Even after I got through tampering with it, it was still a tiny thing, a barely tarnished gem. I think Professor Strunk would not object to that. A second edition of the book was published in I have now completed a third revision. Chapter IV has been refurbished with words and expressions of a recent vintage; four rules of usage have been added to Chapter I. Professor Strunk was a positive man. His book contains rules of grammar phrased as direct orders.
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In a long paragraph, he may carry out several of these processes. In narration and description the paragraph sometimes begins with a concise, comprehensive statement serving to hold together the details that follow. But this device, if too often used, would become a mannerism.
More commonly the opening sentence simply indicates by its subject with what the paragraph is to be principally concerned. The brief paragraphs of animated narrative, however, are often without even this semblance of a topic sentence.
The break between them serves the purpose of a rhetorical pause, throwing into prominence some detail of the action. The latter sentence is less direct, less bold, and less concise. This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.
The dramatists of the Restoration are little esteemed to-day. The first would be the right form in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Restoration; the second, in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers. The need of making a particular word the subject of the sentence will often, as in these examples, determine which voice is to be used.
In both the examples above, before correction, the word properly related to the second passive is made the subject of the first. A common fault is to use as the subject of a passive construction a noun which expresses the entire action, leaving to the verb no function beyond that of completing the sentence. The habitual use of the active voice makes for forcible writing. This is true not only in narrative principally concerned with action, but in writing of any kind.
Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a verb in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is , or could be heard. Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion.
The last example, before correction, is indefinite as well as negative. The corrected version, consequently, is simply a guess at the writer's intention. All three examples show the weakness inherent in the word not.
Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is. Hence, as a rule, it is better to express even a negative in positive form.
The antithesis of negative and positive is strong:. If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this, that the surest method of arousing and holding the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete. Critics have pointed out how much of the effectiveness of the greatest writers, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, results from their constant definiteness and concreteness.
Browning, to cite a more modern author, affords many striking examples. Take, for instance, the lines from My Last Duchess ,. These words call up pictures. Prose, in particular narrative and descriptive prose, is made vivid by the same means. If the experiences of Jim Hawkins and of David Balfour, of Kim, of Nostromo, have seemed for the moment real to countless readers, if in reading Carlyle we have almost the sense of being physically present at the taking of the Bastille, it is because of the definiteness of the details and the concreteness of the terms used.
It is not that every detail is given; that would be impossible, as well as to no purpose; but that all the significant details are given, and not vaguely, but with such definiteness that the reader, in imagination, can project himself into the scene. In exposition and in argument, the writer must likewise never lose his hold upon the concrete, and even when he is dealing with general principles, he must give particular instances of their application. As we do not think in generals, but in particulars—as whenever any class of things is referred to, we represent it to ourselves by calling to mind individual members of it, it follows that when an abstract word is used, the hearer or reader has to choose, from his stock of images, one or more by which he may figure to himself the genus mentioned.
In doing this, some delay must arise, some force be expended; and if by employing a specific term an appropriate image can be at once suggested, an economy is achieved, and a more vivid impression produced. Herbert Spencer, from whose Philosophy of Style the preceding paragraph is quoted, illustrates the principle by the sentences:.
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell. In especial the expression the fact that should be revised out of every sentence in which it occurs. See also under case , character , nature , system in Chapter V.
As positive statement is more concise than negative, and the active voice more concise than the passive, many of the examples given under Rules 11 and 12 illustrate this rule as well. A common violation of conciseness is the presentation of a single complex idea, step by step, in a series of sentences or independent clauses which might to advantage be combined into one. This rule refers especially to loose sentences of a particular type, those consisting of two co-ordinate clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction or relative.
Although single sentences of this type may be unexceptionable see under Rule 4 , a series soon becomes monotonous and tedious. An unskilful writer will sometimes construct a whole paragraph of sentences of this kind, using as connectives and , but , so , and less frequently, who , which , when , where , and while , these last in non-restrictive senses see under Rule 3.
The third concert of the subscription series was given last evening, and a large audience was in attendance. Edward Appleton was the soloist, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra furnished the instrumental music.
The former showed himself to be an artist of the first rank, while the latter proved itself fully deserving of its high reputation. The interest aroused by the series has been very gratifying to the Committee, and it is planned to give a similar series annually hereafter. The fourth concert will be given on Tuesday, May 10, when an equally attractive programme will be presented. Apart from its triteness and emptiness, the paragraph above is weak because of the structure of its sentences, with their mechanical symmetry and sing-song.
Contrast with them the sentences in the paragraphs quoted under Rule 9 , or in any piece of good English prose, as the preface Before the Curtain to Vanity Fair. If the writer finds that he has written a series of sentences of the type described, he should recast enough of them to remove the monotony, replacing them by simple sentences, by sentences of two clauses joined by a semicolon, by periodic sentences of two clauses, by sentences, loose or periodic, of three clauses—whichever best represent the real relations of the thought.
This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar.
The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. The unskillful writer often violates this principle, from a mistaken belief that he should constantly vary the form of his expressions. It is true that in repeating a statement in order to emphasize it he may have need to vary its form. For illustration, see the paragraph from Stevenson quoted under Rule 9. But apart from this, he should follow the principle of parallel construction. The left-hand version gives the impression that the writer is undecided or timid; he seems unable or afraid to choose one form of expression and hold to it.
The right-hand version shows that the writer has at least made his choice and abided by it. By this principle, an article or a preposition applying to all the members of a series must either be used only before the first term or else be repeated before each term. Correlative expressions both, and ; not, but ; not only, but also ; either, or ; first, second, third ; and the like should be followed by the same grammatical construction, that is, virtually, by the same part of speech. Many violations of this rule as the first three below arise from faulty arrangement; others as the last from the use of unlike constructions.
See also the third example under Rule 12 and the last under Rule It may be asked, what if a writer needs to express a very large number of similar ideas, say twenty? Must he write twenty consecutive sentences of the same pattern? On closer examination he will probably find that the difficulty is imaginary, that his twenty ideas can be classified in groups, and that he need apply the principle only within each group.
Otherwise he had best avoid difficulty by putting his statements in the form of a table. The position of the words in a sentence is the principal means of showing their relationship. The writer must therefore, so far as possible, bring together the words, and groups of words, that are related in thought, and keep apart those which are not so related. The subject of a sentence and the principal verb should not, as a rule, be separated by a phrase or clause that can be transferred to the beginning.
The objection is that the interposed phrase or clause needlessly interrupts the natural order of the main clause. Usually, however, this objection does not hold when the order is interrupted only by a relative clause or by an expression in apposition.
Nor does it hold in periodic sentences in which the interruption is a deliberately used means of creating suspense see examples under Rule If the antecedent consists of a group of words, the relative comes at the end of the group, unless this would cause ambiguity. A noun in apposition may come between antecedent and relative, because in such a combination no real ambiguity can arise. Modifiers should come, if possible, next to the word they modify. If several expressions modify the same word, they should be so arranged that no wrong relation is suggested.
In summarizing the action of a drama, the writer should always use the present tense. In summarizing a poem, story, or novel, he should preferably use the present, though he may use the past if he prefers. If the summary is in the present tense, antecedent action should be expressed by the perfect; if in the past, by the past perfect. Meanwhile, owing to her father's arbitrary change of the day set for her wedding, Juliet has been compelled to drink the potion on Tuesday night, with the result that Balthasar informs Romeo of her supposed death before Friar Lawrence learns of the non-delivery of the letter.
But whichever tense be used in the summary, a past tense in indirect discourse or in indirect question remains unchanged. Apart from the exceptions noted, whichever tense the writer chooses, he should use throughout. Shifting from one tense to the other gives the appearance of uncertainty and irresolution compare Rule He should indicate clearly at the outset, once for all, that what follows is summary, and then waste no words in repeating the notification.
In notebooks, in newspapers, in handbooks of literature, summaries of one kind or another may be indispensable, and for children in primary schools it is a useful exercise to retell a story in their own words. But in the criticism or interpretation of literature the writer should be careful to avoid dropping into summary. He may find it necessary to devote one or two sentences to indicating the subject, or the opening situation, of the work he is discussing; he may cite numerous details to illustrate its qualities.
But he should aim to write an orderly discussion supported by evidence, not a summary with occasional comment. Similarly, if the scope of his discussion includes a number of works, he will as a rule do better not to take them up singly in chronological order, but to aim from the beginning at establishing general conclusions.
The proper place in the sentence for the word, or group of words, which the writer desires to make most prominent is usually the end. The word or group of words entitled to this position of prominence is usually the logical predicate, that is, the new element in the sentence, as it is in the second example.
The effectiveness of the periodic sentence arises from the prominence which it gives to the main statement. Four centuries ago, Christopher Columbus, one of the Italian mariners whom the decline of their own republics had put at the service of the world and of adventure, seeking for Spain a westward passage to the Indies as a set-off against the achievements of Portuguese discoverers, lighted on America.
With these hopes and in this belief I would urge you, laying aside all hindrance, thrusting away all private aims, to devote yourself unswervingly and unflinchingly to the vigorous and successful prosecution of this war. The other prominent position in the sentence is the beginning. Any element in the sentence, other than the subject, may become emphatic when placed first.
So vast and rude, fretted by the action of nearly three thousand years, the fragments of this architecture may often seem, at first sight, like works of nature.
A subject coming first in its sentence may be emphatic, but hardly by its position alone. In the sentence,. To receive special emphasis, the subject of a sentence must take the position of the predicate. The principle that the proper place for what is to be made most prominent is the end applies equally to the words of a sentence, to the sentences of a paragraph, and to the paragraphs of a composition. Leave a blank line, or its equivalent in space, after the title or heading of a manuscript.
On succeeding pages, if using ruled paper, begin on the first line. Do not spell out dates or other serial numbers. Write them in figures or in Roman notation, as may be appropriate. A sentence containing an expression in parenthesis is punctuated, outside of the marks of parenthesis, exactly as if the expression in parenthesis were absent. The expression within is punctuated as if it stood by itself, except that the final stop is omitted unless it is a question mark or an exclamation point.
When a wholly detached expression or sentence is parenthesized, the final stop comes before the last mark of parenthesis. Formal quotations, cited as documentary evidence, are introduced by a colon and enclosed in quotation marks.
Quotations grammatically in apposition or the direct objects of verbs are preceded by a comma and enclosed in quotation marks. Quotations of an entire line, or more, of verse, are begun on a fresh line and centered, but need not be enclosed in quotation marks. Quotations introduced by that are regarded as in indirect discourse and not enclosed in quotation marks. In scholarly work requiring exact references, abbreviate titles that occur frequently, giving the full forms in an alphabetical list at the end.
As a general practice, give the references in parenthesis or in footnotes, not in the body of the sentence. Omit the words act , scene , line , book , volume , page , except when referring by only one of them. Punctuate as indicated below. After the killing of Polonius, Hamlet is placed under guard IV.
Othello II. If there is room at the end of a line for one or more syllables of a word, but not for the whole word, divide the word, unless this involves cutting off only a single letter, or cutting off only two letters of a long word. No hard and fast rule for all words can be laid down. The principles most frequently applicable are:. The student will do well to examine the syllable-division in a number of pages of any carefully printed book.
For the titles of literary works, scholarly usage prefers italics with capitalized initials. The usage of editors and publishers varies, some using italics with capitalized initials, others using Roman with capitalized initials and with or without quotation marks. Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer.
The Elements of Style has long been a valued and beloved resource for all writers. Hailed for its directness and clever insight, this unorthodox textbook was born from a professor's love for the written word and perfected years later by one of his students: famed author E. So much for that expectation. If you've been avoiding this based on the same concern, I recommend finding a copy.
Not only is this book informative even if you already know grammar well, it's wonderfully entertaining. It contains eight. Robert Bringhurst is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He is the author of The Elements of Typographic Style — a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type.
The book, although endearingly popular, received a mixed reception from critics for being too prescriptive, and its authority is still questioned today in some literary circles. The Elements of Style is short, precise, and to the point — much in keeping with the rules of brevity and clarity it promotes. According to Strunk, students learn. Read reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Subscribe to Elements of Style.
Want new posts and announcements delivered to your inbox. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here. Please note: the following contains a list of the most commonly cited print book sources.
For a complete list of how to cite print sources, please refer to the 7 th edition of the APA Publication Manual.
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