Strunk white elements of style

Here, succinctly, elegantly and without fuss are the essentials of writing clear, correct English. It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility.

The Elements of Style is a style guide to writing American English , published in numerous editions. The original was written by William Strunk Jr. White greatly enlarged and revised the book for publication by Macmillan in American wit Dorothy Parker said, regarding the book:. If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style.

Strunk white elements of style

Jump to ratings and reviews. Want to read. Rate this book. The Elements of Style. William Strunk Jr. This style manual offers practical advice on improving writing skills. Throughout, the emphasis is on promoting a plain English style. This little book can help you communicate more effectively by showing you how to enliven your sentences. Loading interface About the author. White , author of The Elements of Style Write a Review.

The roads were almost impassable. Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. The writer must therefore, so far as possible, bring together the words, and groups of words, that are related in thought, and keep apart those which are not so related.

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation. Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made. They are marked like this in the text. The original text appears when hovering the cursor over the marked text. A list of amendments is at the end of the text.

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Strunk white elements of style

The Elements of Style is a style guide to writing American English , published in numerous editions. The original was written by William Strunk Jr. White greatly enlarged and revised the book for publication by Macmillan in American wit Dorothy Parker said, regarding the book:. If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy. Harcourt republished it in page format in

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But in any sentence in which it is a mere clumsy substitute for something simpler, or in which the use of the possessive is awkward or impossible, should of course be recast. The latter sentence is less direct, less bold, and less concise. Avoid fancy words. Stevenson's romances are entertaining, for they are full of exciting adventures. The formula to express the speaker's belief regarding his future action or state is I shall ; I will expresses his determination or his consent. Another hackneyed word; like factor it usually adds nothing to the sentence in which it occurs. The word walking refers to the subject of the sentence, not to the woman. Amazon Payment Products. It is of course equally correct to write the above as two sentences each, replacing the semicolons by periods. Author books k followers. All three examples show the weakness inherent in the word not. For those who are worried about the pedantry of writing, this book is mostly about grammar and what can be more effective in using the English language. The candidate who best meets these requirements will obtain the place. Frequently bought together. In summarizing the action of a drama, the writer should always use the present tense.

Grammarians rejoice!

For example, take the first sentence from His Dark Materials by my favorite author, Philip Pullman: Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening Hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. See also "prescriptivist poppycock" tag : other postings on the subject by Pullum, Mark Liberman , and others. If the summary is in the present tense, antecedent action should be expressed by the perfect; if in the past, by the past perfect. But these uses of so equivalent to accordingly or to so that are somewhat colloquial and should, as a rule, be avoided in writing. In this sentence, what the writer cannot imagine is Lincoln himself, in the act of refusing his assent. Note that if the second clause is preceded by an adverb, such as accordingly , besides , then , therefore , or thus , and not by a conjunction, the semicolon is still required. Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good. The line is sometimes difficult to draw; doubtless plays are divided into acts, but poems are composed of stanzas. But I was in for a rude awakening when I asked myself how I had to speak as impeccably as grammar Nazis do, the phrase I was not yet aware of. I also didn't like the imperative manner in which it was written. The Chronicle of Higher Education. What he says and his way of saying it are equally rewarding.