What is Style

Style of writing is should be different depending on what is being written, who it is being written for and also who is the author of the piece. For example, Earnest Hemingway had a style that was very journalistic even when writing novels. Style can allow the writer to put their own voice into the piece.

Despite that Style still is very dependent on what is being written and to who. A large research paper is clearly going to have a more formal style then a short opinion response paper. Much in the same way that a letter to my best friend will be much more casual then a letter sent to my grandmother which may be more casual then the letter which I send to my boss.

Each piece of writing has its own style. A newspaper article should sound for the most part like a newspaper article and not read like a novel, or research paper. Those have their own style and their own requirements.

While style provides some guidelines it should never be forgotten that it is first and foremost subjective to the writer and the reader. Making style difficult to judge and teach because there is not a single answer.