The Elements of Style by Willi

Free eBook Published by BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE, INC. 1920

In The Elements of Style (1918), William Strunk concentrated on specific questions of usage—and the cultivation of good writing—with the recommendation "Make every word tell"; hence the 17th principle of composition is the simple instruction: "Omit needless words." The book frames this within a triplet credited to an influential lecturer:

Omit needless words

Use active voice

Use parallel construction on parallel concept

Cornell University English professor William Strunk, Jr. wrote The Elements of Style in 1918 and privately published it in 1919, for in-house use at the university. (Harcourt republished it in 52-page format in 1920.)

CONTENTS

Page

I. Introductory

II. Elementary Rules of Usage

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last

3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas

4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing a co-ordinate clause

5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma

6. Do not break sentences in two

7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject

III. Elementary Principles of Composition

8. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic

9. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning

10. Use the active voice

11. Put statements in positive form

12. Use definite, specific, concrete language

13. Omit needless words

14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences

15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form

16. Keep related words together

17. In summaries, keep to one tense

18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end

IV. A Few Matters of Form

V. Words and Expressions Commonly Misused

VI. Spelling

VII. Exercises on Chapters II and III