Originating as a classroom study aid prepared by Cornell English Professor William Strunk in 1918, this widely-used desk reference of English usage, form, and style continues to influence writers after a hundred years. EMBED. Fifty years ago this month, Strunk and White's The Elements of Style as we know it today was published,* and in honor of the occasion, the noted linguist and grammarian Geoffrey Pullum has written a scathing review of the book in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled "50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice"; and many people who listen to this podcast or subscribe to my e-mail newsletter have written in to ask what I think. It's hard to argue with that. Mignon Fogarty is the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips and the author of seven books on language, including the New York Times bestseller "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing." Tame the Hyperbole. Comma Rules + Strunk & White Rules 14-21. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Your question requires a two-part answer. Express coordinate ideas in similar form. 5 Timeless Rules of Business Writing from Strunk and White 1. Omit needless words. White’s “The Elements of Style.” One can find any number of writers tearing their hair out over the pair’s influence. The first time I read The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. [2] According to White, Strunk was most passionate about Rule 17, “Omit needless words.” Express coordinate ideas in similar form. Write in a chronological sequence and format in logical sequence (one paragraph: one idea, go from simpler to more complex) White in his edition of Strunk. He was hired to revise the book for re-release after Strunk died, and he nearly doubled the length of the book with his additions. White's endorsement of "The Elements of Style" quickly led his publisher, Macmillan, to ask White to update and expand Strunk's terse primer on grammar and usage. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. Oliver Strunk Contents FOREWORD ix INTRODUCTION xiii I. In 1919, a student named Elwyn Brooks White used the little book in Strunk’s course. The book covers only a small portion of the field of English style, but the experience of its writer … Well, I know many of you love that book, but Pullum backs up every one of his criticisms, for example pointing out that Strunk and White's examples in the "Use Active Voice" section are strangely contrived, and the examples of passive voice sentences aren't actually passive voice sentences. STUDY. She is an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame, and the show is a five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. Use definite, specific, concrete language. Strunk and White contains nearly 100 pages of writing rules. White recalls Strunk as an avid admirer of “the clear, the bold, and the brief,” characteristics the little book embodied. Here is a list of the seven elementary rules of English usage and 11 elementary principles of composition from William Strunk, Jr.'s classic work, The Elements of Style. essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. Learn. Styles Versus Rules. Rule 17. RULE 7 (cont.) Use definite, specific, concrete language. Terms in this set (31) Comma Rule 1. Write. Put Statements in Positive Form. White, I was in high school. White was a brilliant writer; he's the same White who wrote Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, but he wasn't a linguist or grammarian. One of the sternest strictures delivered in Strunk & White's stupid little book is the prohibition on the use of adjectives and adverbs. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas But the thing that makes the book so popular—Strunk's simple bold statements—makes people believe that style choices are actually rules. E. B. Whitegreatly enlarged and revised the book for publication by Macmillan in 1959. 1 Semicolons Use semicolons: 1. to join two independent clauses when the clauses are related (Strunk and White, Rule # 5). Copyright © 2021 Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. We are currently experiencing playback issues on Safari. But because Francine Prose put it on her list of Books to Be Read Immediately and even though she’s currently not comme il faut, I decided to follow her advice. ... red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents. Rules are not my thing. Dear Everybody, On my first day as a speechwriter in 2009, General David Petraeus told me to buy a copy of the The Elements of Style, the classic handbook on English usage by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. Make the paragraph the unit of composition. William Strunk taught English at Cornell and wrote the first version of the book—which was only 43 pages—for his English students at Cornell. 2 … Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. I can forgive a few errors, although after 50 years you'd think someone would have fixed them. You want to know if it is still the case that “Charles’s” is grammatically correct, as prescribed by Strunk and White over fifty years ago. The original was composed by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and published by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled". Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style receives frequent mention in articles about writing.. The numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript. EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item tags) Want more? In first section, “Elementary Rules of Usage,” Strunk, the Cornell University egghead, and White, the author of the beloved children’s books “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little,” move step by step from the smallest details (apostrophes) to greater matters of sentence construction. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's 2. II. Elementary Rules of Usage. She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show. Strunk and White Elements of Style Chapter 1 ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE. William Strunk was a professor of English at Cornell about a hundred years ago, and E.B. Why Would Anyone Use The Chicago Manual of Style. In a sense, the book was his own personal style guide. White. But I have my own beef with “Strunk and White,” which doesn't so much relate to the content, but instead to the hallowed status so many writers give the book. Though a slender book, it contains such priceless wisdom as these 11 Elementary Principles of Composition: From The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE: Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Strunk and White Rules 1-11. It is the case that “Charles’s” is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice. Eligible for Free Shipping. Strunk's rules. Spell. Test. Match. Avoid a succession of loose sentences. Hyperbole has become a mainstay of modern writing, but excessive overstating benefits no one. 1-16 of 91 results for "strunk and white grammar" Skip to main search results Amazon Prime. Index 1. Put statements in positive form. This is also the usage of the Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press. William Strunk, Jr. Flashcards. Despite being a relatively old book the rules in it are timeless, and the writing style of the book itself is … Sign up to receive writing advice, news, and special deals. … That’s a helpful approach to take when one is tempted to chafe against William Strunk Jr. and E.B. This book aims to give in brief space the principal requirementsof plain English style. Strunk and White’s Elementary Rules of Usage (and a Little More) Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ’s. Yet the closing section reminds us (emphasis authors’), “style is the writer, and therefore what you are, rather than what you know, will at last determine your style.” Photo: The writer takes another look at Strunk and White… “These are tools, not rules,” writing coach Roy Peter Clark once said in a lecture to journalists about writing. The complete text of the original Strunk edition is available on the Web site at Columbia University. Incorrect: Chucks’ friend, Jonas’ family, the witches malice. In addition, we list the "reminders" for writers added by E. B. 31 AUGUST 2018 | KAREN KAO. Be Positive!. Elements of Style image courtesy of Wine Press Publishing, Next: White Attempted to Temper the Strunk's Directives. Choose a suitable design and stick to it. I hate broccoli: my mom makes it every day. Strunk & White - The Elements of Style, 4th Edition.pdf (PDFy mirror) Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. White. Correct: Chuck’s friend, Jonas’s family, the witch’s malice. William Strunk, Jr. (1869–1946). Use the active voice. Published April 16, 1959, Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" went on to win critical acclaim … This is much more than a daily affirmation. Quick & Dirty Tips™ and related trademarks appearing on this website are the property of Mignon Fogarty, Inc. and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. White actually just tweaked and arranged publication of the book, which was originally a privately printed text by one of his professors, William Strunk Jr. A style guide is, by definition, a book that in large part prescribes how a writer should treat things that could go either way—style choices. You will find pearls of writing wisdom in these pithy lists by masters of their craft. Strunk and White is a handy quick reference guide for good grammar, style, and layout. Photo credit: Karen Kao. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE 1 1. White.“Follow the rules and apply the principles in that book,” he said. If you would like to listen to the audio, please use Google Chrome or Firefox. Gravity. It’s also known as the best $7 you can spend at Amazon. White is also revered by writers for bringing us The Elements of Style, a classic on the art of writing good prose, in any form. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. II. CrowdenQuiz. “Strunk and White,” as we tend to call it, is one writing text, however neglected over the years, that will never end up in a PTA book sale donation box. Andrew Motion: 10 Techniques to Spark the Writing - Expert writing tips, Annie Proulx: 5 Techniques for Good Craftsmanship - Expert writing tips, Edgar Allan Poe: 5 Essentials for the Betterment of a Story, Elmore Leonard: 10 Rules for Good Writing. Incorrect: Our flag is red, white and blue. Her popular LinkedIn Learning courses help people write better to communicate better. That was the first edition of the so-called Str… Use commas to separate items in a series: words, phrases, subordinate clauses. But the tragedy to me is that “Strunk and White” is the only grammar book so many people have ever studied, and nobody bothered to tell them, or they didn't remember, that the book is largely about style choices, not hard-and-fast rules. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last 3. Does The Elements of Style deserve its hallowed status? In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. Complete English Grammar Rules: Examples, Exceptions, Exercises, and Everything You Need to Master Proper Grammar (The Farlex Grammar Book Book 1) The Elements of Style. Keep related words together. Ex: The days went by slowly; the nights, too, seemed to drag on forever. Even before Pullum's review I gave an interview to Time Out New York in which I noted that the most striking thing about The Elements of Style is that nobody seems to pay attention to the introduction in which White himself undermines much of the book's credibility, or at least takes great pains to point out that the book is not the inerrant grammar ruling of God that so many people seem to think it is. I can forgive a few errors, although after 50 years you'd think someone would have fixed them. Created by. Reader Virginia Sowers writes, “Your article soon had me walking over to my bookshelf to retrieve my yellow-paged, dog-eared and highlighted third edition (1979) from a dusty lower shelf. The Elements of Style by Strunk & White, 4th ed. “It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of … 2. Strunk and White implore writers to make definite statements … It aims to lighten thetask of instructor and student by concentrating attention(in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules ofusage and principles of composition most commonly violated.In accordance with this plan it lays down threerules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more,and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief thatthese four rules provide for all the internal punctuationthat is required by nin… White, later the much-admired author of Charlotte’s Web, … In summaries, keep to one tense. Simply do not use them, they say: "Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs" (The Elements of Style, p. 71). Today's topic is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. 1918. White holds the rare distinction of being admired both by adults, for such breathtaking essays as “Here is New York" and “Once More to the Lake," and by children, for such wondrous stories as “Charlotte's Web" and “Trumpet of the Swan." PLAY. First, Strunk and White weren't people who devoted their lives to studying grammar, and they didn't work together to create The Elements of Style. One of … 1 2. They were eventually published, with an introduction from one of Strunk’s most famous students, the author E.B. But not when "and" or another coordinating conjunction connects the items. E. B. But I have my own beef with “Strunk and White,” which doesn't so much relate to the content, but instead to the hallowed status so many writers give the book. Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. First, learn the rules. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. 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Linkedin Learning courses help people write better to communicate better good grammar, Style, and special.... … Your question requires a two-part answer, Jonas ’ s friend, Jonas ’,... White. “ Follow the rules of Business writing from Strunk and White.! Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's i read the Elements of is... S a helpful approach to take when one is tempted to chafe William. Elementary rules of … Your question requires a two-part answer sense, the author E.B special deals comma 1... Of the sternest strictures delivered in Strunk & White rules 14-21 my mom makes it every.!