The Elements of Style Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

Sue: Easy to understand, lots of knowledgeable tips

Canada on Jun 30, 2023

Christine K.: La reliure pourrait être plus haut de gamme pour des consultations multiples sur une longue durée…

France on Mar 03, 2023

PaulaA: Good product very detailed

Australia on Feb 26, 2023

E: Let's jump right in.

E-BOOK
I bought the E-book first and cannot recommend it. Unless you are keen on feasting your eyes on poor formatting, do not buy the E-Book version. The author makes examples side by side to show what a false sentence and a correct sentence look like, easy for the reader to differentiate. In the E-book, these sentences get jumbled and thrown together, creating a self-repeating monstrosity of unsalvagable caliber.

Tl;dr: Do not buy the E-book.

HARDCOVER
After my experience with the Ebook, I bought the hardcover. Lo and behold, sentences started to make sense again.
In 21 chapters the book manages to effectively and succinctly describe rules of grammarian conduct rules such as the use of possessive singulars, serial commas, the relationship between conjunctions, adverbs, and commas, when and when not to use a colon, semi-colon, or a dash, etc.
Furthermore, the book contains information about composition of paragraphs and sentences and a list of common errors that are to be avoided.

To summarise: The book is a small bible for grammarian conduct rules for writers and the grammatically inclined.

Tl;dr: Buy the...

Germany on Dec 01, 2021

John: My review of this classic is not seminal or necessary. The Elements of Style is the most frequently assigned text in the Open Syllabus Project’s index of seven million US academic syllabi. Time Magazine and The Guardian have both numbered it among the most influential nonfiction books of the last century. It has sold over ten million copies in its various editions since 1959 and is strongly endorsed by some of the greatest writers of our time, including Stephen King. However, in the words of E.B. White himself, “the true writer always plays to an audience of one.” This is for me.

This handbook began as professor Strunk’s “attempt to cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin.” He privately published his pocket-sized list of grammar and composition rules for use at Cornell in 1919, and even after a century of additions and revisions, it remains skeletal and presumptive like a polished crib sheet. Reading it is like running up a hill: arduous ... yet rewarding. And read it we must, if it is to be any use as a reference, because it lacks the visual navigation aids of a true crib sheet. Its discerning...

United States on Feb 22, 2021

Stuart Brown: I bought this to brush up on some essential grammer after having it recommended by Stephen King in his book "On Writing".

Naturally, it is a work of non-fiction (and about grammar no less!) So you won't find yourself on the edge of your seat or anything as you read it. But you will find it softly engaging and interesting and find yourself pulled into the mindset of those people who take grammar a good deal more seriously than most of us.

Particularly helpful is the fact that each recommendation comes with examples, so that you can see in practice what he is actually talking about, and that each part is not overly long, so you don't feel the need to reach for the metaphorical gun to put yourself out of your misery!

If you set aside the contents, introduction and appendix then this book is only 85 pages long, which I actually saw as a good thing. No doubt there are books on grammar that can quite happily be used as tables in their own right, but I wonder how many normal people actually read them?

It's a bit like Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time" in that owning a copy of such tomes doesn't automatically mean you have read them!

This one I...

United Kingdom on Nov 29, 2013

Oxford: How does one account for authoritative advice on writing style? While styles of writing vary according to each writer's own preference some guidelines are inevitable to enhance writing clearer for readers. William Strunk's The Elements of Styles has been loved and considered to be one of authoritative manual for writers on this regard. Now deceased former English professor of Cornell University, Strunk provided writers eleven rules of usage (chapter one) and eleven principles of composition (chapter two) along with few other tips and reminders in the rest of the book. Thus Strunk's central claim for clarity of writing comes from concision and precision. However since it has been more than fifty years it was first published, should Strunk's assertions considered to be still valid? Has it praised with sacrifice of creativity? Beginning with a brief summary this review will examine several critical issues addressed in the book such as "should passive voice indicative verb be avoided at all cost?"

[Summary]
"Vigorous writing is concise...., but that every word tell" E.B. White who became the coauthor who expanded Strunk's work called this as "master[ly] Strunkian...

United States on Apr 15, 2013