William Strunk

This is the book that generations of writers have relied upon for timeless advice on grammar, diction, syntax, and other essentials. In concise terms, it identifies the principal requirements of proper style and common errors.

The Original Edition

The Elements of Style

Joseph Devlin

This special edition contains two classic works. It gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

The Elements of Style (1918), by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, is an American English writing style guide. It is the best-known, most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage, and often is required reading and usage in U.S. high school and university composition classes. This edition of The Elements of Style details eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, "a few matters of form," and a list of commonly misused words and expressions.

Elements of Style

William Strunk Jr. fue profesor estadounidense de inglés en la Universidad de Cornell y autor de The Elements of Style. Después de la revisión y ampliación de su antiguo estudiante E. B. White, se convirtió en una guía muy influyente en el uso del inglés durante el siglo XX, comúnmente llamado Strunk & White.

Elementos de estilo

William Shakespeare

Arthur Donald Innes 

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

The Elements of Style is a prescriptive American English writing style guide in numerous editions. This original and first edition was composed by William Strunk Jr., in 1918. In The Elements of Style (1918), 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." The book frames this within a triplet credited to an influential lecturer: 1. Omit needless words2. Use active voice3. Use parallel construction on parallel concepts The Elements of Style was listed as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923 by Time in its 2011 list. Upon its release Charles Poor writing for The New York Times called it "a splendid trophy for all who are interested in reading and writing." American poet Dorothy Parker once proclaimed, "If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy.

The Elements of Style, First Edition

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 (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. In accordance with this plan it lays down three rules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more, and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief that these four rules provide for all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty.

The Elements of Style -Illustrated Edition

This classic reference is a must-have for any student or writer. In this brief handbook, Strunk identifies the principal requirements of proper American English style and concentrates on the most often violated rules of composition. Authoritative and engagingly written, this is simply the greatest book of its kind. "The Elements of Style," by William Strunk, 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." This reprint reproduces the text of the 1920 edition. This authoritative and engagingly written manual retains its immediacy and relevance. Strunk begins with the basic rules of usage, offering explanations of correct punctuation and grammar. Covers grammar, diction, syntax, sentence construction and other basic writing essentials.

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 (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. In accordance with this plan it lays down three rules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more, and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief that these four rules provide for all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty. Similarly, it gives in Chapter III only those principles of the paragraph and the sentence which are of the widest application. The book thus covers only a small portion of the field of English style. The experience of its writer has been that once past the essentials, students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work, and that each instructor has his own body of theory, which he may prefer to that offered by any textbook.

-The Elements of Style-

The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was composed by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and published by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled". E. B. White greatly enlarged and revised the book for publication by Macmillan in 1959. That was the first edition of the so-called Strunk & White, which Time named in 2011 as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923.

William Strunk

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