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A review by bkoser
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., E. White
4.0
The classic. A plea for "definite, specific, concrete language".
Insightful. For example: place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
Much that is common advice: "Write with nouns and verbs. Adjectives and adverbs are assistants."
One instance of vindication: use explanatory verbs and adverbs sparingly in dialog. I've argued about this with my brother. On those who don't follow this advice: "They do this, apparently, in the belief that the word *said* is always in need of support, or because they have been told to do it by experts in the art of bad writing."
Rarely but occasionally silly, like the advice to not use a number with the word "people". The reason: "if there are six people and five leave, one people is left". Wow. The solution: use the word "persons". Count me as one persons that disagrees.
Full notes on the /writing page of our website.
Insightful. For example: place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
Much that is common advice: "Write with nouns and verbs. Adjectives and adverbs are assistants."
One instance of vindication: use explanatory verbs and adverbs sparingly in dialog. I've argued about this with my brother. On those who don't follow this advice: "They do this, apparently, in the belief that the word *said* is always in need of support, or because they have been told to do it by experts in the art of bad writing."
Rarely but occasionally silly, like the advice to not use a number with the word "people". The reason: "if there are six people and five leave, one people is left". Wow. The solution: use the word "persons". Count me as one persons that disagrees.
Full notes on the /writing page of our website.