reference

Quickly approaching its hundred-year anniversary, "The Elements of Style" - a pocket reference guide created by Cornell professor William Strunk as an aide for his students is today as relevant and helpful as ever. The introduction by E.B. White is worth the price of the book by itself, but when his immense talents are combined with his professor's, the world ends up with a valuable tool.

"The Elements of Style" contains everything a practitioner of the English language would need. The book starts with "Elementary Rules of Usage" which references the proper rules for possessives, parenthetic expressions, colons, dashes, etc. The book then moves on to "Elementary Principles of Composition", advising writers to use the active voice, choose a suitable design and hold to it, and among other things - omit needless words! That last tidbit of advice can't not ever in a million years be written enough times for people to read it and understand, you know?

The remainder of "Elements of Style" focuses on form, commonly misused words and expressions, and the writer's individual approach to style. This last part takes on the role of a coach for the writer - simply reminding him of the various do's and don't that make writing clear and concise. Overall, this is a helpful book and a handy reference for one's desktop. If you find yourself constantly wondering if "who" or "whom" should be used, then this is the book for you... Get yourself a copy!

Britt Gillette
Author of "Conquest of Paradise: An End-Times Nano-Thriller"

In 1919 when William Strunk Jr. was an English professor at Cornell, he self-published this small volume and used it as a required textbook. One of his students was E.B. White who later wrote the children's classic, "Charlotte's Web" and was also a columnist for the New Yorker. In 1957, Mr. White made some slight revisions and had "The Elements of Style" republished. The result, as they say, is history. Now in its fourth edition, this small book has become a classic. I know I must have learned my grammar in elementary school, but I have no recollection of actual lessons. I don't think I ever did learn terms such as adjectival modifier, adverbial phrase, split infinitive, intransitive verb or participial phrase. My teachers must have done a good job though, because grammar has never been a problem for me.

Only 85 pages long, this book was a good refresher course for me. It emphasizes clarity and conciseness and certainly is a good example of this concept itself. Of course it's not easy subway reading; grammar rules do tend to be rather boring. I can't help but picture a rather stuffy old man with a condescending attitude standing at a lectern and giving his own rule for the use of the word "prestigious" which he considers an adjective of last resort. "It's in the dictionary," he says, "but that doesn't mean you have to use it". I'm not a big fan of this kind of wit, although it does make the lessons he teaches more palatable. He's a product of another era, when students held their professors in reverence. It was the style then to talk down to students and I don't like being talked down to, even in a little book and by a man who's been dead since 1946.

But it's not about the messenger; it's about the message. And Professor Strunk had something to important to say. He made a good case for clarity. I applaud that. Much of what I already believe was reinforced. In spite of myself, I did learn a lot. And getting the essence of English grammar and style into so few pages is a feat of genius. I highly recommend this book. If you can get past the attitude you will find it can even apply to e-mail correspondence. Take advantage of the learning experience. You won't be sorry.

For writers and those who work in publishing this little book contains a lot of matters worthy of consideration. It's not the most useful book I have on the subject (that honour goes to "Style Book" by Derek Wallace and Janet Hughes published in 1995) and I don't agree with everything the authors have to say, but it does contain a lot of useful tips, pointers and ways of polishing your text. You can't go wrong by giving it a careful read.