...out of the passage in a distracting way, like a dead fish on the living room sofa. According to Ford, "too startling words, however apt, too just images, too great displays of cleverness" broke the momentum of what was being said. So Conrad and he replaced the startling words with humbler...

...is 'to make work interesting', and a style interests when 'it carries the reader along'. Conversely: Too startling words, however apt, too just images,...most over-used words or the most jog-trot cadences. (JC I 93l How much does the reader, 'carried along', actually notice of the paragraph first quoted?...