The Elements of Style E-Book

William Strunk Jr.

• Herausgeber: MASON PUBLISHING
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage in the United States. It originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, and "a few matters of form" as well as a list of commonly misused words and expressions.

Leseprobe

cy

UUID: c9c80e72-c983-11e9-8ff6-1166c27e52f1

This ebook was created with StreetLib Writehttp://write.streetlib.com

Table of contents

I. INTRODUCTORY

II. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE: 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.

4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing a co-ordinate clause.

5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma.

6. Do not break sentences in two.

7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject.

III. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION: 8. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.

9. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, end it in conformity with the beginning.

10. Use the active voice.

11. Put statements in positive form.

12. Use definite, specific, concrete language.

13. Omit needless words.

14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences:

15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form.

16. Keep related words together.

17. In summaries, keep to one tense.

18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.

IV. A FEW MATTERS OF FORM

V. WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS COMMONLY MISUSED

VI. SPELLING

VII. EXERCISES ON CHAPTERS II AND III

BY William Strunk Jr.[FIRST PUBLICATION : 1918][NEW PUBLICATION : 2019]COPYRIGHT 2019 @ MASON PUBLISHINGALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE ORIGINAL WORKS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1918 IS IN PUBLIC DOMAIN AND MAYBE REPRODUCED & COPIED AT WILL. HOWEVER, THE COMPILATION, CONSTRUCTION, COVER DESIGN, TRADEMARKS, DERIVATIONS, ETC., OF THIS EDITION ARE COPYRIGHTED AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, INCLUDING PHOTO COPYING, RECORDING, OR OTHER ELECTRONIC WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER.

I. INTRODUCTORY

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 numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.

The writer's colleagues in the Department of English in Cornell University have greatly helped him in the preparation of his manuscript. Mr. George McLane Wood has kindly consented to the inclusion under Rule 10 of some material from his Suggestions to Authors.

The following books are recommended for reference or further study: in connection with Chapters II and IV, F. Howard Collins, Author and Printer (Henry Frowde); Chicago University Press, Manual of Style; T. L. De Vinne, Correct Composition (The Century Company); Horace Hart, Rules for Compositors and Printers (Oxford University Press); George McLane Wood, Extracts from the Style-Book of the Government Printing Office (United States Geological Survey); in connection with Chapters III and V, The King's English (Oxford University Press); Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Art of Writing (Putnam), especially the chapter, Interlude on Jargon; George McLane Wood, Suggestions to Authors (United States Geological Survey); John Lesslie Hall, English Usage (Scott, Foresman and Co.); James P. Kelley, Workmanship in Words (Little, Brown and Co.). In these will be found full discussions of many points here briefly treated and an abundant store of illustrations to supplement those given in this book.

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.

II. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE: 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,

Charles's friend

Burns's poems

the witch's malice

This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press.

Exceptions are the possessive of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake. But such forms as Achilles' heel, Moses' laws, Isis' temple are commonly replaced by

the heel of Achilles

the laws of Moses

the temple of Isis

The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.