Title: The Elements of Style (1920)
Author: William Strunk, Jr.
Pages: 52
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & Howe
“This book aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.”
— Introductory of The Elements of Style.
The Elements of Style consists of seven chapters in total, with Chapter I being an introductory chapter and Chapter VII being an exercise. Being simple and easy to understand, this book is worth to read.
The electronic copy of this book can be acquired here.
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
Synopsis
A few essentials, often violated by student or even instructor, yet it denotes a very important point in mastering English.
Following the rules of usage, there are three rules for the usage of the comma and one for the usage of the semicolon, in the belief that these four rules provide all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty.
Chapter III
After knowing the elementary rules of usage in previous chapter (chapter II), this chapter contains the elementary principles of composition. This chapter tell us how to make a paragraph; one paragraph to each topic, so you can give a brief explanation about the topic in a single paragraph. It is also advisable to divide your topic into subdivision if the topic is quite complicated. To aid the reader, it is recommended to start a paragraph with topic sentence and end it in conformity with the beginning. The topic sentence comes at or near the beginning; and the following sentence explain or develop the statement; and the final sentence either emphasizes or states some important detail.
This chapter also covers the usage of active voice. The usage of active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive. After telling the usage of active voice, this chapter also tell us to put statements in positive form to make our statements more definite. A good paragraph should use a definite, specific and concrete language as well as omit needless words. Last but not least, avoid a succession of loose sentences, keep related words together and place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
Chapter III
After knowing the elementary rules of usage in previous chapter (chapter II), this chapter contains the elementary principles of composition. This chapter tell us how to make a paragraph; one paragraph to each topic, so you can give a brief explanation about the topic in a single paragraph. It is also advisable to divide your topic into subdivision if the topic is quite complicated. To aid the reader, it is recommended to start a paragraph with topic sentence and end it in conformity with the beginning. The topic sentence comes at or near the beginning; and the following sentence explain or develop the statement; and the final sentence either emphasizes or states some important detail.
This chapter also covers the usage of active voice. The usage of active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive. After telling the usage of active voice, this chapter also tell us to put statements in positive form to make our statements more definite. A good paragraph should use a definite, specific and concrete language as well as omit needless words. Last but not least, avoid a succession of loose sentences, keep related words together and place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
