Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Elements of Style
    The Elements of Style
    The Elements of Style
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    The Elements of Style

    By E. B. White, William Strunk and Roger Angell

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The fourth edition of the timeless composition guide, including an introduction by E. B. White and a foreword by Roger Angell.

    First published in 1919 as a primer for Cornell University students, The Elements of Style became a renowned reference for writers of all kinds. With a straightforward manner that exemplifies its own advice, this succinct book covers everything from tips on proper comma usage to the principles of effective communication. The manual also includes lists of common errors to avoid, making it an indispensable asset for anyone seeking to write clear, correct, and engaging prose.

    Later reissued with revisions, an introduction, and a chapter on writing by E. B. White, The Elements of Style is now in its fourth edition and features a foreword by White’s stepson, the essayist Roger Angell.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateDec 5, 2023
    ISBN9781504093545
    Author

    E. B. White

    E. B. White, the author of such beloved classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five or six years later, joined the staff of the New Yorker magazine, then in its infancy. He died on October 1, 1985, and was survived by his son and three grandchildren. Mr. White's essays have appeared in Harper's magazine, and some of his other books are: One Man's Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, Essays of E. B. White, and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White. He won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, which commended him for making a "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." During his lifetime, many young readers asked Mr. White if his stories were true. In a letter written to be sent to his fans, he answered, "No, they are imaginary tales . . . But real life is only one kind of life—there is also the life of the imagination."

    Read more from E. B. White

    Related to The Elements of Style

    Related ebooks

    Composition & Creative Writing For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Why Simple Is Smart

      Jan 31, 2022

      Why Simple Is Smart
      3 min read

    • Article

      Narrative

      Oct 3, 2024

      Narrative
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Failure Artist: Writing Bullshit, Getting Rejected, and Keeping at It

      Aug 7, 2018

      A few years ago, in a moment of white-hot inspiration, I wrote the climactic scene of a book I had only half finished. The novel is a love story, and at that point, one of the few things I knew about how it would end was that one of the characters wo

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Third Eye

      Oct 12, 2022

      The Third Eye
      12 min read

    • Article

      Eye On The Prize

      Mar 26, 2022

      Eye On The Prize
      4 min read

    • Article

      Freshen Up!

      Mar 26, 2022

      Freshen Up!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Reimagining and Remaking: On Healing from Workshop Trauma with Matthew Salesses’ ‘Craft in the Real World’

      Jan 28, 2021

      It is a blueprint for a way forward to build better writing programs, and thus a new kind of writer and teacher who can imagine beyond a structure that often hurt them and left them in need of repair. The post Reimagining and Remaking: On Healing fro

      11 min read

    • Article

      Setting Part Two

      May 2, 2024

      Setting Part Two
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Building Block Of Character: Part Two

      Jul 4, 2024

      I can hear him outside my door. Grumbling. Moving around. Waiting. Even though it’s so early it is still dark outside. I always get up early on Sundays. I don’t want to waste a second. I pull my bed out enough to squeeze round the end, and I wee in t

      6 min read

    • Article

      Elements Of Mexican Literature

      Nov 13, 2021

      I grew up in Southern California and am from an immigrant family. We moved to the United States when I was 4, so it’s with a certain amount of confusion that I look at the books I was taught were the only acceptable books to read: they were inevitabl

      4 min read

    • Article

      Revising

      Apr 27, 2020

      Revising
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Writer’s Bookshelf

      Aug 17, 2022

      As you find your path as a writer, there may be no better support than the wisdom of your fellow travelers. Let these twelve recent and forthcoming books by some of contemporary literature’s most insightful and generous luminaries guide you on your w

      4 min read

    • Article

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word

      Oct 18, 2021

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word
      7 min read

    • Article

      Agents and Writers

      Aug 17, 2022

      I WANT an agent. I want an agent in the same way seventeen-year-old me wanted a boyfriend, a desire filled with hope and just a little desperation. Which is, maybe, ironic. I have had two agents so far, and one of the most traumatic experiences of my

      16 min read

    • Article

      Beat Sheet Or Cheat Sheet?

      May 5, 2022

      If you’ve not yet encountered the Save the Cat! books you will, because the original book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005) proved so successful it led to a franchise which now includes at least seven volumes, inclu

      8 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Let the Machines Win

      Apr 8, 2024

      I have been engaged in a yearslong war with Grammarly over the phrase “in order to.”1 I occasionally use the grammarchecking site in my freelance writing work as a kind of “super spellcheck,” and every time it highlights the phrase and suggests, pre

      5 min read

    • Article

      Starting Short

      Jul 4, 2024

      Starting Short
      4 min read

    • Article

      Ax To Grind

      Oct 29, 2022

      Ax To Grind
      3 min read

    • Article

      Eight Final Revisions To Try Before You Hit Submit

      Apr 13, 2022

      OVER the past decade I’ve had the pleasure of judging dozens of fiction contests for both individual stories and book-length manuscripts. Sometimes that means reading every entry submitted; other times it means only looking at the ten finalists selec

      4 min read

    • Article

      What Agents Wish Writers Knew

      Dec 21, 2021

      What Agents Wish Writers Knew
      9 min read

    • Article

      The ABCs of Freelance Success

      Oct 7, 2024

      Many freelance writers, especially those at the beginning of their careers, tend to place almost all of their professional focus on one specific component: craft. They work extra hard to master the basics of effective nonfiction writing because they

      5 min read

    • Article

      What’s the Story?

      Dec 15, 2020

      What’s the Story?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Give Up

      Nov 13, 2021

      Don’t Give Up
      4 min read

    • Article

      How to Write a Dynamite Last Chapter

      Oct 10, 2022

      When I was a newer writer, I bought a drink for a famous old novelist at the hotel bar after a long conference day. When he’d consumed half of it, I asked him for advice on crafting good, satisfying final chapters. He snapped, “Your ending depends on

      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Elements of Style

    4/5

    2,418 ratings81 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I owned two or three editions of this guide, which helped me learn to write more clearly.
    • 5/5
      This has been on my shelf for too long. I'm glad I actually read the whole thing instead of glancing. I'll be rereading this book many times.
    • 4/5
      This is a good reference book on the elements of academic writing. The book provides several examples to follow and many rules. It is an easy read and should be kept as reference material.
    • 4/5
      A virtual necessity yet considering its age, a wonder that it’s still relevant. A legend for a reason and an essential foundational work.
    • 4/5
      I like the concise points and don't understand what the controversy is about the book; his points make sense to me and seem valid, especially for student writers.
    • 5/5
      I am surprised that anyone would give this book a one-star rating, and yet some people have done that. I have no arguments with them, as we each have our own view of the books we read.

      For me, this is a brilliant book. I did not think that it would take me ten days to read 97 pages, but it did. The writing style is simple, and not a word is wasted. It was well worth the time I took to read the book carefully.

      The rules have been laid out in a simple manner, and the examples are clear.

      I like this book so much, that I ordered two paperback copies, one for my son and one for me. It is good to have this book as a handy reference.

      Prof Strunk seems to have been a man of exceptional clarity of thought, and this is reflected in the manner in which he has laid out the book, and given the examples. Mr White's section is a very useful addition. It adds to the value of the book.

      It is an essential guide to any aspiring writer.
    • 3/5
      This is the original 1918 version, not the expansion with E.B. White's wit. Evidently, Strunk AND White is not available in a digital edition; only Strunk, because he's out of copyright. The one with Maira Kalman's illustrations is also not available in digital form.
    • 4/5
      A short, concise, and practical reference for those who want to improve their writing skills.
    • 5/5
      To seem effortless in one's writing, practice and attention to detail make for perfection.
    • 5/5
      One of two books I keep in my laptop case. Not exhaustive, but very handy.
    • 3/5
      It has been years since I first looked at an earlier version of Elements of Style, but my intention to review Elements again finally resulted in action. The 4th edition contains the rules on usage, principles of composition, notes on manuscript form, and list of commonly misused words and expression that earlier readers will expect. White has added a new chapter to this edition detailing his approach to style.

      While much of the material is applicable today’s, some of it is dated. Most troublesome is the coverage of words and expressions. Perceptive writers will recognize those admonitions that have become outdated but less experienced readers may be led astray.

      Elements is an easy read with 85 pages of text and a seven-page glossary. There is far too much detail to memorize but a periodic review will be beneficial to most writers. That preparation will be sufficient to allow most readers to use the text as a handy reference book.
    • 5/5
      Always good to recap occasionally and give this a reread.
    • 3/5
      This style manual offers practical advice on improving writing skills. Throughout, the emphasis is on promoting a plain English style. This little book can help you communicate more effectively by showing you how to enliven your sentences.
    • 2/5
      It has some good advice on writing and some terrible lies about grammar.
    • 4/5
      Every writer should read this. It's short and sweet, but you'll still get something out of it in addition to the joy of checking it off of your To Read list.
    • 4/5
      Nearly a century on it remains an excellent guide to clear communication, though time has rendered the tone prescriptive enough to make you want to commit the occasional atrocity to the language just to annoy the long dead author.
    • 5/5
      Great style guide for non fiction and fiction. Tart rules for everything written.
    • 3/5
      A fairly boring read - the book is just a long list of grammar and style suggestions - but a decent reference to check every now and then. That said, if you already know what to look for, a google search is likely more effective. Therefore, a quick read through of this sort of book may be useful to know what questions to ask.
    • 5/5
      Really a wonderful guide. It's not just a guide, though! I actually read it front to back and the voice of these men blends and instructs with sharp wit and dry humor. There are one-liners here on writing that are priceless!
    • 5/5
      A bit intense on grammar vocabulary, but beyond that, an invaluable handbook.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as blurb suggests.
    • 5/5
      So I read this about 5 or 6 times and then CLEP'ed English comp 1. Great book that simply explains the things you need to know to communicate well in writing. :)
    • 4/5
      I first read this before starting a creative writing & English course at university in 2009 and read it again at the end of my degree when I decided to become a proofreader (& later a copy-editor too).

      Some criticize this for being dated. In some respects it is. For example, one instruction is to write "some one" not "someone". This confused me at first, but further study of English style from more modern sources helped me define what rules were out of date in this book.

      Thus, my final verdict is that this is a good investment - even Stephen King has used it and recommends that all aspiring authors invest in a copy. A good story written with bad style is not really a good story after all.

      Amongst other things, this book guides you with writing well-structured sentences, advises how and when to use punctuation, and lists certain words that should be avoided for the sake of good form.

      The first time I read this I found it hard going, but it appeared much more straightforward upon a second reading. Bearing this in mind, a more modern book on style may be a better first choice for someone wanting to improve their form, but once they learn the basics then reading this should be worth their while.
    • 4/5
      I read more criticism than support of "The Elements of Style", and most of the complaints are valid. Regardless of its faults it should not be ignored or forgotten. While not always technically correct its advice is brief, direct, and positive. Don't take it too seriously and it can't hurt you.

      If you write, read it.
    • 5/5
      I got this book over a year ago, and refer to it again and again. And again. While not a thick book, this book is essential in being able to write properly, even if you just want to write an email. And one of the best things about it (to me), is its explantions on commas and apostrophes, and all those nebulous areas of grammar.
    • 3/5
      Great book, however I disagree with their opposition to the use of singular "they".
    • 4/5
      This is a must to read if not to own and reference. The updated version gives further insight and explanation, but overall the information remains valid for writers in the modern day. I refer to this when needed or when instructing writing.
    • 4/5
      This is still the best short guide to English grammar and usage, although you could argue with a few points.
    • 5/5
      Classic book on usage, composition, form and style, it's less than 100 pages and is a miracle of lucidity and succinctness. Most memorable rule? Easy: 13. Omit needless words.
    • 3/5
      This book is one of the books I was assigned for my AP English Language and Comp summer reading. I was assigned to write a book review for it, so here it is:

      Many students in high school and college find writing to be one of the most challenging assignments. They oftentimes do not know how to properly express their thoughts and experience confusion, or they may forget essential rules in writing and grammar, leading to poor results. The Elements of Style was written specifically to help writers of any age in any profession who may have similar problems in order to improve their work.
      Originally published in 1919, The Elements of Style was written by William Strunk Jr., an English professor at Cornell, as a textbook for students in his class. It was often referred to on campus as “the little book” due to its brevity. E.B White, one of his former students, updated the volume after Strunk’s death for the college market, and introduced modern changes to the original text. Since its publication in 1959, it has become extremely popular and has sold an estimated 10 million copies.
      The book, now in its fourth edition, is split into five chapters. The chapters discuss the eleven basic rules of usage, eleven strategies in writing and composition, matters of form, commonly misused words and expressions, and twenty-one rules on style. Various rules throughout the volume include “Do not break sentences in two” (7), “Use the active voice” (18), and “Keep related words together” (28). One of the best examples of a rule from the book is Rule 17 in the chapter Elementary Principles of Composition, “Omit needless words”, which states,

      Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. (23)

      Examples are provided for many of the rules, making it easier for the reader to understand how they can be applied in writing. To further elaborate on the rule quoted above, Strunk and White show that “there is no doubt but that” can be shortened to “no doubt”, “he is a man who” to “he”, “in a hasty manner” to “hastily”, and “the reason why is that” to simply “because”. The rule also includes how “the fact that” should be edited out of every sentence in which it is used. It states that presenting complex ideas in one sentence instead of explaining them step by step with multiple sentences is a good way to avoid being verbose.
      The middle chapters of the book were quite helpful. A Few Matters of Form answers many commonly asked questions on how to write certain parts of your work. Topics covered include exclamations, numerals, parenthesis, and titles. Words and Expressions Commonly Misused provides words that don’t necessarily sound good in writing. Examples on how they can be fixed are also provided. Many of the words given are ones that I’ve noticed I use too frequently, so the chapter has become an important tool for improving my writing.
      The rules provide a great reference point for writers and students to quickly refer to a bit of key information they may require. Writers on any level can find something useful in this slim volume. That being said, I would not recommend reading this book like a regular novel. It is written much like a mini-textbook. It requires a strong understanding of English grammar. Since it was written for college level students, I would be somewhat hesitant to recommend it for high school students unless they are already well-versed in English. The Elements of Style presents a good, basic rule book for writing and the English language in general, but is not necessarily for everyone.



    Book preview

    The Elements of Style - E. B. White

    Introduction*

    At the close of the first World War, when I was a student at Cornell, I took a course called English 8. My professor was William Strunk Jr. A textbook required for the course was a slim volume called The Elements of Style, whose author was the professor himself. The year was 1919. The book was known on the campus in those days as the little book, with the stress on the word little. It had been privately printed by the author.

    I passed the course, graduated from the university, and forgot the book but not the professor. Some thirty-eight years later, the book bobbed up again in my life when Macmillan commissioned me to revise it for the college market and the general trade. Meantime, Professor Strunk had died.

    The Elements of Style, when I reexamined it in 1957, seemed to me to contain rich deposits of gold. It was Will Strunk’s parvum opus, his attempt to cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin. Will himself had hung the tag little on the book; he referred to it sardonically and with secret pride as "the little book, always giving the word little a special twist, as though he were putting a spin on a ball. In its original form, it was a forty-three page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English. Today, fifty-two years later, its vigor is unimpaired, and for sheer pith I think it probably sets a record that is not likely to be broken. Even after I got through tampering with it, it was still a tiny thing, a barely tarnished gem. Seven rules of usage, eleven principles of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of words and expressions commonly misused—that was the sum and substance of Professor Strunk’s work. Somewhat audaciously, and in an attempt to give my publisher his money’s worth, I added a chapter called An Approach to Style," setting forth my own prejudices, my notions of error, my articles of faith. This chapter (Chapter V) is addressed particularly to those who feel that English prose composition is not only a necessary skill but a sensible pursuit as well—a way to spend one’s days. I think Professor Strunk would not object to that.

    A second edition of the book was published in 1972. I have now completed a third revision. Chapter IV has been refurbished with words and expressions of a recent vintage; four rules of usage have been added to Chapter I. Fresh examples have been added to some of the rules and principles, amplification has reared its head in a few places in the text where I felt an assault could successfully be made on the bastions of its brevity, and in general the book has received a thorough overhaul—to correct errors, delete bewhiskered entries, and enliven the argument.

    Professor Strunk was a positive man. His book contains rules of grammar phrased as direct orders. In the main I have not tried to soften his commands, or modify his pronouncements, or remove the special objects of his scorn. I have tried, instead, to preserve the flavor of his discontent while slightly enlarging the scope of the discussion. The Elements of Style does not pretend to survey the whole field. Rather it proposes to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It concentrates on fundamentals: the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

    The reader will soon discover that these rules and principles are in the form of sharp commands, Sergeant Strunk snapping orders to his platoon. Do not join independent clauses with a comma. (Rule 5.) Do not break sentences in two. (Rule 6.) Use the active voice. (Rule 14.) Omit needless words. (Rule 17.) Avoid a succession of loose sentences. (Rule 18.) In summaries, keep to one tense. (Rule 21.) Each rule or principle is followed by a short hortatory essay, and usually the exhortation is followed by, or interlarded with, examples in parallel columns—the true vs. the false, the right vs. the wrong, the timid vs. the bold, the ragged vs. the trim. From every line there peers out at me the puckish face of my professor, his short hair parted neatly in the middle and combed down over his forehead, his eyes blinking incessantly behind steel-rimmed spectacles as though he had just emerged into strong light, his lips nibbling each other like nervous horses, his smile shuttling to and fro under a carefully edged mustache.

    Omit needless words! cries the author on page 23, and into that imperative Will Strunk really put his heart and soul. In the days when I was sitting in his class, he omitted so many needless words, and omitted them so forcibly and with such eagerness and obvious relish, that he often seemed in the position of having shortchanged himself—a man left with nothing more to say yet with time to fill, a radio prophet who had out-distanced the clock. Will Strunk got out of this predicament by a simple trick: he uttered every sentence three times. When he delivered his oration on brevity to the class, he leaned forward over his desk, grasped his coat lapels in his hands, and, in a husky, conspiratorial voice, said, Rule Seventeen. Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!

    He was a memorable man, friendly and funny. Under the remembered sting of his kindly lash, I have been trying to omit needless words since 1919, and although there are still many words that cry for omission and the huge task will never be accomplished, it is exciting to me to reread the masterly Strunkian elaboration of this noble theme. It goes:

    Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

    There you have a short, valuable essay on the nature and beauty of brevity—fifty-nine words that could change the world. Having recovered from his adventure in prolixity (fifty-nine words were a lot of words in the tight world of William Strunk Jr.), the professor proceeds to give a few quick lessons in pruning. Students learn to cut the dead-wood from this is a subject that, reducing it to this subject, a saving of three words. They learn to trim used for fuel purposes down to used for fuel. They learn that they are being chatterboxes when they say the question as to whether and that they should just say whether—a saving of four words out of a possible five.

    The professor devotes a special paragraph to the vile expression the fact that, a phrase that causes him to quiver with revulsion. The expression, he says, should be revised out of every sentence in which it occurs. But a shadow of gloom seems to hang over the page, and you feel that he knows how hopeless his cause is. I suppose I have written the fact that a thousand times in the heat of composition, revised it out maybe five hundred times in the cool aftermath. To be batting only .500 this late in the season, to fail half the time to connect with this fat pitch, saddens me, for it seems a betrayal of the man who showed me how to swing at it and made the swinging seem worthwhile.

    I treasure The Elements of Style for its sharp advice, but I treasure it even more for the audacity and self-confidence of its author. Will knew where he stood. He was so sure of where he stood, and made his position so clear and so plausible, that his peculiar stance has continued to invigorate me—and, I am sure, thousands of other ex-students—during the years that have intervened since our first encounter. He had a number of likes and dislikes that were almost as whimsical as the choice of a necktie, yet he made them seem utterly convincing. He disliked the word forceful and advised us to use forcible instead. He felt that the word clever was greatly overused: It is best restricted to ingenuity displayed in small matters. He despised the expression student body, which

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1