The Elements of Style

by William Strunk Jr.

Other authorsE. B. White (Author)

Paperback, 1979

Status

Available

Call number

806 STR

Collections

Your library, 800 Literature

Description

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the best-known and most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage, and often is required reading in U.S. high school and university composition classes. The original 1918 edition of The Elements of Style detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, "a few matters of form," and a list of commonly "misused" words and expressions. This book, printed as a private edition in 1918 for the use of his students, became a classic on the local campus, known as "the little book," and its successive editions have since sold over ten million copies. This version is based on the public-domain text from 1918.… (more)

Media reviews

English Today

I believe the success of Elements to be one of the worst things to have happened to English language education in America in the past century. The book’s style advice, largely vapid and obvious (“Do not overwrite”; “Be clear”), may do little damage; but the numerous statements about

grammatical correctness are actually harmful. They are riddled with inaccuracies, uninformed by evidence, and marred by bungled analysis. Elements is a dogmatic bookful of bad usage advice, and the people who rely on it have no idea how badly off-beam its grammatical claims are.

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The New York Times

Buy it, study it, enjoy it. It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility. (previous edition)

Front cover

...still a little book, small enough and important enough to carry in your pocket, as I carry mine.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Elements of Style does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its enormous influence has not improved American students' grasp of English grammar; it has significantly degraded it.