A Commonplace Book

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Modern English Usage 8Fowler 9

 

Elegant variation. It is the second-rate writers, those intent rather on expressing themselves prettily than on conveying their meaning clearly, and still more those whose notions of style are based on a few misleading rules of thumb, that are chiefly open to the allurements of elegant variation. ... The fatal influence ... is the advice given to young writers never to use the same word twice in a sentence -- or within 20 lines or other limit.
-- Henry W. Fowler. Modern English Usage. (1926)
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