The Elements of Style, WilliamStrunkJr
? and
EBWhite (4th ed.) [
ISBN 020530902X (
amazon.com,
search)]
This is a concise but muscular guide to English usage and style. Strunk, the original author, proudly called it "the
little book" (his original 1918 edition is available online
[here]). E. B. White, a former student of Strunk's and best known for writing
CharlottesWeb, revised and added to the book while maintaining its littleness.
Years ago, I thought good grammar inhibited good writing, but after reading The Elements of Style I discovered that Strunk and White's rules untangled my sentences, made the meaning of my words clear and strong and generally improved my prose. Rule 17 inspires:
- Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessarily sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
The rule is a perfect example of the principle it proclaims. -- StephenGilbert
Another example is TheOldManAndTheSea
A
BookOnTheBookshelf
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