Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger. A revised edition titled The Elements and Practice of Composition, with Edward A. Tenney as coauthor, was printed in 1935. Mr. Elements of style co author website. Edward Appleton was the soloist, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra furnished the instrumental music. START: FULL LICENSE *** THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at). A list of amendments is at the end of the text. Later in his essay, White states: "[w]rite in a way that comes easily and naturally to you, using words and phrases that come readily to hand.
Shall we look at some examples? Elledge, Scott, E. White: A Biography, Norton, 1984. The first one, a suggestion for the writer to place herself "in the background" [so she might] "write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than to the mood or temper of the author, " undermines everything we know about style by advocating what for the lack of a better term can be called "voicelessness. The past tense in the sense, is bade. One of the ablest men that have attacked this problem. C) the final sentence either emphasizes the thought of the topic sentence or states some important consequence. It has rarely been the case that any mistake has been made. The people of France however were suffering from burdensome taxation oppressive social injustice and acute scarcity of food and their representatives refused to consider projects of taxation until social and economic reforms should be granted. The difference in punctuation in the two sentences following is based on the same principle: Nether Stowey, where Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is a few miles from Bridgewater. It is sort of like a bible for all English teachers and writers. Elements of style co author's homepage. The only other book Strunk wrote was English Metres, published locally in 1922. Do you want to know when I learned the most Spanish?
In the book's language, the audience hears resolve thickening; from the left-hand examples on each page, to those on the right, Strunk proves the power of invigorated texts, trimming the fat of phrases and sentences and fine-tuning them to be read with thoroughbred speed. And every word of Mr. Strunk's (as updated and expanded by the brilliant and self-effacing E. White) indeed does tell. For example, a short notice of a book or poem might consist of a single paragraph. Aristotle says, "Art is an imitation of nature. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. Substitute different from, other than, or unlike. Every time I revisit it, I'm reminded of not only how much I can learn from my past mistakes but also how much more I need to know in order to improve myself. The construction shown in the left-hand column is occasionally found, and has its defenders. Spain is a country which I have always wanted to visit. Of course, you can break any rule when you are writing.
Often vaguely used in such expressions as a "lover of nature;" "poems about nature. " The first means "sickening to contemplate"; the second means "sick at the stomach. " Integral to developing this sensitivity was reading this slim volume. There must be some structure to language. Two exceptions to the rule may be admitted. White wrote in an era when the well-tempered essay found receptive minds, when readers willingly entered into quiet dialogue with an author. The elements of style book pdf. Apparently, the authors felt free and creative when they wrote it, and freedom and creativity are what they preach and value. But a writer should be careful not to construct too many of his sentences after this pattern (see Rule 14). They have a talent for making readers laugh at their own crimes against the language. Brendan Gill was a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than forty years. There is some great advice about writing forcefully and concisely in this book, and at a hundred pages it's well worth the time.
William Faulkner, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist who set his major novels in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi, is the only author whom Strunk and White use twice as a positive example. You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Following their own advice about not weakening sentences with vague qualifiers, Strunk and White never write "try to …" or "it is a good idea to …" or "if possible …" Their presentation can be summed up as follows: These are the rules. I believe that disdaining someone's shortcomings in perfect English is an example of intellectual hubris. I have the same problem. Statements should be put in positive form. No more need be said than to quote Mr. Strunk's thoughts under the headline "Omit Needless Words": "Vigorous writing is concise.
He grinned as he pocketed the coin. And the coddling it enjoys from the writing establishment makes rebel blood boil. Here the clause introduced by who does serve to tell which of several possible candidates is meant; the sentence cannot be split up into two independent statements. They add no particular insight, though some readers may find them a welcome distraction from the barked eccentricities of the book's two main authors. Works of fiction are listed under the names of their authors. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. Their quality varies widely, from highly professional journals to newsletters produced by hobbyists.
Who knew a book about grammar could be so entertaining & useful? However, rules are how we create meaning. A survey of this region was made in 1900. Most writing teachers urge students to become grammatically and mechanically proficient because students who understand and utilize Standard English will pass through their universities and colleges with less failure and frustration than students who do not. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm collection. The greatest writers do, and this book gives examples of how and why they do it. White's New Yorker article about Strunk was revised to serve as an introduction. The same holds true of sort of. A needless substitute for reliable, trustworthy.
During childhood his mother had died. The chapter on commonly misused words serves the cause of clarity by reminding writers not to use "disinterested" when they mean "uninterested" or "enormity" when they mean "enormousness, " pointing out that the word pairs are not synonymous. —Stevenson, Walking Tours. This book is not perfect so of course it's got some errors. Don't touch your keyboard without reading this book! On succeeding pages, if using ruled paper, begin on the first line. All three examples show the weakness inherent in the word not. This does not mean only in the case of children, but it certainly simplifies it for them. But whichever tense be used in the summary, a past tense in indirect discourse or in indirect question remains unchanged. He called himself disciplined, but he took risks in life and in writing, including the death-defying risk of telling others how to write. Here he showcased his own skills as he warned against excesses that tempt new and youthful writers. For those who are worried about the pedantry of writing, this book is mostly about grammar and what can be more effective in using the English language. 2) the abbreviations etc. My copy of "Modern American Usage" is grubby and well-thumbed.