A review by avalinda
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.

5.0

There might not be any hard-and-fast rules for writing and writing well, and this book makes that clear; but familiarity with language foundations is so important and something I'd forgotten prior to reading this. I realized part of my frustration with writing is an unspoken struggle with grammar, syntax, and clarity - without these even my best thoughts are simply that, fleeting and intangible since I can't express them the way I want. This book covers those English essentials with clear examples and sometimes sharply worded instructions, and makes me wish I'd had a teacher like Strunk who never put up with shortcuts. While writing will likely always remain difficult for me, since it's an exercise in precisely expressing my worldview and other things I hold dear, I'm glad guidebooks like this exist. They remind us that words and ideas are like the chicken-and-the-egg question - the order in which you refine them doesn't matter, since you can't have one without the other when it comes to compelling writing.