Other editions of book The Elements of Style

What you need to know about grammar and writing as taught widely in colleges, high schools, and grammar schools wherever American English is spoken! William Strunk, Professor at Cornell, wrote his famous Little Book on good grammar and writing to simplify the subject for students far and wide. His famous motto was, "Omit needless words." This unabridged version follows this motto and can be listened to in just 60 minutes! This is the original "Little Book," without add ons by later writers. This is a treasure to writers because it "omit(s)" needless words" and subject matter Professor Strunk did not believe was core to better writing. The brevity encourages relistening to deepen one's knowledge of the subject, the point made by Professor Strunk to his students: "the knowledge comes from rereading" or in our case, relistening. This unabridged version has 25 tracks: 1. Preface. 2. Introduction.. 3. Elementary Rules of Usage. 4. Form the Possessive Singular of Nouns with 's. 5. Three or More Terms with a Single Conjunction. 6. Enclose Parenthetic Expressions Between Commas. 7. Place a Comma before and or but. 8. Do Not Join Independent Clauses by a Comma. 9. Do Not Break Sentences in Two. 10. A Participial Phrase at the Beginning of a Sentence. 11. Divide Words at Line-ends. 12. Elementary Principles of Composition. 13. Make the Paragraph the Unit of Composition. 14. Begin a Paragraph with a Topic Sentence. 15. Use the Active Voice. 16. Put Statements in Positive Form. 17. Omit Needless Words. 18. Avoid a Succession of Loose Sentences. 19. Express Co-ordinate Ideas in a Similar Form. 20. Keep Related Words Together. 21. In Summaries Keep to One Tense. 22. Keep the Emphatic Word of a Sentence at the End. 23. A Few Matters of Form. 24. Words and Expressions Commonly Misused. 25. 56 Words Commonly Misspelled.

About the author: William Strunk, Jr. (1869 – 1946), was a professor of English at Cornell University and author of the The Elements of Style (1918). After revision and enlargement by his former student E. B. White, it became a highly influential guide to English usage during the late 20th century, commonly called Strunk & White. This book is the original 1918 book authored by Strunk.

William Strunk published The Elements of Style in 1918 "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." Since then, this "forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English" has done just that, and has become essential reading at the start of term for the well-prepared student.

“The Elements of Style”, was first written by William Strunk in 1918 for private use at Cornell University, where Strunk was a professor of English, and republished by Harcourt in 1920 for the public. The concise handbook remains one of the most important and influential English writing style guides ever published. The original edition of the guide is organized into eight elementary rules of usage (such as using the active voice rather than the passive), ten elementary rules of composition (including the rule of omitting needless words), several matters of form, 49 commonly misused words and expressions, and 57 words often misspelled. The result is an efficient and pragmatic guide to help produce writing that is clear and understandable, in which every word is important. In 1957 while at “The New Yorker” writer E. B. White, who had studied under Strunk, called the guide “a forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English.” “The Elements of Style” remains an effective and helpful guide for anyone who wishes to write with greater order, simplicity, and sincerity.

The Elements of Style is a prescriptive American English writing style guide comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of forty-nine "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of fifty-seven "words often misspelled". In 2011, Time magazine listed the writing style-guide as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923. Cornell University professor of English William Strunk, Jr., wrote The Elements of Style in 1918, and privately published it in 1919, for in-house use at the university. In The Elements of Style (1918), as a professor of English, William Strunk concentrated on specific questions of usage—and the cultivation of good writing—with the recommendation "Make every word tell"; hence, the 17th principle of composition is the simple instruction: "Omit needless words."

Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is an essential guide for students, teachers, editors, and writers. In this 1918 original edition, Strunk concentrates on specific questions of usage, the cultivation of good writing, and avoiding overwriting by making "every word tell." E. B. White, a writer at the New Yorker magazine who studied under Strunk, described this "little book" as a "forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English." Newly designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press.

Before there was Strunk and White, there was just Strunk, Jr. Originally, Strunk produced his style guide for use in his own classes. But in 1920, the book was published and made available for wider use. Since 1920, many editions and revisions of "Elements of Style" have been produced, most famously enhanced by E.B. White in 1959. Still, sometimes its nice to have the original. Sometimes its nice to see how it all began. For people who resonate with that, this edition, a carefully reconstructed facsimile edition of the one published in 1920, will be a true treasure. Note, this edition is NOT an 'optically character recognition' (OCR) scanned edition. It is a high quality facsimile. Nonetheless, the reader should be aware that as facsimile it will contain both the glories and the imperfections of the original.

This, the original little book, has been incredibly popular since it was first written back in 1918. William Strunk, Jr., a professor at Cornell, released it in a privately printed edition in 1919 "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." A year later, it saw its first major publication. This short guide to writing is as useful today as it was when it was first released. Everyone should own a copy.