I am embarrassed to admit that I have just now bought, studied and been captivated by ‘The Elements of Style’ by William Strunk and E.B. White. I have been totally enamoured from the first page with this ‘little’ book. It is direct and delightful and will be my constant companion from here on in.
‘The Elements of Style’ sets out to cut down the ways that English can be written by applying precise rules, the book itself staying small in the process. The inside joke is obvious and resounds throughout its’ brevity.
There are eleven ‘rules of usage’, eleven ‘principles of composition’, a ‘few matters of form’ and a ‘list of words commonly misused’. They will all inform your writing and delight your intellect.
There are twenty one ‘approaches to style’ also listed. Here they are, and yes they do sound familiar:
Place yourself in background.
Write in a way that comes naturally.
Work from a suitable design.
Write with nouns and verbs.
Revise and rewrite.
Do not overwrite.
Do not overstate.
Avoid the use of qualifiers.
Do not affect a breezy manner.
Use orthodox spelling.
Do not expain too much.
Do not construct awkward adverbs.
Make sure the reader knows who is speaking.
Avoid fancy words.
Do not use dialect unless your ear is good.
Be clear.
Do not inject opinion.
Use figures of speech sparingly.
Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity.
Avoid foreign languages.
Prefer the standard to the offbeat.
Out of the many gems there is one paragraph that I must direct you to if you are, or would be, a writer -
“Style takes it final shape more from attitudes of mind than from principles of composition, for as an elderly practitioner once remarked, ‘Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.’ This moral observation would have no place in a rule book were it not that style is the writer, and therefore what you are, rather than what you know, will at last determine your style. If you write, you must believe - in the truth and worth of the scrawl, in the ability of the reader to receive and decode the message. No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence, or whose attitude is patronising.”
(The Elements of Style/ William Strunk with revisions by E.B. White, 4th ed. 1979, ISBN 0-205-30902-X, page 84, second paragraph.)
If you write anything at all you should have this ‘little’ book sitting close to you, it cannot do anything other than improve your writing - professional or creative.
