The Elements of Style

by William Strunk Jr

Publisher:

Harcourt, Brace and Company

, 1920

Overview

Learn to write clear and accurate prose from a master of English style—William Strunk. This little book, originally circulated amongst Strunk’s students at Cornell, has become a desktop stalwart of engineers, managers, students, pastors, and writers of every variety. Strunk’s seven rules of usage and 11 principles of composition have been creating clear communicators for almost a century.

Strunk notes in his introduction, “It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules.” No one has stated a clearer or more helpful set of rules than the beloved professor Strunk in The Elements of Style.

The Logos edition of Elements of Style is enhanced by amazing functionality. Study work from the masters of English style with a library of classic literature and philosophy. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Powerful searches help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Tablet and mobile apps let you take your study with you. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

Key Features

• Provides basic principles for writing clear, accurate English prose
• Includes a list of commonly misspelled words and misused expressions

Contents

• Introductory
• Elementary Rules of Usage
• Elementary Principles of Composition
• A Few Matters of Form
• Words and Expressions Commonly Misused
• Spelling
• Exercises

Top Highlights

“It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.” (Page 6)

“that the surest method of arousing and holding the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete” (Page 22)

“If a parenthetic expression is preceded by a conjunction, place the first comma before the conjunction, not after it.” (Page 8)

“Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a verb in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is, or could be heard.” (Pages 20–21)

“Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion.” (Page 21)

Praise for the Print Edition

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

—New York Times

No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume.

—Boston Globe

. . . Should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all.

—Greensboro Daily News

It’s hard to imagine an engineer or a manager who doesn't need to express himself in English prose as part of his job. It's also hard to imagine a writer who will not be improved by a liberal application of The Elements of Style.

—Telephone Engineer & Management

Product Details

• Title: The Elements of Style
• Author: William Strunk Jr
• Publisher: Harcourt, Brace and Company
• Print Publication Date: 1920
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 52
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: English language › Rhetoric
• Resource ID: LLS:THLMNTSFSTL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T06:20:03Z

About William Strunk Jr

William Strunk Jr. (1869–1946) was professor of English at Cornell University, where he taught for 46 years. Strunk read and instructed on a broad range of literature, and compiled critical editions of work ranging from Cynewulf, Shakespeare, Dryden, and James Fenimore Cooper. He also served as a Hollywood literary consultant for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Strunk is best known though, for his “little book” of English usage, The Elements of Style, published privately for his students, which went on to be revised by E.B. White and known colloquially as “Strunk and White.”

Sample Pages from The Elements of Style