Customer Reviews
Simply the Best! - By: C. Clayton, 25 Aug 2008 
The Elements of Style is a short, timeless & foundational book on writing style & grammar. It is exceptionallly well written & an essential writers desk reference. The authors stripped away alll the fluff & kept the best of the best to help anyone write more clearly & concisely.
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
The Best Little Book About English - By: Brandon Simpson, 17 Jan 2008 This little book is considered classic & timeless by many professors & students. I find it very helpful. It inspired me to write my own book about English.
Brandon Simpson
An important little book... - By: B. D. Wilson, 28 Nov 2007 "The Elements of Style" was recommended to me by Stephen King in his book "On Writing". I see it as basicallly filling in the gaps that King left in his book. King's book was more concerned with the practical matters of writing, whereas, TEOS is alll about LANGUAGE & how to use it, which King only touched upon.
And this book certainly packs a lot of information & advice, especiallly given that it is only 85 pages long. It has five chapters. The first chapter is callled ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE & contains eleven grammatical tips, from the use of commas & semi-colons to structuring of a sentence. The second chapter, ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, is more about writing style & ways to keep your writing punchy & fresh. Chapter 3, A FEW MATTERS OF FORM, mostly concerns physical presentation of your work & may be more suitable to formal letter writing that fiction, but may be useful to other forms nonetheless. Chapter 4 is about WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS COMMONLY MISUSED & includes some of my pet hates, including those who turn "I couldn't care less" into "I could care less", thus completely destroying the meaning of the phrase. I also learned a few new things from this section. The fifth chapter is callled AN APPROACH TO STYLE & contains 21 general tips, or "reminders", about how to keep your writing consistent & stop it going bad. A lot of my description here sounds very general & vague, & makes most of the sections sound the same, but trust me that it alll makes sense & has a point in the book that I just can't quite explain - I need a bigger vocab!
There are one or two minor problems with the book. For example, as Stephen King points out, it says that the most important part of a sentence should always go at the end - but is "With a hammer he killed Frank" reallly better than "He killed Frank with a hammer"? I don't think so, either. Also, it seems to me that a lot of this advice, particular when it comes to grammar, depends on your own comforts & preferences & those of your editor and/or publisher. That doesn't mean we should pay it no heed, but I do believe that you can quite easily get away with ignoring half of this book's advice & still be a respected, published writer.
But overalll, an excellent little book that I think every writer should read, whether they are beginners or highly experienced. The writing style of Strunk himself is straightforward & formal, occasionallly venturing into humour & informality, which means that you are likely to learn something by reading it, but unlikely to be bored while doing so.
Highly recommended to writers of alll talents.
Must have for all writers...informative and very readable - By: Ms. C. A. Lever, 13 Sep 2007 Superb book. Teaches (or reminds) you of grammatical devices & the rules of language, which may sound dull but it's actuallly very readable & dare I say it- fun. An ideal present to anyone studying english, or any aspiring writer...or you could treat yourself, you will be glad you did.
Good for read - By: Boz, 25 Jul 2007 This book taught me write how to do it good & clarity.
Recommends itself.
