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A review by savaging
The Elements of Style Workbook by William Strunk Jr.
3.0
There are two virtues to this book. The first is the final chapter, written entirely by E.B. White. The second is that the entire book is short, so you only have to read old Billy Strunk for sixty pages or so.
Strunk approaches "proper English" from a police-force position. Ergo, I feel a bit of glee over his losses (we use "hopefully" to mean "if all goes well," we use "they" for the third person singular, we join independent clauses with a comma). He has great, useful advice, but when he fights against the corruption of "the language" and fails, it feels like a win for the Rebels against the Empire.
But White, on the other hand, writes as a comrade, not posting rules but rather reminding us how our comrade-readers will have to struggle through dense, vapid, weak, or bizarre prose.
Probably this book could make anyone a less-bad writer.
Strunk approaches "proper English" from a police-force position. Ergo, I feel a bit of glee over his losses (we use "hopefully" to mean "if all goes well," we use "they" for the third person singular, we join independent clauses with a comma). He has great, useful advice, but when he fights against the corruption of "the language" and fails, it feels like a win for the Rebels against the Empire.
But White, on the other hand, writes as a comrade, not posting rules but rather reminding us how our comrade-readers will have to struggle through dense, vapid, weak, or bizarre prose.
Probably this book could make anyone a less-bad writer.