: Re: How are different writing styles/voices possible? It seems that writing style varies from author to author, and from work to work, but how does the English language allow for so many different

@Bryan361

Vote Up Vote Down

Because of the phenomenon of combinatorial explosion.
Suppose you know just 100 words. You decide to write a sentence that is 10 words long. You could write 100^10 possible sentences, or 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 -- 100 quintillion. Of course the vast majority of those would be meaningless gibberish; I don't know how you'd calculate how many possible MEANINGFUL sentences. But surely billions or more. And in real life you surely know more than 100 words, and sentences are not all the same length.
You can use common words or technical words. You can use strong words or mild words. You can ask questions or make statements. You can use short sentences or long sentences. You can give detail or be general. Etc etc. There are many ways to vary your tone.
Just for example, consider:

Bob thought that Sally was pretty and he liked her.

compared to

Bob was overwhelmed with awe at Sally's beauty, he couldn't imagine a more beautiful creature existing in the universe, and he determined that he would do whatever it took to possess her totally.

Both are basically the same idea, but the first is short and clinical while the second is verbose and flowery.
Or:

The car failed to start because of vapor lock.
The car failed to start because it hates me.

One is scientific and testable, the other is emotional and subjective.
Etc. One could go on indefinitely with a game like this.

(0)

Login to post a comment!