“To come right out with it, this is a book on rhetoric. Its purpose is to help you in your writing.
“Chances are, you learned how to write-indirectly-from Aristotle. Look up the history of English grammar, composition, and rhetoric teaching; you’ll find that it all started a couple of centuries ago when people first hit upon the idea of teaching English-speaking boys and girls not only Greek and Latin, but English too. Courses and textbooks came into being; naturally, what was taught was simply Greek and Latin grammar and rhetoric, applied to English. Now since all Greek and Latin grammar and rhetoric go straight back to Aristotle (as any encyclopedia will tell you) and since the principles of English teaching are still much the same as they were two hundred years ago, what you were taught in school really comes down from Aristotle.
“So, whether you like it or not, you are an umptieth-generation Aristotelian.”
— Chapter 1: “You and Aristotle”
