Meaning of “Place the emphatic words of a sentence at…”

Placing modifiers and connected elements near one another reduces ambiguity and makes the grammatical relationships in a sentence easier to understand.

Paragraphing is treated as an organizational decision: grouping one developed topic at a time helps readers follow the structure and movement of an argument.

The rule favors direct sentence construction when it makes agency clearer, while the surrounding discussion still allows passive voice when context requires it.

Strunk recommends stating what is true or intended directly when possible instead of making the reader reconstruct the point from repeated negation.

Concrete and specific wording can reduce interpretive work for the reader by replacing vague generalities with language tied to identifiable actions, objects or details.

Conciseness is treated as removal of words that do no useful work, not as a demand that every sentence be short or stripped of necessary detail.