The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

I want to clarify a few points. The book isn't giving directions on how to write poetry, or litereature. The book is about clarity and conveying information. It also isn't the be all and end all of style, there are some other excellent books that do as good a job.

The reason that I would choose this one over those others ("The Craft of Research" or "Style: Towards Clarity and Grace") is that this book is so digestible. It is the epitome of short and sweet.

People who read this book and apply the rules will improve their writing.


Start here ... or at least visit   February 7, 2003
 18 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is NOT a grammar, it's about style. You won't find ANY inane lifeless nonsense rules like "don't split infinitives" (a red herring itself). That said, I suppose another flattering review is superfluous -- Strunk would disapprove -- but this book's rating is a half star below five! I have been writing in one capacity or another my entire life and cannot think of a single volume as fundamentally influential as Strunk. I have had a copy since high school, though I couldn't tell you where it is now; not that it matters, I've committed it to heart. By providing the table of contents, Amazon[.com] has essentially given you the book save its illustrative examples -- that's how tight it is, and yes the examples are worth having. Perhaps the somewhat militant author could have slipped "please" in here or there, but that would violate rule 13, "Omit needless words." Strunk doesn't want you to write better to please him, he saying if you're serious about your work you'll allow your assumptions to be challenged; and if you look closely you will recognize a compassion between the words, a committment to teach not browbeat. This book is nearly a century old and will be relevant in a century more, barring some sort of natural calamity, nuclear war, or extraterrestrial invasion. If you like, preview an old edition in the public domain at Bartleby.


The undertow of time has eroded this formerly excellent book!   January 6, 2006
 18 out of 25 found this review helpful

When I first encountered this book around 1962, I thought the world of it. It was not only filled with pithy pearls of writing advice -- pretty much all of which are just as true today -- but it also included many, many comments on specifics of how to use certain words, phrasing, and punctuation.

I have owned and happily used this book in the interim, all the while realizing that as the language has slowly evolved, the book did not evolve along with it.

The "updated" version, edited by Roger Angell, was, I thought, supposed to remedy this situation.

Alas, whatever "updating" he performed, other than adding a new forward and perhaps fixing a couple of typos, is entirely invisible to me. As an editor who is deeply involved with the nuances of language, I feel this book should be perceived as an embarrassment to both Angell and the publishers.

Virtually nothing was done to keep the book abreast of changes in usage over all these years. Time and again one encounters what were mainstream usages recommended in 1962 that have become quasi-archaisms by the time this "Fourth Edition" was published.

Probably Angell was afraid to tamper with what has been widely acclaimed as a masterwork. (And if you read only the general advice about writing and ignore the comments about specific usages, it still is.)

In not tampering with the book, he has ironically caused it to deteriorate, eroded by the undertow of time.

(Fortunately, this damage is reversible. Let's hope that the publishers realize this ASAP, and choose any or all of -- in no particular order -- Geoffrey Nunberg, Martha Barnette, Barbara Wallraff, and Richard Lederer -- people I consider to be the leading experts on American English today -- to do the update that this books sorely needs.)

P.S. Please note that a beautifully but irrelevantly illustrated edition has just come out around Jan. 2006; as far as I can tell this is exactly the deeply flawed Angell edition with pretty drawings scotch-taped onto it.

I suggest you wait for the next well-updated version.


Still the Best   August 14, 2000
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Twenty-one years ago, a professor in one of my English Lit. classes brought out a book that was NOT one of those texts that you thought you were going to have to take along into the next life in order to finish it. The book was quite the opposite. It was a small 78 page publication that was no more intimidating than a comic book.

I was a student that needed help in my punctuation, word usage, and style. I hoped, as did all the students, that the day would come when we would be published. The professor said, "If you're ever going to make it in the writing field, this book will be your best guide. Stick to the principles mentioned in its pages and you will achieve your goals. That is, assuming you have any writing ability in you at all."

Currently, I am taking a refresher course through a correspondence school back East. Guess what book is part of their curriculum? You're right, it's The Elements of Style. This time I have given the book a strict credence, and in the next few months I will have my first publishing credit.

I believe, The Elements of Style, is still the best book on correct writing techniques there is on the market. It was so tweny-one years ago and it will be so twenty-one years from now.

M.D. Cummings


I'm the minority here, but as a writer.....   July 17, 2002
 17 out of 50 found this review helpful

I must disagree for one major reason. This book certainly does contain some invaluable information to help writers on their way and does act as more than just a set of grammatical rules. I think it all depends on how you use the book. If it's your Bible of Writing, then you possibly pen yourself in. If you use it as a supplemental text, it may work much better. Let's use the analogy of the 5 paragraph essay. It's definitely an easy way to start out and get people started with academic writing, but that's all it is basically: a start. You learn to organize, to state your arguments, etc., but in the end a 5 paragraph essay is not always (and not often) the best way to go. As a general set of guidelines, this book would work, but the authors present it as the only way to go to create effective writing. My writing style is outside the mainstream, so maybe this experimental leaning has a definite effect on my opinion. Just beware of your approach to this text, writers.