Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Elements of Style - William Strunk and E.B. White

Slim at 90 pages, the original version by Professor Strunk is supposedly 40, the book can improve style by leaps and bounds. So clear and precise that by merely making note of the contents your language and writing will improve. This is one memento of our old friend Late J.R. Jyothi, a fellow writer and a keen and honest student of the art of writing, that I will always cherish. 

I will reproduce the contents here. It will help many refer easy and be better writers. Thanks Prof. Strunk and White.

In Elementary Rules of Usage the stress is on:
  • Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's
  • In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction use a comma after each term except the last
  • Enclose parenthetic expression between commas
  • Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an interdependent clause
  • Do not break sentences into two
  • Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation
  • Use  a dash to set off an abrupt break or interrupting and to announce a long appositive or summary
  • The number of subject determines the number of the verb
  • Use the proper case of pronoun
  • A participial phrase at the beginning of the sentence must refer to the grammatical subject

In elementary principles of composition:
  • Choose a suitable design and hold to it
  • Make the paragraphs the unit of composition
  • Use the active voice
  • Put statements in positive form
  • Use definite specific concrete language
  • Omit needless words
  • Avoid a succession of loose sentences
  • Express coordinate idea in similar form
  • Keep related words together
  • In summaries keep to one tense
  • Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end
A few matters of form and words and expressions commonly misused.

An approach to style:
  • Place yourself in the background
  • Write in a way that comes naturally
  • Work from a suitable design
  • Write with nouns and verbs
  • Revise and rewrite
  • Do not overwrite
  • Do not overstate
  • Avoid the use of qualifiers
  • Do not affect a breezy manner
  • Use orthodox spelling
  • Do not explain too much
  • Do not construct awkward adverbs
  • Make sure the reader knows who is speaking
  • Avoid fancy words
  • Do not use dialect unless your ear is good
  • Be clear
  • Do not insert opinion
  • Use figures of speech sparingly
  • Avoid foreign languages
  • Prefer the standard to the offbeat
Reading just these contents would have improved the style by 20-30%. Wonderful book. One that all who engage in writing must own.

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