The Elements of Style

About this book

William Strunk, a professor of English at Cornell University, wrote this little book of rules for his students. In a few dozen pages he sets out elementary rules of usage, such as how to form the possessive and where to place commas, and principles of composition: make the paragraph the unit of composition, use the active voice, put statements in positive form, use definite, specific, concrete language, and, most famously, 'Omit needless words'. He ends with lists of common errors of form and of words and expressions often misused.

Context and significance

Strunk privately printed the book in 1918. One of his students, E. B. White, later revised and expanded it, and in that form it became one of the most influential guides to writing in English; this is Strunk's original text. Its advice in favour of short, vigorous sentences fits Francis Bacon's Essays.

About the author