the Element of style, Essays (university) of English Language

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" ... slill a lillie book, small enough and importal1l enough to carry in your pockel, as I carry Inine."

- Charles Osgood

e

ELEM NTS

o

5 LE

FOURTH EDITION

FOREWORD BY ROGER ANGELL

THE

ELEMENTS

OF

Style

BY

WILLIAM STRUNK Jr.

wiih Revisions, an Introduction,

and a Chapter on Writing

BY

E. B. WHITE

FOURTH EDITION

New York San Francisco Boston London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Montreal

Contents

FOREWORD (^) ix

INTRODUCTION xiii

1. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE 1

L Fonn the possessive singular of nouns by adding's. 1

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. 2
3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. 2
4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause. 5
5. Do not join independent clauses with a comma. 5
6. Do^ not^ break^ sentences^ in^ two.^7
7. Use^ a colon^ after^ an^ independent^ clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. 7
8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary. 9
9. The number of the subject detennines the number of the verb. 9
10. Use the proper case of pronoun. 11

v

vi] CONTENTS

11. A participial phrase at the beginning

Foreword

by Roger Angell

THE FIRST writer I watched at work was my stepfather, E. B. White. Each Tuesday morning, he would close rus study door and sit down to write the "Notes and Comment» page for The New Yorker. The task was familiar to him-he was required to file a few hundred words of editorial or personal commentary on some topic in or out of the news that week-but the sounds ofrus typewriter from his room came in hesitant bursts, with long silences in between. Hours went by. Summoned at last for lunch, he was silent and preoccupied! and soon excused himself to get back to the job. When the copy went off at last, in the afternoon RFD pouch-we were in Maine, a day's mail away from New York-he rarely seemed satisfied. <CIt isn't good enough," he said sometimes. "I wish it were better." Writing is hard, even for authors who do it all the time. .Less frequent practitioners-the job applicant; the business executive with an annual report to get out; the high school senior with a Faulkner assignment; the graduate-school student with her thesis proposal; the writer of a letter of condolence-often get stuck in an awkward passage or find a muddle on their screens, and then blame themselves. What should be easy and flOwing looks tangled or feeble or

overblown~not what was meant at all. What's wrong with

me, each one thinks. Why can't I get this right?

ix

x] FOREWORD

It was this recurring question, put to himself, that must

have inspired White to revive and add to a textbook by an English professor of his, Will Strunk Jr., that he had first read in college, and to get it published. The result, this quiet book, has been in print for forty years, and has offered more than ten million writers a helping hand. White knew that a compendium of specific tips-about singular and plural verbs, parentheses, the "that"-"which" scuffle, and many others--could clear up a recalcitrant sentence or subclause when quickly reconsulted, and that the larger principles needed to be kept in plain sight, like a wall sampler. How simple they look, set down here in White's last chapter: 'Write in a way that comes naturally," "Revise and rewrite," "Do not explain too much," and the rest; above all, the cleanSing, clarion "Be clear." How often I have turned to them, in the book or in my mind, while trying to start or unblock or revise some piece of my own writing! They

help-they really do. Tpey work. They are the way.

E. B. White's prose is celebrated for its ease and clanty-

just think of Charlotte's Web-but maintaining this stan-

dard reqUired endless attention. When the new issue of

The New Yorker turned up in Maine, I sometimes saw him

reading his "Comment" piece over to himself, with only a slightly different expression than the one he'd worn on the day it went off. Well, O.K., he seemed to be saying. At least I got the elements right.

This edition has been modestly updated, with word pro- cessors and air conditioners making their first appearance among White's references, and with a light redistribution of genders to permit a feminine pronoun or female farmer to take their places among the males who once innocently served him. Sylvia Plath has knocked Keats out of the box, and I notice that "America" has become "this counuy' in a sample text, to forestall a subsequent and possibly demean- ing "she" in the same paragraph. What is not here is anything about E-mail-the rules-free, lower-case flow that cheer- fully keeps us in touch these days. E-mail is conversation,

*Introduction **

AT THE close of the first World War, when I was a student at Cornell, I took a course called English 8. My professor was William Strunk Jr. A textbook required for the course was a slim volume called The Elements of Style, whose author was the professor himself. year was 1919. The book was known on the campus in those days as "the little book," with stress on the word .. It had been pri- vately printed by the author. I passed the course, graduated from the university, and forgot the book but not the professor. Some thirty-eight years later, the book bobbed up again in my life when Mac- millan commissioned me to revise it for the college market and the general trade. Meantime, Professor Strunk had died. The Elements of Style, when I reexamined it in 1957, seemed to me to contain rich deposits of gold. It was Will Strunk's parvum opus, his attempt to cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and prin- ciples on the head of a pin. Will himself had hung the tag "little" on the book; he referred to it sardonically and with secret pride as «the little book," always giving the word "little" a special twist, as though he were putting a spin on a ball. In its Original form, it was a forty-three page sum- mation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English. Today, fifty-two years later, its vigor is

*E. B. White wrote this introduction for the 1979 edition.

xlii

INTRODUCTION [xv

clauses with a comma." (Rule 5.) «Do not break sentences in two." (Rule 6.) "Use the active voice." (RUle 14.) «Omit needless words." (Rule 17.) «Avoid a succession of loose sentences." (Rule 18.) "In summaries, keep to one tense." (Rule 21.) Each rule or principle is followed by a shorthor- tatory essay, and usually the exhortation is followed by, or interlarded with, examples in parallel columns-the true vs. the false, the right vs. the wrong, the timid vs. the bold, the ragged vs. the trim. From every line there peers out at me the puckish face of my professor, rus short hair parted neat- ly in the middle and com bed down over his forehead, his eyes blinking incessantly behind steel-rimmed spectacles as though he had just emerged into strong light, his lips nib- bling each other like nervous horses, his smile shuttling to and fro under a carefully edged mustache. "Omit needless words!" cries the author on page 23, and

into that imperative will Strunk really put his heart and

soul. In the days when I was sitting in his class, he omitted so many needless words, and omitted them so forcibly and with such eagerness and obvious relish, that he often seemed in the position of having shortchanged himself-a man left with nothing more to say yet with time to fill, a radio

prophet who had out-distanced the clock will Strunk got

out of this predicament by a simple trick: he uttered every sentence three times. When he delivered his oration on brevity to the class, he leaned fOlWard over his desk, grasped his coat lapels in his hands, and, in a husky, conspiratorial voice, said, "Rule Seventeen. Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!» He was a memorable man, friendly and funny. Under the remembered sting of rus kindly lash, I have been trying to omit needless words since 1919, and although there are still

many words that cry for omission and the huge task will

never be accomplished, it is exciting to me to reread the masterly Strunkian elaboration of this noble theme. It goes:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sen- tences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no

xvi] INTRODUCTION

unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

There you have a short, valuable essay on the nature and beauty of brevity-fifty-nine words that could change the world. Having recovered from his adventure in prolixity (fifty-nine words were a lot of words in the tight world of William Strunk Jr.), the professor proceeds to give a few quick lessons in pruning. Students learn to cut the dead- wood from "this is a subject that," redUCing it to "this sub- ject," a saving of three words. They learn to trim "used for fuel purposes" down to <cused for fuel." They learn that they are being chatterboxes when they say "the question as to whether" and that they should just say "whether"-a saving of four words out of a possible five. The professor devotes a special paragraph to the vile expression the fact that, a phrase that causes him to quiver with revulsion. The expression, he says, should be "revised out of every sentence in which it occurs." But a shadow of gloom seems to hang over the page, and you feel that he knows how hopeless his cause is. I suppose I have written the fact that a thousand times in the heat of composition, revised it out maybe five hundred times in the cool after- math. To be batting only .500 this late in the season, to fail half the time to connect with this fat pitch, saddens me, for it seems a betrayal of the man who showed me how to swing at it and made the swinging seem worthwhile. I treasure The Elements of Style for its sharp advice, but I treasure it even more for the audacity and self-confidence of its author. Will knew where he stood. He was so sure of where he stood, and made his position so clear and so plau- sible, that rus peculiar stance has continued to invigorate me-and, I am sure, thousands of other ex-students--during the years that have intervened since our first encounter. He had a number of likes and dislikes that were almost as whimsical as the choice of a necktie, yet he made them seem utterly convincing. He disliked the word forceful and

xviii] I NT ROD U C T ION

violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will prob- ably do best to follow the rules." It is encouraging to see how perfectly a book, even a dusty rule book, perpetuates and extends the spirit of a man. Will Strunk loved the clear, the brief, the bold, and his book is clear, brief, bold. Boldness is perhaps its chief dis- tinguishing mark. On page 26, explaining one of his paral- lels, he says, "The lefthand version gives the impression that the writer is undecided or timid, apparently unable or afraid to choose one form of expression and hold to it." And his original Rule 11 was "Make definite assertions." That was

Will all over. He scorned the vague, the tame, the colorless,

the irresolute. He felt it was worse to be irresolute than to be wrong. I remember a day in class when he leaned far for- ward, in his characteristic pose-the pose of a man about to

impart a secret-and croaked, "If you don't know how to

pronounce a word, say it loud! If you don't know how to pro-

nounce a word, say it loud!" This comical piece of advice struck me as sound at the time, and I still respect it. Why compound ignorance with inaudibility? Why run and hide? All through The Elements of Style one finds evidences of the author's deep sympathy for the reader. Will felt that the reader was in serious trouble most of the time, floundering in a swamp, and that it was the duty of anyone attempting to write English to drain this swamp quickly and get the

reader up on dry ground, or at least to throw a rope. In

revising the text, I have tried to hold steadily in mind this belief of his, this concern for the bewildered reader. In tlle English classes of today, "the little book" is sur- rounded by longer, lower textbooks-books with permissive steering and automatic transitions. Perhaps the book has become something of a curiosity. To me, it still seems to maintain its original poise, standing, in a drafty time, erect, resolute, and assured. I still find the Strunkian wisdom a comfort, the Strunkian humor a delight, and the Strunkian attitude toward right-and-wrong a blessing undiSguised.

E. B. WHITE

The Elements of Style

2] THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single

conjunction, use a comma after each term except the

last.

Thus write,

red, white, and blue gold, silver, or copper He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.

This comma is often referred to as the "serial" comma. In the names of business firms the last comma is usually omitted. Follow the usage of the individual firm.

Little, Brown and Company Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette

3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.

The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is to travel on foot.

This rule is difficult to apply; it is frequently hard to decide whether a Single word, such as however, or a brief

phrase is or is not parenthetic. Ifthe interruption to the flow

of the sentence is but slight, the commas may be safely omitted. But whether the interruption is slight or consider- able, never omit one comma and leave the other. There is no defense for such punctuation as

or

Marjorie's husband, Colonel Nelson paid us a visit yes- terday.

My brother you will be pleased to hear, is now in per- fect health.

Dates usually contain parenthetic words or figures. Punc- tuate as follows:

February to July, 1992

ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE [

April 6, 1986 Wednesday, November 14,

Note that it is customaJ.)' to omit the comma in

6 April 1988

The last form is an excellent way to write a date; the figures are separated by a word and are, for that reason, qUickly grasped. A name or a title in direct address is parenthetic.

If, Sir, you refuse, I cannot predict what will happen. Well, Susan, this is a fIne mess you are in.

The abbreviations etc., i.e., and e.g., the abbreviations for

academic degrees, and titles that follow a name are paren- thetic and should be punctuated accordingly.

Letters, packages, etc., sho~d go here. Horace Fulsome, Ph.D., preSided. Rachel Simonds, Attorney The Reverend Harry Lang. S.J.

No comma, however, should separate a noun from a restrictive term of identification.

Billy the Kid

The novelist Jane Austen William the Conqueror The poet Sappho

Although Junior; with its abbreviation Jr., has commonly been regarded 80s parenthetic, logic suggests that it is, in fact, restrictive and therefore not in need of a comma.

James Wright Jr.

Nonrestrictive relative clauses are parenthetic, as are similar clauses introduced by conjunctions indicating time or place. Commas are therefore needed. A nonrestrictive