The Sense of Style

Just as Chapter 4 detailed how words become sentences, Chapter 5 explains how “arcs of coherence” link meaning from sentence to sentence, and paragraph to paragraph, allowing the reader to continually understand the connections between each piece of information. Clear syntax, Pinker observes, can only take a writer so far; even beautiful sentences need coherent, overarching connections to create a meaningful passage.

Textual organization can take many forms. Many writers first create an outline on a piece of paper, using dashes to order their notes. Other writers prefer to order information using index cards, which can be moved around and joined depending on the connections between the subtopics. Whatever the strategy, Pinker insists that all writing must be organized somehow, ideally by laying an “intuitive trail” through the subject matter (143).

To write coherently, writers must first clearly announce their topic. Pinker refers to a study that showed that readers understood and remembered texts that had clearly stated topics near the beginning, but struggled to recall information if there was no topic sentence included, or if it came afterward. Soon after announcing their topic, writers should also explicitly state the point of their work, telling the reader whether they are explaining the subject generally or making a particular argument about it.

Pinker illustrates how arcs of coherence work on both the macro and micro levels through a close reading of a short article from a local newspaper on the winter activities of herons. He describes the elements that make the essay clear, coherent, and—for Pinker, at least—enjoyable to read. The author of the essay, a bird enthusiast named Mike O’Connor, describes herons as interesting actors who do different things; each sentence logically builds on the meaning of the previous one, and the writer creates varied sentence structure to keep the reader’s interest.

Pinker quotes 18th-century philosopher David Hume, who says that ideas are connected through three main principles: “Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect” (160). In a “resemblance relation” the writer asks readers to see either the similarities or the differences between things. To do so effectively, writers must make clear what is being compared and use conjunctions to emphasize either the similarity or the difference. “Contiguity” refers to a “before-and-after sequence,” and Pinker advises writers to describe events in chronological order to ensure they are easily understandable (164).

In the final section of the chapter, Pinker examines a paragraph written by military historian John Keegan. Unlike the essay on herons, Keegan’s paragraph is, for Pinker, an example of what happens when arcs of coherence are missing. Close examination of what at first appears coherent reveals a text riddled with ambiguity and contradictions. If, as Pinker argues, writers create coherence by intentionally building an “impression” for their reader through “clear and plausible negation, a sense of proportion, and thematic consistency,” confusing negations—such as those he locates in Keegan’s writing—can puzzle a reader and make the writer’s point unclear (171). Pinker recommends that writers remedy this by first revealing what the reader might think is true, and then negating it as specifically as possible. Writers can achieve a sense of proportion by dedicating lengthier discussions to the points that are the most important to their argument, thereby directing more of the reader’s attention to these significant points. Finally, a writer can achieve thematic consistency by referring to their themes in a consistent way throughout their work, using the same words to refer to their themes and regularly connecting their points back to their themes. The author concludes this chapter by reminding the reader that bias may hinder their ability to write coherently, and they must remember to make connections and themes clear to their reader. He reiterates that to write coherently, writers must plan out their ideas and present them with intention and an eye for detail.