Every person at some point in his or her life is required to produce a written document. This could be a letter of condolence, a resume, an accident report, or a thesis.
No matter what one’s level of education or writing experience there is unwittingly a spot where the writer gets stumped. Is it it’s or its? How is dialogue punctuated? And what the heck is a split infinitive and why must it be avoided? The thin volume titled The Elements of Style has the answers to all these questions and more.
Plain English
Once dubbed ‘the little book’ by William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style (illustrated) still contains the basics of plain English but this time with a bit of pizzazz. It is now illustrated with Maira Kalman’s whimsical paintings captioned with the book’s sample sentences. Always the favourite of 20th Century writers, the illustrated fourth edition is sure to capture the hearts and minds of 21st Century writers.
Often a writer does not discover the pure genius of The Elements of Style until he has worn his thumbs to the bone searching through the much larger and more impressive looking professional association affiliated style guides. Is he aggravated or irritated? Strunk and White can answer this question in a blink of an eye. But the unobtrusive slim volume has to first catch the writer’s eye. The illustrated version no longer waits meekly on the shelf as the source of last resort. Its cheerful and beckoning cover design demands to be picked up and perused, as if the illustrations amplify the book’s active voice.
Make Every Word Tell
This edition of The Elements of Style still includes the basic rules of punctuation, which remain constant despite what the latest word processing programs might suggest. In recognition of English as a living and thus evolving language, the editors have included references to newer terms such as word processors and air conditioners. The text has also been modernized in the form of a more equal representation and less stereotypical use of female and male pronouns. The book still upholds the original edition’s mandate of make every word tell.
The Competition
It seems that every discipline and profession has its own style guide and manual, for example the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Manual, the Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide. These tomes provide explicit instructions for their respective disciplines on everything from the presentation of statistics, to the selection of headings, to the citation of references. But what if the writer only wants to know the proper use of a semicolon? Finding this basic information in any of these guides can be daunting and frustrating for even the most seasoned style guide aficionado, let alone a casual or new user. Because of its simple and direct approach to plain writing, The Elements of Style - the thinnest and possibly oldest style guide currently published - still rules the book shelves!
The Elements of Style (illustrated), Fourth Edition (2005)
By William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White; illustrated by Maira Kalman
Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 978-0-14-311272-3
Laurie Hodges Humble - Laurie Hodges Humble enjoys being a Suite 101 Contributing Writer and is very excited about sharing her expertise and knowledge with ...
Join the Conversation