Style
Levels of Formality
Informal (Low) sort of irritated couldn't didn't a whole lot of
Medium?
Medium somewhat irritated could not did not much
Formal (high)?
Formal (high) agitated unable lacking sufficient
- Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage by Muriel Harris, 240-41
Use figures of speech such as similes, metaphors and analogies to make memorable comparisons.*
But note Strunk and White's caution:
The simile is a common device and a useful one, but similes coming in rapid fire, one right on top of another, are more distracting than illuminating. Readers need time to catch their breath; they can't be expected to compare everything with something else, and no relief in sight.
When you use metaphor, do not mix it up. That is, don't start by calling something a swordfish and end by calling it an hourglass.
Elements of Style, 80
Use powerful and precise modifiers. In most cases, one strong word is better than several weaker ones (freezing rather than very cold; doltish rather than not very bright).
Strunk and White echo this philosophy:
Avoid the use of qualifiers.
Rather, very, little, pretty--these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then (73).
Write with nouns and verbs.
Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place. This is not to disparage adjectives and adverbs; they are indispensable parts of speech. Occasionally they surprise us with their power. . . . In general, however, it is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give good writing its toughness and color (71-72).
*Text in red is from How to Write Anything by John J. Ruszkewicz and Jay Dolmage, 17-18.