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The Elements of Style Paperback – 7 Sept. 1999

by William Strunk (Author), E. White (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 7,884 ratings
#1 Best Seller in Technical Writing
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You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered.This book's unique tone, wit and charm have conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing.
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780205309023
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0205309023
  3. Edition
    4th
  4. Publisher
    Pearson
  5. Publication date
    7 Sept. 1999
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    17.78 x 11.43 x 0.76 cm
  8. Print length
    128 pages
  9. See all details
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Product description

Review

"...a marvellous and timeless little book... Here, succinctly, elegantly and without fuss are the essentials of writing clear, correct English."

John Clare, The Telegraph

From the Back Cover

Some acclaim for previous editions:

"Buy it, study it, enjoy it. It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility."
― The New York Times

"No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume."
― The Boston Globe

"White is one of the best stylists and most lucid minds in this country. What he says and his way of saying it are equally rewarding."
― The Wall Street Journal

"The book remains a nonpareil: direct, correct, and delightful."
― The New Yorker

". . . Should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living, and for that matter, anyone who writes at all."
― Greensboro (N.C.) Daily News

"This excellent book, which should go off to college with every freshman, is recognized as the best book of its kind we have."
― St. Paul Dispatch – Pioneer Press

"It's hard to imagine an engineer or a manager who doesn't need to express himself in English prose as part of his job. It's also hard to imagine a writer who will not be improved by a liberal application of The Elements of Style."
― Telephone Engineer & Management

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 020530902X
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson; 4th edition (7 Sept. 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780205309023
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0205309023
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.78 x 11.43 x 0.76 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 7,884 ratings

About the author

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William Strunk

William Strunk
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William Strunk Jr. (1 July 1869 – 26 September 1946), was a professor of English at Cornell University and author of the The Elements of Style (1918). After revision and enlargement by his former student E. B. White, it became a highly influential guide to English usage during the late 20th century, commonly called Strunk & White.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

Stuart Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars A Surprisingly Interesting Book...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2013
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I bought this to brush up on some essential grammer after having it recommended by Stephen King in his book "On Writing".

Naturally, it is a work of non-fiction (and about grammar no less!) So you won't find yourself on the edge of your seat or anything as you read it. But you will find it softly engaging and interesting and find yourself pulled into the mindset of those people who take grammar a good deal more seriously than most of us.

Particularly helpful is the fact that each recommendation comes with examples, so that you can see in practice what he is actually talking about, and that each part is not overly long, so you don't feel the need to reach for the metaphorical gun to put yourself out of your misery!

If you set aside the contents, introduction and appendix then this book is only 85 pages long, which I actually saw as a good thing. No doubt there are books on grammar that can quite happily be used as tables in their own right, but I wonder how many normal people actually read them?

It's a bit like Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time" in that owning a copy of such tomes doesn't automatically mean you have read them!

This one I have read. I honestly don't know if it improved my grammar much (oh ok I do...It didn't! I think you would need to make more than a casual study of this to really improve much). But the door is at least slightly ajar to seeing the light and perhaps, some day, also marveling at the difference between a conjunctive pronoun and a restrictive adverb (something which I have personally never heard of, but which I feel happy to allow some Grammar God to now lay claim too).

Overall, a book that is well worth your time.
8 people found this helpful
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Viktor
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly useful little book for anyone wanting to improve his/hers English ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 April 2015
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Incredibly useful little book for anyone wanting to improve his/hers English writing. Concise and to the point, this book will help you make sense of your current knowledge and provide sound advice on just about anything that you may encounter in English writing.
Although the book can be read in one or two sittings, try reading a chunk at a time and observe what you learned in actual writings from other sources or even the book itself.

Only thing I could complain about is that my hardcover copy came wrapped with not so usable dust cover and now I am left with a rather dull looking book. If you are looking for a nice looking hardback, you should probably stay away from this edition, but then again, you should also try reading the book instead of looking at its covers!
2 people found this helpful
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Bree
4.0 out of 5 stars English grammar made simple
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2021
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This book covers what my International school education taught me about English but what I did not get (but should have got) with my British education. I think it's (in Britain) assumed that this knowledge will be picked up through the "everyday" but it should be taught. This book concisely summarises all governance around the English language construct. So easy to read and follow.
Like the author and original founder advises, use less words, thefore its thw beat guide for learning and writing English.
3 people found this helpful
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John Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and informative
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 December 2010
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Negative reviewers of this book focus on the questions of which edition it is and whether there is a better edition out there which they should have ordered in stead. Some have also suggested that the book is full of mistakes. Perhaps we have been reading different books. Page for page this has to be the best book on writing that I have read, so packed is it with useful ideas and information. I had imagined that it would be so based on American English that it would be less useful and even jarring to the British reader, but I did not find this to be so. Although style is related to taste and will vary from one writer to another, and although rules may sometimes be broken to good effect, I'm sure that any writer could sharpen his or her style by studying this book and applying its rules and 'reminders'. I will certainly be dipping into it from time to time. The one problem that I do have right now is that, having read the book, I can spot several errors of style in this review and I feel rather guilty about not taking the trouble to correct them.
5 people found this helpful
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Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless little book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2020
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This is a priceless little book that I have had for years. I lent it to someone who lost it so I instantly replaced it as it is a reference book I cannot live without. If you are a writer of anything at all then this little gem should be on your shelf. I guarantee that whatever you are looking for regarding good English and grammar, you will find it here. Cannot recommend highly enough. Yes, it's American, but please get past that. It was first published in 1907 and has been updated several times since then. Grammar is grammar wherever you live!
5 people found this helpful
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Harvey
3.0 out of 5 stars Book itself is a must for anybody learning to write but...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a fantastic guide to the rules of grammar and isn't overly long so it's also easy to flick through to find what you need. Unfortunately a few pages in mine were blank so I'm going to have to buy a new copy. Unfortunately I didn't get around to reading it in time to return it.
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hfffoman
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for anyone interested in writing well
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2015
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This is a precise book full of detailed advice. The first time I read it I was expecting general advice in different styles of writing. It does not provide that but it is packed with excellent, balanced advice. I can remember when Fowler's was the standard reference but Fowler's is too dated and Strunk & White is probably now the authority on matters of style.

When you have read this book, you will understand that a great deal of good writing is not just about crafting words with skill, it is about getting a clear idea of the logical relation between the ideas in every sentence. Once you understand that, you will not only create better prose but you will do it with less effort.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Wentai
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
Reviewed in Canada on 1 April 2022
Verified Purchase
I used to use bad grammar and now I don't. Buy this book and you got the power of good grammar too.
I love this book because it helps me to appear intelligent.
A harder task than it sounds.
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- Thrive Life: Freeze-Dried Strawberries (a reason to continue living)
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3 people found this helpful
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Alfredo Viana
5.0 out of 5 stars Boa ferramenta para comunicação de negócios
Reviewed in Brazil on 31 December 2021
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O livro tem me ajudado muito na comunicação com as diversas áreas da empresa e nos relatórios que elaboro para a matriz nos EUA. Tem boas dicas de comunicação que servem para qualquer idioma.
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Alfredo Viana
5.0 out of 5 stars Boa ferramenta para comunicação de negócios
Reviewed in Brazil on 31 December 2021
O livro tem me ajudado muito na comunicação com as diversas áreas da empresa e nos relatórios que elaboro para a matriz nos EUA. Tem boas dicas de comunicação que servem para qualquer idioma.
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5 people found this helpful
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Christine K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Rend la grammaire moins barbante !!!
Reviewed in France on 3 March 2023
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La reliure pourrait être plus haut de gamme pour des consultations multiples sur une longue durée…
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E
5.0 out of 5 stars E-Book and Hardcover
Reviewed in Germany on 1 December 2021
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Let's jump right in.

E-BOOK
I bought the E-book first and cannot recommend it. Unless you are keen on feasting your eyes on poor formatting, do not buy the E-Book version. The author makes examples side by side to show what a false sentence and a correct sentence look like, easy for the reader to differentiate. In the E-book, these sentences get jumbled and thrown together, creating a self-repeating monstrosity of unsalvagable caliber.

Tl;dr: Do not buy the E-book.

HARDCOVER
After my experience with the Ebook, I bought the hardcover. Lo and behold, sentences started to make sense again.
In 21 chapters the book manages to effectively and succinctly describe rules of grammarian conduct rules such as the use of possessive singulars, serial commas, the relationship between conjunctions, adverbs, and commas, when and when not to use a colon, semi-colon, or a dash, etc.
Furthermore, the book contains information about composition of paragraphs and sentences and a list of common errors that are to be avoided.

To summarise: The book is a small bible for grammarian conduct rules for writers and the grammatically inclined.

Tl;dr: Buy the Hardcover. The book is fantastic.
4 people found this helpful
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Pradita Kapahi
5.0 out of 5 stars Z
Reviewed in India on 19 May 2019
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Item was delivered on time do full points to Amazon for prompt delivery.

Now for the book. The size of the book surprised me for a while but I had read, in Stephen King's Memoir on Wiritng included, that this tiny book serves as a starter for every serious writer. And it's just that. Right from cutting out unnecessary words to punctuation, to principles of composition, this book will provide you the basic tools for writing as a novice writer.

I intend to keep this book handy whenever I write and that says a lot about how good this book is because I HATE self help and how-to books.
12 people found this helpful
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