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Summary: Don't Leave Home Without It
Review: My late father was a writer-journalist, and I wanted desperately to follow in his footsteps. He bought me "The Elements of Style," and told me that, along with a typewriter (this was the Dark Ages), it was all I would ever need.He couldn't have known about the typewriter, but he was completely right about Strunk & White's timeless classic. As a professional editor of long standing, it is one of my jobs to hire and train beginning writers and editors. It never ceases to appall me that bright young kids right out of some of the finest colleges have no sense of the written word--no sense of the most elemental grammar (one young hiree told me that my insistence on commas to set off dependent clauses was hopelessly old-fashioned; "commas are out of style and are no longer used," he said). I recommend "The Elements of Style" to these budding editors, and it never fails to help them. I also am not above dipping into it myself--OFTEN. It is probably the simplest, most elegant book on grammar and usage ever written, and it is as important today as it ever was, probably more so. I consider it a tool of the trade, and recommend it to anybody who uses language on a daily basis. And that's just about everybody!
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Summary: Timeless Resource
Review: Received my first copy of this in grammar school; am presently on my third. Absolutely essential for anyone who writes - for whatever reason. Covers the most frequently misunderstood points of style and grammar in a clear, concise way. 5 Stars.
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Summary: Boot Camp for Writers
Review: Don't set pen to paper without devouring this small book. In use for decades, these guys literally wrote the primer for rules of style, grammer, and puntuation. Don't leave home without it!
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Summary: Writers need this book
Review: Clearly written, easy to understand, and it's a book that will make your writing better. What more is there to say?
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Summary: Know the rules before you break them
Review: There are established rules in every creative endeavor. This can be rules for harmony and rhythm in music, how lines and shapes relate in architecture, or how we understand the written word in writing. It can be argued that you can produce solid, functional work if you know the rules; you produce memorable work by breaking the rules. What this mindset fails to take into account is that sometimes the memorable work is memorably bad, or sometimes relegated to be part of a passing fad such as "twelve-tone music." Use Strunk and White to learn basic writing rules that give every appearance of holding up over time. Follow these rules and your writing will be very clear and functional, no matter why you write. Over time, you will learn when to break the rules in Strunk and White to produce a good result. Before that point, you need to learn the rules and what the rules try to accomplish.
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Summary: The best there is
Review: This slim volume is the best writing guide out there for any scribe. Middle school kids doing homework or professional writers completing their umpteenth book will find answers to their problems in this easy-to-read book. I read S&W cover to cover at least once a year as a refresher. It's never far from reach when I'm working.
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Summary: I am frustrated
Review: I'm frustrated that this book is not a required read - no, the entire grammar text book - at my high school. So many kids (myself included!) , even in the Advanced Placement English class, do not grasp many fundamentals Strunk puts across so tactfully in this book. (I just used one of his most basic, "Omit needless words," before submitting my review.) I myself like the style the book is written in, since the style really makes me giggle once in awhile. E.B. White's introduction is quite interesting, and really sums up the book quite nicely. I highly recommend E.B. White's essays. I hope more teachers will unleash this gem into junior high and high school classrooms around the country - student writing would be amazingly better, I have no doubt about it.
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Summary: Still the Best
Review: Twenty-one years ago, a professor in one of my English Lit. classes brought out a book that was NOT one of those texts that you thought you were going to have to take along into the next life in order to finish it. The book was quite the opposite. It was a small 78 page publication that was no more intimidating than a comic book. I was a student that needed help in my punctuation, word usage, and style. I hoped, as did all the students, that the day would come when we would be published. The professor said, "If you're ever going to make it in the writing field, this book will be your best guide. Stick to the principles mentioned in its pages and you will achieve your goals. That is, assuming you have any writing ability in you at all." Currently, I am taking a refresher course through a correspondence school back East. Guess what book is part of their curriculum? You're right, it's The Elements of Style. This time I have given the book a strict credence, and in the next few months I will have my first publishing credit. I believe, The Elements of Style, is still the best book on correct writing techniques there is on the market. It was so tweny-one years ago and it will be so twenty-one years from now. M.D. Cummings
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Summary: Great for the SAT II Writing Section
Review: It was the night before the PSATs. I was a good student and cramming would help no more, but one thing worried me. I didn't have any preparation for the SAT II Writing Section. Managing to read this in between playing video games and lunch, I wound up with a 740 on my SAT II Writing Section. This is definately a classic and a jewel.
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Summary: Comes in handy
Review: This little book is great. If you have no idea how to write well -- like me before I read this book -- it'll teach you how to write. And even if you're an expert writer or a college professor, you can learn something from it. All the obvious questions on grammer are covered, but there's tips on style, too. For a high school student, college student, or just anyone, this is a good book to buy.
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