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    The Elements of Style
    The Elements of Style
    The Elements of Style
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    The Elements of Style

    By William Strunk

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    The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was written 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".
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Press
    Release dateNov 20, 2019
    ISBN4057664157669

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      Book preview

      The Elements of Style - William Strunk

      William Strunk

      The Elements of Style

      Published by Good Press, 2022

      goodpress@okpublishing.info

      EAN 4057664157669

      Table of Contents

      I. INTRODUCTORY

      II. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE

      1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

      2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

      3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.

      4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing a co-ordinate clause.

      5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma.

      6. Do not break sentences in two.

      7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject.

      III. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION

      8. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.

      9. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, end it in conformity with the beginning.

      10. Use the active voice.

      11. Put statements in positive form.

      12. Use definite, specific, concrete language.

      13. Omit needless words.

      14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences

      15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form.

      16. Keep related words together.

      17. In summaries, keep to one tense.

      18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.

      IV. A FEW MATTERS OF FORM

      V. WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS COMMONLY MISUSED

      VI. SPELLING

      WORDS OFTEN MISSPELLED

      VII. EXERCISES ON CHAPTERS II AND III

      I. Punctuate

      II. Explain the difference in meaning

      III. Explain and correct the errors in punctuation

      IV. Point out and correct the faults in the following sentences

      I. INTRODUCTORY

      Table of Contents

      This book aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. In accordance with this plan it lays down three rules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more, and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief that these four rules provide for all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty. Similarly, it gives in ChapterIII only those principles of the paragraph and the sentence which are of the widest application. The book thus covers only a small portion of the field of English style. The experience of its writer has been that once past the essentials, students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work, and that each instructor has his own body of theory, which he may prefer to that offered by any textbook.

      The numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.

      The writer's colleagues in the Department of English in Cornell University have greatly helped him in the preparation of his manuscript. Mr. George McLane Wood has kindly consented to the inclusion under Rule10 of some material from his Suggestions to Authors.

      The following books are recommended for reference or further study: in connection with Chapters II and IV, F. Howard Collins, Author and Printer (Henry Frowde); Chicago University Press, Manual of Style; T.L. De Vinne, Correct Composition (The Century Company); Horace Hart, Rules for Compositors and Printers (Oxford University Press); George McLane Wood, Extracts from the Style-Book of the Government Printing Office (United States Geological Survey); in connection with Chapters III and V, The King's English (Oxford University Press); Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Art of Writing (Putnam), especially the chapter, Interlude on Jargon; George McLane Wood, Suggestions to Authors (United States Geological Survey); John Lesslie Hall, English Usage (Scott, Foresman and Co.); James P. Kelley, Workmanship in Words (Little, Brown and Co.). In these will be found full discussions of many points here briefly treated and an abundant store of illustrations to supplement those given in this book.

      It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so,

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