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Although THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE has been around even longer than I have its just as relevant today as it was almost ninety years ago. Every English major and writer is familiar with this little gem privately published by William Strunk, Jr. in 1919 for his students at Cornell. Although it's been revised several times it remains pretty close to the original. It's hard to improve on perfection.
Few books come close to emulating this one. Several dictionaries and a five hundred page college handbook on grammar, punctuation, mechanics and spelling sit next to my computer but THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE is the one I reach for most often. It addresses the most common problems a writer encounters.
When I'm writing my ideas spew like lava. What's left is a hodgepodge of word soup in desperate need of editing. The most obvious problem is misuse of punctuation. It's either in the wrong place or non-existent. A quick read of the first chapter, "Elementary Rules of Usage," tells me where to put those pesky periods, commas, colons and semicolons.
Also invaluable is the advice offered on colloquialisms, exclamations, hyphens, headings, margins, numerals and titles which are addressed in "A Few Matters of Form."
The technical aspects of composition are important, but clear and concise presentation of content is essential. More and more web writers are creating blogs and web sites and the competition is fierce. Readers don't have the time or patience to slog through sloppy or bloated posts. You want to keep the web surfers reading because jumping to another site is just a mouse click away.
The chapter on "An Approach to Style" has helped me energize my own blog posts and web site. "Write with nouns and verbs," "do not overwrite" and "avoid the pretentious, the coy, and the cute" is timeless advice that will help anyone who writes understand how to make the words flow. And stressed above all is - "clarity, clarity, clarity."
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE is not meant to be a complete guide to grammar and writing, but a compact reference filled with common sense and the basics. In that regard it succeeds admirably.
William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White with a foreword by Roger Angell Illustrated by Maira Kalman, whose whimsical drawings give the book a fresh and updated look. Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Pub. Date: October 2005 ISBN-13: 978-1-59420-069-4 145 pp
Gail writes romance, paranormal and otherwise as Gale Stanley.
CALL OF THE WILDS - Available now at Amazon & Bookstrand
SILENT KNIGHTS - coming October 2010 - Silver Publishing
MATING CALL - coming November 2010 - Siren-Bookstrand
POINT OF BEGINNING - coming January 2011 - Silver Publishing
http://galestanley.net/
http://galestanley.blogspot.com/
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