You just have to know how to find that information in Strunk & White. “You don't have to know which commonly confused homophone is which, for example. I assign Elements of Style for that purpose.”Įrynn Casanova, Professor of Sociology, views Strunk & White as a valuable reference book. “Half of this course focuses on how to write a research paper. “I use it in a doctoral-level seminar called Criminal Justice Research Practicum,” he said. He has been using The Elements of Style for nearly 30 years. One of Strunk & White’s current adherents is Francis Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in UC’s School of Criminal Justice.
But White also knew that Strunk “was quick to acknowledge the fallacy of inflexibility and the danger of doctrine.” In capable hands, both agreed, rules can be set aside for the sake of art. Stylistic errors beget confusion fix them so that people can understand what you’re saying. His rules of grammar, White observed, were “phrased as direct orders.” White preserves Strunk’s pronouncements in his revisions while amplifying some points, clarifying others and deleting “bewhiskered entries.” The clarion call for adherence to “the principal requirements of plain English style” remains. Students, White included, felt “the sting of his kindly lash.” “He was a memorable man, friendly and funny,” he writes. White shares fond memories of Professor Strunk in the book’s introduction. In 1936 he served as the literary consultant for a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie, Romeo and Juliet. He wrote a second book, English Metres, which was published in 1922, and he compiled critical editions of works by famous authors, including William Shakespeare. Strunk married Olivia Emilie Locke in 1900, and together they had three children. His father, William Sr., served on the UC Board of Directors (as the Board of Trustees was known before 1977) from 1890 to 1898. UC clearly left an impression on Strunk’s family.
At his commencement, according to UC Historian Kevin Grace, he was one of eleven undergraduates and two master’s students to receive a degree. He attended Walnut Hills High School before earning his Bachelor of Arts at UC. He was the oldest of four children in a scholarly household. William Strunk was born in Cincinnati on July 1, 1869. Rule 17 in the chapter titled Principles of Composition is 'Omit needless words.' I will try to do that here."
"I'll tell you right now that every aspiring writer should read The Elements of Style. Stephen King praised it in his book, On Writing. In 2011 Time magazine named The Elements of Style one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923. Qualifiers like “rather, very, little, pretty … are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words.” And he added the truism known to all writers: “Revising is part of writing.” In general, Strunk advised, place the strongest words of your sentence at the end. He championed brevity and concrete language, and he warned against nouns that fail to align with verbs, passive voice and redundant expressions. Strunk understood that clear, concise, grammatical sentences were the bricks and mortar of good writing. White further revised the book in 19 subsequent editions include a modernized approach to pronouns. In 1957 Macmillan published the expanded book, which included White’s introduction and a new chapter about the process of writing. Several years after Strunk’s death in 1946, the Macmillan Publishing Company asked White, the author of Charlotte’s Web, to revise the book for the mass market.
Elements of style update#
Tenney to revise and update the book for publication as The Elements and Practice of Composition. In 1935 Strunk collaborated with Edward A. 7 - participle phrases must refer to the subject - with this example: “Being in a dilapidated condition, I was able to buy the house very cheap.”
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