Classics Corner: The Elements of Style by William H. Strunk Jr.; The Definitive Writer's Guide

 

Classics Corner: The Elements of Style by William H. Strunk Jr.; The Definitive Writer's Guide

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

There are many good reasons why The Elements of Style is considered by many to be the definitive writer's guide and English grammar textbook to help Readers improve their writing ability. Those reasons are that it is helpful, simple to follow and break down, interactive, and is easily accessible and updated for modern readers.

The book breaks down into several sections to give the writer good advice how to improve their grammar usage. The first part includes elementary rules of usage for punctuation.

"A participal phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject," is one such example.

Instead of writing "On arriving in Chicago, he met his friends at the station," the proper usage should be "When he arrived in Chicago, his friends met him at the station" No

one knows whether the man or his friends arrived at the station in the original version.

The second part features elementary principles on composition. Readers can improve paragraphs and other sections in writing assignments. 

This Reader admits to making the mistake of using needless words in sentences. The book advises readers to omit them, so their writing will flow better and become understandable.

"I know a lot about this subject" is an easier and more understandable phrase than "That is a subject  in which I know a lot about." The words "that is" and " in which" are not necessary to describe the subject. They also put the phrase in passive voice, rather than active.

The third part is the shortest. It features suggestions on how to form numerals, parentheses, quotations, references, syllabication, and titles. A sentence with a parentheses should be treated as if the parentheses were absent. It should not have any capitalization or punctuation, unless it ends in a question mark or an exclamation point

"He declares (and why should we doubt his good faith?) that he is now certain of success" is an example.

The phrase in parentheses "and why should we doubt his good faith?" offers a different thought from the rest of the sentence. The speaker seems to doubt the other person's good faith, so the phrase in parentheses is questioning, almost sarcastic, about the other person's certainty of success.

The next part offers help for commonly misused words and expressions. These are some of the most common mistakes writers make. The "effect"/"affect" confusion is one.

Effect is a noun, meaning the result. Affect is the verb, meaning to influence" "The side effects for the medicine include:..." as compared to "The Impeachment trial affected the results of the election."

The noun effect has been misused as perfunctory writing about fashion, music, painting, and arts. Phrases like "very nice effects" are vague. 

The book includes a list of commonly misspelled words. The list includes words from "accidentally" to "villain." Even in this day and age, spell checker does not always work. Writers should double-check words for confusion such as "there," describing a place, "their" referring to plural possessive, and "they're," which is an abbreviation of they are.

Writers are also advised to improve their texting and emailing style in two parts. While texting style is informal, writers are still suggested to to treat the recipients like they are worthy of their time. This include using proper capitalization, punctuation, and capitalization. Other suggestions include planning text messages in advance so the sender isn't in an awkward place to send them and to use abbreviations sparingly.

Emails are usually more formal. They require more structure, especially in business settings. Emails should include salutations and signatures, and different subject heads. Don't use three questions in a row, because that's too intrusive. Also, email writers should choose a more personal situation to convert bad news. 

The book's modern readers can improve their texting and emailing abilities by following the advice.

The Elements of Style offers the best advice to help create better writers, personally and professionally.