The Elements of Style – Strunk and White’s book is probably the most widely cited books on elegant writing. It is short and pithy, living up to its own rule ‘omit needless words’. It covers American usage which is less bothersome for us Brits than you’d think, in part because American non-fiction prose shares a directness and precision with the best American literature. The English, trying to be clever, often over-egg the pudding and this book is a good recipe against that. It has two other advantages. It is short and it is pocketsize – a good choice for a train journey.
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Thanks for flagging up the Strunk & White “Elements of Style” book, which I was actually contemplating buying from Amazon yesterday. But have you read the introductory ‘blurb’ on the Amazon website that was written by (I assume) someone at Amazon? The punctuation is absolutely appalling! It’s so bad you that one feels like hitting the writer over the head with a copy of “Elements of Style” repeatedly! He or she should take a leaf out of the book of the 12 reviewers who have written so much more elegantly about the book.
Before anyone points out the grammatical mistake in my first ‘response’, the fourth sentence should of course have been: “It’s so bad that one feels like hitting the writer over the head with a copy of “Elements of Style” repeatedly!” (Shame there isn’t a “review text before submitting” web page, to double-check for any mistakes or spelling errors!)
You know I love your blog, Matthew, but I am much less enthusiastic than you are about Strunk and White. I find that The Elements of Style too often leans toward academic stuffiness and away from practicality. For example, a William Faulkner sentence containing the words “gutful,” “mendicant,” and “thrall” is described by Strunk and White as using “ordinary” words. Ordinary to Strunk and White, maybe, but not to me, or most readers.
Take the subjective with a grain, take the objective as gospel.
S. T.
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