{"id":3359,"date":"2015-11-11T21:18:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T02:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2022-11-06T23:00:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T04:00:59","slug":"the-elements-of-style-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: The Elements of Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

The earliest edition of The Elements of Style<\/em> was set down more than 100 years ago in 1919.<\/h2>\n

But it’s far from outdated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, The Elements of Style<\/a> remains the single most brief and practical guide to English writing that’s ever appeared. By far.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whether you write B2B, B2C, mysteries, or even the text on cereal boxes, you just can\u2019t find more pithy advice on writing anywhere.<\/p>\n

Whenever I give a writing workshop, I ask who has a copy of The Elements of Style<\/em> on their desks.<\/p>\n

A flurry of hands go up.\u00a0To any writer who doesn\u2019t raise their hand, I say, “Why not? Go get a copy right now!”<\/p>\n

Every working writer should haver a copy of this little book and refer to it often.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whenever I\u2019m feeling overburdened by buzzwords, corporate speak, and jargon, I remember the advice of Strunk and White. That helps me fight to keep my sentences more crisp, clear, and concise.<\/p>\n

For less than $10 and under 100 pages, nothing else can touch this little guide as a writing advisor and companion.<\/p>\n

Prescriptivist vs descriptivist<\/h3>\n

This book is not without its critics, and some have a point.<\/p>\n

For example, there are three main sections, covering the authors’ advice on matters of usage, composition, and style.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I tend to ignore the section on usage, which is decidedly prescriptivist<\/strong> (based on stern rules of what makes for proper grammar).<\/p>\n

My style tends to be more descriptivist<\/strong>, using newer terms or constructions that may not be accepted by every grammarian.<\/p>\n

After all, anyone who writes about tech has to stay flexible.<\/p>\n

Of course, I don’t want to make glaring mistakes.<\/p>\n

But some of the terms I need to use were only invented a\u00a0couple of years ago; there’s no way those have\u00a0found\u00a0their way into any dictionary yet.<\/p>\n

For more about this ongoing debate, here’s an article from\u00a0The<\/em> New York Times<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now there’s a charming illustrated version<\/h3>\n

The latest version of\u00a0The Elements of Style<\/em> is\u00a0a weirdly effective\u00a0illustrated edition.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I never imagined anyone would create whimsical paintings to depict concepts in English style.<\/p>\n

But the paintings by Maira Kalman<\/strong>\u00a0are truly amazing.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0depicts everything from “sentence fragment” to “overly, muchly, thusly.”<\/p>\n

Those\u00a0graphics keep me coming back to this edition to sneak another peek.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in\u00a0a new look at an old classic, check out The Elements of Style Illustrated<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Watch the online discussion<\/h3>\n

I feel so passionate about this little book that I led an online discussion about it in the AWAI Great Book series in 2015.<\/p>\n

I know, I know. That’s a few years ago.<\/p>\n

But nothing about clear writing has gone out of date in those years.<\/p>\n

You can watch the discussion here, including my slides and the Q&A<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Happy writing!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Want to hear whenever there\u2019s a fresh article on this site? <\/em>Subscribe here to stay in the know on long-form content<\/em><\/a>. From time to time, we\u2019ll also send you word about some great new resource or training. And you can unsubscribe at any time. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The earliest edition of The Elements of Style was set down more than 100 years ago in 1919. But it’s far from outdated. In fact, The Elements of Style remains the single most brief and practical guide to English writing that’s ever appeared. By far. Whether you write B2B, B2C, mysteries, or even the text…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBook review: The Elements of Style - That White Paper Guy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether you write B2B, B2C, mysteries, or the text on cereal boxes, you can\u2019t find more pithy advice on writing anywhere else than in The Elements of Style.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book review: The Elements of Style - That White Paper Guy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether you write B2B, B2C, mysteries, or the text on cereal boxes, you can\u2019t find more pithy advice on writing anywhere else than in The Elements of Style.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"That White Paper Guy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThatWhitePaperGuy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-12T02:18:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-07T04:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/elements-of-style-cover-189x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gordon Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WhitePaperGuy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WhitePaperGuy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gordon Graham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gordon Graham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/#\/schema\/person\/657ecb7a40f0e8f04458d0c78abeedfd\"},\"headline\":\"Book review: The Elements of Style\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-12T02:18:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-07T04:00:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\"},\"wordCount\":525,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/elements-of-style-cover-189x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/the-elements-of-style-book-review\/\",\"name\":\"Book review: The Elements of Style - 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