The Paramedic Method from Richard A. Lanham, Revising Prose

1. Circle the prepositions.

2. Circle the "is" forms.

3. Ask: "Where's the action?" "Who's kicking who?"

4. Put this kicking verb in a simple (not compound) active verb.

5. Start fast-no slow windups.

6. Write out each sentence on a blank sheet of paper and mark off its basic rhythmic units with a "/".

7. Read the passage aloud with emphasis and feeling.

8. Mark off sentence lengths in the passage with a "/".

More Work with the Paramedic Method

• Some uses of Style
• Exercises for Revising Prose (password protected)
• Ron Scheer, Web-Writing Workshop: How to Make Writing Come Alive
• Richard Lanham's Company, Rhetorica, Inc.

Further Reading

• Richard A. Lanham, The Electronic Word (a sample chapter)
• ---. "Technology, Scholarship, and the Humanities: The Implications of Electronic Information"
• ---. ECi