The Elements of Style (4th Edition)

How does one account for authoritative advice on writing style? While styles of writing vary according to each writer's own preference some guidelines are inevitable to enhance writing clearer for readers. William Strunk's The Elements of Styles has been loved and considered to be one of authoritative manual for writers on this regard. Now deceased former English professor of Cornell University, Strunk provided writers eleven rules of usage (chapter one) and eleven principles of composition (chapter two) along with few other tips and reminders in the rest of the book. Thus Strunk's central claim for clarity of writing comes from concision and precision. However since it has been more than fifty years it was first published, should Strunk's assertions considered to be still valid? Has it praised with sacrifice of creativity? Beginning with a brief summary this review will examine several critical issues addressed in the book such as "should passive voice indicative verb be avoided at all cost?" [Summary] "Vigorous writing is concise...., but that every word tell" E.B. White who became the coauthor who expanded Strunk's work called this as "master[ly] Strunkian elaboration" (xv). The authors of Element of Style not only obsessed with words but also pleaded writers not to waste any word. Their calling of writers to concise and precise writing has been appealing for half century. They begin Style from specific rules of guidance to broad and thematic traits for composition. Readers learn about how to use commas for listings, how to write dates and common abbreviations, use of restrictive clauses, when to break clauses--and how to break them--, why one should not use `s (apostrophe s) when related to Moses and Jesus but use it in other cases even if the word ends in -s. Then in the second chapter the authors toned down a little dealing with principles of English composition. Unlike the first chapter, which originally had seven rules but expanded into eleven, this chapter preserved its original eleven principles from Strunk. He suggested principles that many of them now became a kind of norm for most academic writings: begin a paragraph with a topic sentence; use positive language; use definite, specific, and concrete language if available; avoid a successive loose construction; group conjunctions in similar tone; keep related word together, and also keep the same tense throughout if possible; push your emphasis toward the end of a sentence. In the next three chapters White tried to catch time by supplementing recent and relevant materials to consider for modern writers. Few matters of form (chapter 3) is a culmination of writing tips that can only be found in fragments in various sources. Chapter four "Misused Words and Expressions" so useful that even Grammar Girl often makes reference to some of them. What could have been lacking for a clear writing in 1950s has been supplemented by these last three chapters through White's revision, and even critical readers cannot deny their usefulness to find information in one book. [Critical Evaluation] The unseen success of Style motivated many similar works to follow. Probably three more well-known classics followed its success would be John R. Trimble's Writing with Style, William Zinsser's On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, and Joseph M. Williams' (or Williams's) Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Tremble began stressing that writing is a simple conversation between author and his reader. He emphasized, unless Strunk, importance of personal characteristic and creative style of the author which readers appreciate more than rigid style. Giving more authority to readership seemed to continue in the field of giving advice for writing, as if some writers were unhappy with Strunk, with a new book from Zinsser writing is something that cannot be contained in rules and principles but endless craftsmanship. Nevertheless, next two decades from 1980s toward the beginning of the new millennium more students became incompetent in their writing styles and such a tendency called for more strict guidelines. Another huge success of Style by Joseph Williams questions if writing is another discipline to be learned and followed under certain equations like mathematics or it is a privileged realm of some people naturally know how to write well. Strunk and other authors do not necessarily compete each other to push across their thesis, but writers--who are main readers of their works--still struggle to find clear advice on their writings. It is only a matter of degree whether this confusion would be greater without works like Strunk or even with it. Overall in many ways Strunk's work cannot be avoided or neglected for any serious writer, because he not only proposed a specific way to a better writing. It was a bold--if not audacious--thesis that he brought into discussion in the first place. It has been useful to students, publishers, editors, and other professional writers, and now with lack of literary competency of new generation of students its need seems to be imperative again. With wide spread of Internet usage someone, like Strunk, must tell students "do's and don'ts" for their poor writings for Internet totally substituted personalized jargons with words with concision and precision. That said, I think that few things suggested in the book should be scrutinized more critically such as use of the first person pronoun (e.g., "I" in this sentence), passive voice indicative verb (e.g., "be scrutinized"), gender-neutral pronouns, and splitting of infinitives. Especially the use of an active voice verb seems imperative in writing for it is preferred and suggested by all writers discussed above. Strunk and White asserted, "The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive." Their central claim for Style seems to cohere with this point as well. However, if readers seems to deserve more elaborated description about the passive, because these authors are not arguing for all writings but from general perspective. Such as writing for the field of science, legal, politics, history and any disciplines require unbiased and rational fact-report should allow passive voice, if not even prefer it, to be equal option for composition. And (by the way this would be another strike for common rules of writing to begin with a conjunction "and") the Bible has this strong passive called theological passive that whenever the agent is God the Scripture uses passive even omitting the subject. For example, the beatitudes in Matthew 5 are all in this theological passive yet no one ever complains it weaker than active. Readers tend to consider it warranted that Strunk's Style lists absolute rules, but authors do not seem to profess that. Therefore, readers should read Style critically just like any other books they read thus. Conclusion "Little book" as Style is first called even through revisions it remains little in size, but its impact and challenge have grown to be undeniable in many excellent writings. The unexpected harmony and partnership of Strunk and White's have fulfilled their central claim successfully, namely clarity of writing still comes from concision and precision. However, it is readers's (or readers') duty to read everything, even Style critically, and henceforth rather than considering their rules and principles as rigid laws they should follow them as accompanying guidelines for their writings. And that is what I do whenever I write something with desire to fully craft for it to be recognized with excellence.

I should have had this book during my grad student years while I taught a technical writing course for engineers. The full time instructor spontaneously vanished, so myself and another teaching assistant were left to teach the class with only a syllabus and a lame textbook. For about a year and a half I taught that course and was convinced it was impossible to teach grammar - but I didn't have the right tool. I changed the syllabus repeatedly, whittling away and some larger goal that I couldn't define. I just couldn't get the difference between active and passive speech through their heads (among other things), so I settled for the tried and true Intro-Body-Conclusion ten pager essay and graded them on format and execution. I tried to use context to pull them out of poor habits, but I still had paper titles like "The Internet in the United State's" (sic). Some time later, when I was doing research, writing papers, and beginning my thesis work, a light went off in my head. I remembered an internship I had where my mentor told me to pick up a copy of a writing handbook, and for some reason I kept thinking "Charlotte's Web?" in my head. I Googled the book and eventually found Strunk and White. The day I got it I instantly recognized its value. Tucked away in this short and concise little book are gold nuggets of information. Besides the well known tips about prepositions and run ons, there are well-written examples of commonly misused words, such as "comprise" and "effectual". The examples are hilarious and perfectly suited for instruction. The book is not a disorganized lump of opinions about writing style, rather it is well sorted with bold and italics to set off rules and lists about certain elements of style that should be considered by any writer. I give this book as a gift to anybody taking on a writing endeavor, and I keep my own copy on my bookshelf at work. I was tempted to put "As a matter of fact (comma)" at the beginning of the previous sentence, but Strunk would slap my hand for that. It is a useless phrase that adds no value to the sentence. At work, we are constantly writing technical reports and proposals and I often reach for this book when I'm attempting to clean up my mental-fatigued ramblings. I should have had this book in my teaching years, and if I could go back, I'd pay for all of the books myself if it meant the kids would keep their copy for their personal collection. On a practical note, buy this book in addition to "The Little, Brown Handbook" by Fowler. Between the two of them you will be well equipped to tackle the complexities of technical or descriptive writing.

E.B. White, author of Charlotte's Web, was introduced to The Elements of Style when he was a student at Cornell. It was the required text for English 8, a course taught by the author and printer of the book, William Strunk Jr. Strunk called it "the little book," an apt label for a book of forty three pages. Thirty-eight years later, around 1957, Macmillan asked White to revise the little book for publication. This was a good move. Now, after fifty four more years, Strunk & White's book is still one of the best selling writing guides on the market. There's a fourth edition, a fiftieth anniversary edition, even an illustrated edition. I suspect that as long as there are writers and publishers, there will be more editions. The New York Times says that, "It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility." I bought my first copy of The Elements of Style in 1995. It was required reading for my college art history course. Though I skimmed through it and recognized some merit, I wasn't interested in writing and sold it back at the end of the semester. Years later, I bought another copy which I read at least once a year. If there is anything good about my writing, I owe it to this book and one other. My copy is quite marked. Some highlights have so faded that I've had to highlight them again. As I completed my annual reading last week, I realized how much difference there is between highlighting a passage and learning it. If I could just remember the advice in those marked passages half the time, I would be on my way to clear writing. Anyway, here are some of my favorite excerpts: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." "Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, noncommittal language." "The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style--all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity." "Writing good standard English is no cinch, and before you have managed it you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit."

This is the best book on style, or even writing in general, that there is or ever will be on the market. Why? Because it follows its own rules. Strunk, the original author, wrote 22 general rules of usage and composition (or style when put together), and writes all of them with conviction and even a little humor to lighten up something that has always been a stuffy, that being the English language. With the exception of the last chapter, added by E.B. White much later in the lifeline of this book, Strunk's original work was a cool 60 to 70 pages long. Yet it covers everything needed for a writer to get a grasp on his or her own personal style. If you're an aspiring writer, then you should have this book. If you don't, then get it immediately. If ever there was a book that was as important to writing as the pen and paper was, this is definitely the one. This is the original, and every over-sized style book to date has failed miserably at what this "little book" (as Strunk and White refer to this book as) has achieved. It's easy to reference, it covers everything needed, and it's concise in all its points. And, once again, it follows its own rules, as you shall see when you read this book.

This book contains many helpful tips to improve your writing. It is useful to anyone that is looking to strengthen any aspect of their writing. I have used this book in high school for AP English courses and in college for an advanced composition course. It has proved useful in both cases. It works great as a quick reference to clear up any questions from how to use certain words or phrases properly to when or when not to use a comma and much much more. With each rule explained there are multiple examples to help the reader better understand how to implement that rule into their own writing.

Have you ever experienced a book that left you feeling gangly? I have read many technical books and prefer content to be concise and complete. Typical content consequently often involves boredom and loss of interest. Wording that adds to the subject but maintains attention is a fantastic find. The unfortunate reality is often content fluff that adds nothing more than entertainment or reads like medical transcriptions. Content loaded with fluff leaves me feeling as if I have learned the subject's core but have been stretched thin on fully understanding anything outside the core. Imagine a doll made of rubber. Content loaded with fluff expands the doll, but it is much like stretching its limbs instead of building the doll into a well rounded robust figure. You are left with a doll that has worn its elasticity and covers more area, but it is hardly improved. The Elements of Style is a condensed set of rules and examples diagnosing tendencies in modern writing and how to cut them down to size. Cutting content down isn't about removing all sense of individualism but rather respecting the reader's time providing them with what they want to know without fluff. Style is a different concept entirely. There is no set of rules stating writing has to be boring, dull, or condensed soup. This guide provides a good set of principles that allow you to convey your meaning and sound human. Respect your readers. Write concisely with a great degree of accuracy and have fun with it. Get this book and learn how you can deliver all of these things and be loved for it.

Learn so fast, but the idea is all users have to avión needle words. My friend And I read all the book is complete

"Omit Needless Words! Omit Needless Words! Omit Needless Words!" {Introduction, XV] The New Yorker was right, "The book remains a nonpareil: direct, correct, and delightful." In the Introduction, E.B. White relates an experience of being in Mr. Strunk's classroom. (see above) "Vigorous writing is concise." This quote and exhortation - as seen in the book's inside flap - was well worth the price of the book. {Buy the book, and see the inside flap}. :) I have noticed an improvement in my writing skills already. The story of how this book came to be republished and revised, coupled with Mr. White's impression of the author, makes an indelible impression on the reader, and sets the tone of the book as a whole. ... Page 83 admits, "language is perpetually in flux: it is a living stream, shifting, changing... losing old forms in the backwaters of time." So while "style" remains subjective and the "elements" are clearly explained throughout, this book remains a great start for those of us who wish to master the art of written communication.

大学院の時の恩師から紹介された英文の書き方。90ページほどのサイズにコンパクトに凝縮された内容は暗記できるほど。博士論文に取り組む学生へのプレゼントとして最適。

Excellent

Timeless, excellent guide to writing with economy and style. Highly reccomended.

Helping for editors

Incredibly useful little book for anyone wanting to improve his/hers English writing. Concise and to the point, this book will help you make sense of your current knowledge and provide sound advice on just about anything that you may encounter in English writing. Although the book can be read in one or two sittings, try reading a chunk at a time and observe what you learned in actual writings from other sources or even the book itself. Only thing I could complain about is that my hardcover copy came wrapped with not so usable dust cover and now I am left with a rather dull looking book. If you are looking for a nice looking hardback, you should probably stay away from this edition, but then again, you should also try reading the book instead of looking at its covers!