TABLE OF CONTENTS There's almost no more beautiful sight than a simple declarative sentence.
WILLIAM ZINSSER, Writing with a Word Processor (1983)
Quite aside from format and style, mathematical writing is supposed to say something. Put another way: the number of ideas divided by the number of pages is supposed to be positive.
J. L. KELLEY, Writing Mathematics (1991)
Let us not deceive ourselves. "There is no God but Allah" is a more gripping sentence than Mohammed (also Mahomet, Muhammad; 570?-632) asserted a doctrine of unqualified monotheism ( suras 8, 22, 33-37, 89, 91, Koran).
MARY-CLAIRE VAN LEUNEN, A Handbook for Scholars (1992)
I am about to or I am going to die; either expression is used.
DOMINIQUE BONHOURS [4] (on his deathbed)
One should not aim at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.
QUINTILLIAN
In this chapter I discuss aspects of English usage that are particularly relevant to mathematical writing. You should keep three things in mind as you read this chapter. First, on many matters of English usage rules have exceptions, and, moreover, not all authorities agree on the rules. I have consulted several usage guides (those described in 2.2) and have tried to give a view that reflects usage in writing today. Second, about half the topics discussed here are not peculiar to the English language, but simply reflect common sense in writing. Third, many of the points mentioned are not vitally important...
