CHAPTER 2 Strategy and Style Purpose,the end you're aiming at,determines strategy and style.Strategy involves choice-selectingparticular aspects of a topic to develop,deciding how to organize them,choosing this word rather than that,constructing various types of sen- tences,building paragraphs.Style is the result of strategy,the language that makes the strategy work. Think of purpose,strategy,and style in terms of increasing abstractness.Style is immediate and obvious.It exists in the writing itself,it is the sum of the actual words,sentences, paragraphs.Strategy is more abstract,felt beneath the words as the immediate ends they serve.Purpose is even deeper, supporting strategy and involving not only what you write about but how you affect readers. A brief example will clarify these overlapping concepts.It was written by a college student in a fifteen-minuteclassroom exercise.The several topics from which the students could choose were stated broadly-"marriage,""parents,""teach- ers,"and so on-so that each writer had to think about re- stricting and organizing his or her composition.This student chose "marriage": Why get married?Or if you are modern,why live together?Answer: Insecurity."Man needs woman;woman needs man."However,thisCHAPTER 2 Strategy and Style Purpose, the end you're aiming at, determines strategy and style. Strategy involves choice—selecting particular aspects of a topic to develop, deciding how to organize them, choosing this word rather than that, constructing various types of sen￾tences, building paragraphs. Style is the result of strategy, the language that makes the strategy work. Think of purpose, strategy, and style in terms of increasing abstractness. Style is immediate and obvious. It exists in the writing itself; it is the sum of the actual words, sentences, paragraphs. Strategy is more abstract, felt beneath the words as the immediate ends they serve. Purpose is even deeper, supporting strategy and involving not only what you write about but how you affect readers. A brief example will clarify these overlapping concepts. It was written by a college student in a fifteen-minute classroom exercise. The several topics from which the students could choose were stated broadly—"marriage," "parents," "teach￾ers," and so on—so that each writer had to think about re￾stricting and organizing his or her composition. This student chose "marriage": Why get married? Or if you are modern, why live together? Answer: Insecurity. "Man needs woman; woman needs man." However, this