often inclusive of cadence where sentence length and structure influence delivery.

At the simplest level, young learners engage with style intuitively, choosing between “big dog” and “huge hound” based on instinct rather than formal instruction. And by the time a student moves into logic, style becomes a tool for argumentation, shaping not just meaning but effect of articulation. Rhetoric, in turn, refines style for persuasion.

Issues that often arise around style:

  • redundancy, or applications that reduce the effect of the writing (the huge, enormous, very super big bear).

  • if simple writing reduces variation in sense at the cost of the argument, the writing can be said to be "flat".

  • errors in style can lead to disordered syntax, internal (particular) logical mistakes, and misalignment of variation of repetition

Conclusion

Style may be better viewed today as an extension of grammar rather than an isolated study. As in many other parts of the Trivium, stylistic awareness was oft developed through imitation of well-structured language, whether through literature or formal exercises, as well as through memorization. The Trivium’s approach had the benefit of not imposing artificial styling, but allowing it to emerge naturally from competence.