{"id":17125,"date":"2016-01-31T07:48:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T12:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=17125"},"modified":"2018-01-29T23:59:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T04:59:34","slug":"the-elements-of-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/the-elements-of-style\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elements of Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Strunk and E.B. White’s Elements of Style makes grammar easy. The 105-page book makes for a quick read too.\u00a0Despite Mark Drery’s contention\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0that the book is a sign of its times, any author who follows the simple rules outlined in Elements of Style will write better prose.<\/p>\n

The one available today isn’t the original, of course. The first version was a\u00a0self-published guide to prose written by Cornell English literature professor William Strunk Jr. in 1918. That version can be read online<\/a> for free.<\/p>\n

In 1935, Oliver Strunk copyrighted a\u00a01935 revised edition in which Strunk’s work was updated by Edward A. Tenney, another Cornell Professor. \u00a0This is where the story gets convoluted. According to Jerry Morris<\/a>, Strunk retired in 1937 and returned to teaching in 1943.<\/p>\n

He believes that Strunk reprinted his own version of the guide that year and outlines several differences between that guide, which is undated, and earlier versions.<\/p>\n

Although\u00a0good writing rules change over time, the basics remain constant, so pick your preferred version of the Elements of Style, and use it well.<\/p>\n

The first edition of the one we use today was published in 1959, thirteen years after William Strunk Jr. died. That one wasn’t updated very often.<\/p>\n

I have the third edition, which was published by MacMillan in 1979. The index takes up six pages of the 92-page tome. This is one book I like to review once a year just to remind me of the basic rules to great writing.<\/p>\n

\"ElementsofStyle\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Strunk and E.B. White’s Elements of Style makes grammar easy. The 105-page book makes for a quick read too.\u00a0Despite Mark Drery’s contention\u00a0\u00a0that the book is a sign of its times, any author who follows the simple rules outlined in Elements of Style will write better prose. The one available today isn’t the original, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Elements of Style","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[843],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-4sd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2246,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/design-via-style-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":0},"title":"Design via Style Guide","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"June 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"By following instructions in style guides, writers can give readers consistent visual clues to the place, values and identity of works. I recently saw T. J. \u00a0Tucker, the art director of Texas Monthly Magazine speak during two different sessions at MagNet in Toronto. Tucker explained how the award-winning redesign at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notable Nonfiction"","block_context":{"text":"Notable Nonfiction","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/styleguides.jpg?fit=300%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17148,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/reference-books-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":1},"title":"Improve your Craft with a Writing Reference Book","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you a word nerd? If so, consider getting a writing reference book from the following list and support your passion and my work at the same time. If you choose to buy one of these books through my affiliate links, I get a few cents although you don't pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22236,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/bicycles-over-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":2},"title":"Bicycles over Time","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"August 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Bicycles have been on my mind this month. I'm trying to ride 1000 km to raise money for the Great Cycle Challenge in memory of my mom. One of the photos I use to describe her features her on her bike with her little brother in the basket. The photograph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family History Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Family History Writing","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/history-worth-remembering\/family-history-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/m-and-j-bike-ride-1956-1.jpg?fit=1067%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/m-and-j-bike-ride-1956-1.jpg?fit=1067%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/m-and-j-bike-ride-1956-1.jpg?fit=1067%2C598&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/m-and-j-bike-ride-1956-1.jpg?fit=1067%2C598&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/m-and-j-bike-ride-1956-1.jpg?fit=1067%2C598&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21237,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/liberty-hydes-ideas-about-planning-a-picturesque-garden\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":3},"title":"Liberty Hyde’s ideas about planning a picturesque garden","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"If you want a nice garden next summer, start planning now. That way, you'll have enough time to figure out several beautiful portraits for each part of the space you have available. Such is the practice behind gardening the way Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954) describes it in his 1910 tome\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gardening"","block_context":{"text":"Gardening","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/seasonal-living\/gardening\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/City-Gardening-Winter.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/City-Gardening-Winter.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/City-Gardening-Winter.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/City-Gardening-Winter.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/City-Gardening-Winter.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19746,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/original-arials-of-western-canada\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":4},"title":"Original Arial Family of Western Canada","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"July 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"They sat and stood calmly for the formal portrait. No one smiled. An accompanying photocopy with names scrawled on each person identifies the people. Four chairs in the middle hold Remi, Sophie, Joseph Gabriel and Pete. Billy, Augusta, Joe, Sophie, Aldous, Lucy and Eddy stand behind the chairs. Jean-Baptiste sits\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy Ensemble"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy Ensemble","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/history-worth-remembering\/genealogy-ensemble-history-worth-remembering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17128,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/points-of-departure\/","url_meta":{"origin":17125,"position":5},"title":"Points of Departure","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"February 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My favourite nonfiction book is James Moffett's Points of Departure. Moffett has collected 58 of his favourite examples of short narrative nonfiction to\u00a0display\u00a0five specific forms: interaction, notation, recollection, investigation and cogitation. The examples stem from 1919 until 1983. Each is a gem worth reading. His first example, the Coca Cola\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ElementsofStyle.jpg?fit=100%2C160&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17140,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17125\/revisions\/17140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}