
A Way With Words
Style in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
John Marsh(Author)
The University of Michigan Press
Will be published approx. on 27. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
166 pages
978-0-472-04007-0 (ISBN)
Description
A Way with Words helps readers learn the essentials of writing. Rather than lecturing about when to use who or whom, this book focuses on writing clear, concise, and lively prose: eliminating wordiness, using active verbs, avoiding run-on sentences. John Marsh applies his experience grading over 5,000 essays over a quarter century as a teacher to take readers through the issues he most commonly sees. While Marsh teaches in the humanities, the advice applies to writing regardless of discipline.
Using examples from papers students might actually write, the book invites readers to apply what they have learned to quizzes that mix and match issues-vague pronouns, sentence fragments, punctuating quotations-from previous chapters. The book includes a thoughtful discussion about balancing the competing demands of writing well and fighting linguistic discrimination. Finally, A Way with Words prompts readers to consider what artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT and Bard will mean for student writing. It offers advice about how writers can distinguish their writing from the assembly-line writing that artificial intelligence tends to generate, and how they can develop their style to stand out to their teachers, employers, and clients.
Using examples from papers students might actually write, the book invites readers to apply what they have learned to quizzes that mix and match issues-vague pronouns, sentence fragments, punctuating quotations-from previous chapters. The book includes a thoughtful discussion about balancing the competing demands of writing well and fighting linguistic discrimination. Finally, A Way with Words prompts readers to consider what artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT and Bard will mean for student writing. It offers advice about how writers can distinguish their writing from the assembly-line writing that artificial intelligence tends to generate, and how they can develop their style to stand out to their teachers, employers, and clients.
Reviews / Votes
"This work is a must for budding writers or beginning college students who want their writing to be its best. It may also help advanced English-language learners write more succinctly and with purpose." * Maria Ashton-Stebbings, Library Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Target group
Children/juvenile
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-472-04007-0 (9780472040070)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Marsh is Professor of English and Director of the Center for American Literary Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Content
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
A Difficult Dilemma: On Concision
Passive Aggressive: On the Active and Passive Voice
Lights, Camera, Action Verbs!
Lost Connections: Modifiers, Parallelism, Transitions, and Vague Pronouns
Better Late Than Never: On Cliches
The Art of Joinery: Fragments, Run-Ons, and the Oxford Comma
The Long and Short of It: On Sentence Variety
Pretentious Diction: On the Sesquipedalian
Conventions
Inclusion
Putting It All Together: Quizzes
Answers to Exercises
Answers to Quizzes
Notes
Preface
Introduction
A Difficult Dilemma: On Concision
Passive Aggressive: On the Active and Passive Voice
Lights, Camera, Action Verbs!
Lost Connections: Modifiers, Parallelism, Transitions, and Vague Pronouns
Better Late Than Never: On Cliches
The Art of Joinery: Fragments, Run-Ons, and the Oxford Comma
The Long and Short of It: On Sentence Variety
Pretentious Diction: On the Sesquipedalian
Conventions
Inclusion
Putting It All Together: Quizzes
Answers to Exercises
Answers to Quizzes
Notes