More than ever in this completely updated edition, The Elements of
Expression helps word users light up the cosmos or the written page or
the face across the table as they seek the radiance of
expressiveness--the vivid expression of thoughts, feelings, and
observations. Nothing kills radiance like the murky, generic language
dominating today's talk, airwaves, and posts. It tugs at our every
sentence, but using it to express anything beyond the ordinary is like
flapping the tongue to escape gravity.
The Elements of Expression offers an adventurous and inspiring flight
into words that truly share what's percolating in our minds. Here
writers, presenters, students, bloggers--even well intentioned Mad
Men--will discover language to convey precise feelings, move audiences,
delight and persuade. No snob or scold, the acclaimed word-maven Arthur
Plotnik explores the full range of expressiveness, from playful tough
talk to finely wrought literature, with hundreds of rousing examples.
Confessing that we are all like a squid in its ink when first groping
for luminous expression, he shines his amiable wit on the elements
leading, ultimately, to language of fissionable intensity.