The Elements of Style of Strunk and White

I hate to admit this, but I have never read Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style until now. Despite its fame I have just never found the time or energy to read it, but I was not unsurprised when it turn up on my reading list for this class. The majority of the book is exactly why I never bothered to pick it up and start reading in the first place. Being that the majority is a reference book, written in examples that allow this brain wander from idea to idea. The rules provided by number only remind me of all the grammar rules which in basic Linguistics classes I have learned to break, since they often have more to do with politics and less to do with understanding the writing.

However, a book does not come to a near house hold name with out having its importance. In the last chapter “An approach to style” the rules are still numbered but feel more like good advice as opposed to rules. For instance number two, “write in away which comes naturally.” This is finally some advice to get a young writer going. In this section much is said about imitations and while, “Never to imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good.” This just seems more like readable advice as opposed to a reference book. Compared to rule ten in the chapter “Elementary Rules of Usage,” Strunk and White state, “Use the proper case of a pronoun.” While it can be agreed this is an important rule of grammar it is important to know, it is not as helpful to read since it seems to not add anything to the movement of writing to begin with. Only the last chapter does the reader actually gain advice to begin to write.