Grace and style are elements of composition rarely demanded by teachers or developed by students. Since both terms are elusive to define and because asking students to make attempts at grace and style can have unappealing results, perhaps vigor is a better element to encourage students to pursue. Vigor does not outlaw graceful flourishes and stylistic turns as long as they serve a purpose. Vigor does outlaw the distraction of frills. Vigor is grace uncluttered, style undisguised. Reading aloud for rhythm and resonance is one way teachers can attune students to vigorous prose. Another is to teach them the oral stress points in a sentence. Teachers can also emphasize parallel constructions and how they help guide reader expectations. Experimenting with sentences by changing diction, deleting or transforming various elements, recombining "kernel" sentences, and imitating an original sentence will give students a sense of the different effects of the same sentence constructed in various ways. Finally, if style is choice among optional words and structures, students should not be constrained by blanket composition rules. Grace and style are not elements that can be taught as such, but these suggestions may help students begin to acquire them. (HTH)