Good writing is concise, forcible, and emphatic. The Elements of Style Summary Write Concisely, Actively and Positively. If you’re serious about writing, and enjoy the gist, then do read the original not only is it something of a rite of passage, you’ll also find more detail and examples than I give below. In the crunch below I’ve reworked Strunk’s main points into something more digestible. Its ~70 pages have sold over 10 million copies since its first edition in 1918. That said, if writing good concise English is important to your success then The Elements of Style is a classic. Though you know it’ll make you big and strong when you grow up, you still occasionally feel like stabbing whoever suggested it with a fork.ĭon’t get me wrong, there’s some absolute gold inside: omit needless words, write actively and positively, structure your paragraphs and sentences effectively.Īnd yet, Strunk’s choice to open with ‘the correct use of possessive apostrophes’ is so bizarre, his writing, at times, so concise and so technical, that the book often feels much harder going than it needs to be. Reading Strunk’s Elements of Style is like eating your grandmother’s Brussels sprouts. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favour you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. Do This Next… The Elements of Style Review
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