The Elements of Style (1918)

• The book is designed for English courses combining composition practice with the study of literature.
• It focuses on the most commonly violated rules of usage and principles of composition to aid students and instructors.
• The author acknowledges help from colleagues and recommends several reference books for further study in style and printing.
• Master writers occasionally disregard rhetorical rules, but beginners are advised to follow them until they achieve plain competence.
• Specific elementary rules of usage are outlined, including the formation of the possessive singular with ’s.
• Additional usage rules cover the serial comma in a series of three or more terms and the enclosure of parenthetic expressions.

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric.

• Parenthetic expressions and non-restrictive relative clauses must be enclosed by pairs of commas rather than isolated ones.
• Restrictive relative clauses, which narrow down the meaning of a specific word, are not set off by commas.
• Abbreviations like etc. and jr. require specific comma placement surrounding them.
• When a parenthetic expression follows a conjunction, the first comma belongs before the conjunction, not after it.
• Independent clauses connected by coordinating conjunctions such as and or but must be preceded by a comma.
• Sentences joined simply by and can often be improved by rewriting them to show a clearer cause and effect relationship.

Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause

• Using occasional loose sentences prevents a writing style from becoming overly formal and monotonous.
• Two-part sentences connected by specific conjunctions require a comma before the conjunction.
• Independent clauses not joined by a conjunction must be separated by a semicolon rather than a comma.
• Writers must avoid using periods in place of commas to prevent breaking single sentences in two.
• A participial phrase placed at the beginning of a sentence must refer directly to the grammatical subject.

The situation is perilous, but if we are prepared to act promptly, there is still one chance of escape.

• Introductory modifying phrases must be placed correctly to avoid dangling modifiers and unintended logical absurdities.
• Words should be divided at line-ends according to their morphological formation and natural pronunciation.
• Syllable division principles include separating words by formation, dividing on vowels, and handling double letters properly.
• The paragraph serves as the fundamental unit of composition, designating one distinct topic per paragraph.
• Subdividing longer subjects into multiple paragraphs aids the reader by signaling new developmental steps in the text.

Sentences violating this rule are often ludicrous.

• Literary reports, novels, and historical events have traditional structural outlines for analysis and composition.
• Single sentences generally should not form standalone paragraphs, with exceptions made for transitions and dialogue.
• Effective paragraphs typically begin with a clear topic sentence to aid the reader.
• The concluding sentence of a paragraph should emphasize the main thought or state a significant consequence rather than a minor detail.
• Transitional sentences connecting parts of a composition are often best set apart as separate paragraphs.
• Topic sentences can be developed through restatement, definition, illustration, proof, or exploring implications.

Ending with a digression, or with an unimportant detail, is particularly to be avoided.

• Walking tours require absolute independence of pace and freedom from conversational distraction.
• A walker should remain entirely open to external impressions and let thoughts absorb the surrounding environment.
• True motion in the open air induces a fine intoxication that eventually leads to deep peace.
• In the eighteenth century, the conception of history shifted from painting pictures to solving problems.
• Historians began focusing on the lives of peoples, the causes of national growth, and the physiology of nations rather than just kings.

And so long as a man is reasoning he cannot surrender himself to that fine intoxication that comes of much motion in the open air, that begins in a sort of dazzle and sluggishness of the brain, and ends in a peace that passes comprehension.

• The active voice makes writing more forcible, direct, and concise compared to the passive voice.
• Writers should strategically choose between active and passive voices depending on the intended subject of the paragraph.
• Substituting transitive active verbs for perfunctory expressions revitalizes tame descriptive or expository sentences.
• Writers should avoid stacking multiple passive constructions and nouns that express the entire action.
• Statements should be framed in the positive form to make definite assertions and avoid evasive language.
• Readers prefer being told what something is rather than what it is not.

Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is.

• Vigorous and effective writing demands conciseness by eliminating all unnecessary words and parts.
• Common verbose expressions, such as 'the fact that' and wordy filler phrases, should be actively avoided.
• Superfluous relative pronouns like 'who is' and 'which was' add clutter and weaken sentence structure.
• Combining choppy, step-by-step sentences into a single cohesive statement dramatically reduces word count and improves flow.
• Writers must avoid a monotonous succession of loose, coordinate clauses connected by conjunctions.

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

• Writers should vary sentence structures to avoid monotony and better represent the true relations of thought.
• Parallel construction requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar.
• Unskilled writers often mistakenly vary expression forms out of a desire for constant variety.
• Correlative expressions must always be followed by the same grammatical construction.
• Related words and groups of words should be kept close together in a sentence to clearly show their relationship.

The unskilful writer often violates this principle, from a mistaken belief that he should constantly vary the form of his expressions.

• Interposed phrases and clauses should not needlessly interrupt the natural order of the main clause unless used for suspense or apposition.
• Relative pronouns should generally be placed immediately after their antecedents to prevent ambiguity.
• Modifiers must remain as close as possible to the words they modify to avoid suggesting unintended relationships.
• Periodic sentences may deliberately use interruptions to create suspense for the reader.
• When summarizing dramatic action, poetry, or stories, writers should maintain a consistent tense, preferably the present.

The objection is that the interposed phrase or clause needlessly interrupts the natural order of the main clause.

• Maintain consistent tenses throughout a summary to avoid the appearance of uncertainty.
• Avoid repetitive dialogue tags when presenting the thoughts or statements of another person.
• Literary criticism should strive for orderly discussion supported by evidence rather than mere summary.
• Place the most emphatic words or the logical predicate at the end of a sentence for maximum prominence.
• The beginning of a sentence also serves as a prominent position for emphasizing non-subject elements.

Humanity has hardly advanced in fortitude since that time, though it has advanced in many other ways.

• Manuscripts require specific spacing after titles and precise use of figures or Roman numerals for dates and serial numbers.
• Parenthetical expressions are punctuated independently of the sentences that contain them, preserving distinct rules for internal and external marks.
• Formal documentary quotations use colons and quotation marks, whereas appositional or direct object quotes are preceded by commas.
• Verse quotations and indirect discourse following the word 'that' have distinct formatting rules regarding line breaks and quotation marks.
• Scholarly references should avoid redundant labels like act or page when using concise parenthetical or footnote citations.
• Literary titles traditionally require italicization with capitalized initials, omitting initial articles when preceded by a possessive.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!

• The text provides a glossary of frequently misused words and phrases, offering specific guidance on proper usage and style.
• Writers are advised to replace vague generalities and redundant terms like 'case' and 'character' with more definite, concise statements.
• Distinctions are made between similar terms, such as the precise differences in usage between 'compare to' and 'compare with'.
• Grammatical pitfalls are highlighted, including the correct placement of comparative expressions like 'as good or better than'.
• Words that are overused or improperly substituted, such as 'claim' and 'due to', are corrected to maintain clarity and precision.

Often simply redundant, used from a mere habit of wordiness.

• Precise writers avoid vague terms like 'etc.' and ensure words like 'fact' are only used for verifiable matters rather than judgments.
• Overused and hackneyed words such as 'factor' and 'feature' should be replaced with more direct and idiomatic language.
• Colloquialisms like 'fix' for arrange or mend should be restricted to their proper literary senses.
• Redundant expressions such as 'he is a man who' add unnecessary length and should be simplified.
• Grammatical distinctions must be maintained, such as using 'fewer' for countable numbers and 'less' for quantities.
• Writers aiming for originality should discard tired phrases like 'along these lines' in favor of precise phrasing.

Less refers to quantity, fewer to number.

• The word literally is frequently misused to exaggerate metaphors rather than denote actual facts.
• Redundant modifiers and archaic terms like oftentimes should be avoided in favor of concise alternatives.
• Distinctions are drawn between closely related terms, such as the political definition of people versus the public.
• Empty padding phrases like student body and system should be replaced with simpler nouns.
• Adverbial intensifiers like so weaken prose and should be eliminated from formal writing.

If of 'six people' five went away, how many 'people' would be left?

• Avoid closing letters with the passive and presumptuous phrase thanking you in advance.
• Use singular pronouns like he with distributive antecedents instead of incorrectly applying plural forms.
• Use the word very sparingly and rely on inherently strong words for emphasis.
• Restrict the use of while to its literal meaning of during the time that rather than substituting it for and, but, or although.
• Employ should instead of would for first-person conditional statements and indirect quotations.

Some bashful speakers even say, “A friend of mine told me that they, etc.”

• A final compilation of commonly misspelled words is provided.
• Words include terms such as sacrilegious, deceive, and tragedy.
• Specific hyphenation rules are given for time-related words like to-day and to-morrow.
• Pronoun and time phrases like every one and some time must be written as two words.
• This list serves as the conclusion of the guide.

Write to-day, to-night, to-morrow (but not together) with hyphen.

• Statements should be framed in the positive form to make definite assertions and avoid evasive language.

Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is.

• Combining choppy, step-by-step sentences into a single cohesive statement dramatically reduces word count and improves flow.

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

• Unskilled writers often mistakenly vary expression forms out of a desire for constant variety.

The unskilful writer often violates this principle, from a mistaken belief that he should constantly vary the form of his expressions.

• Place the most emphatic words or the logical predicate at the end of a sentence for maximum prominence.

Humanity has hardly advanced in fortitude since that time, though it has advanced in many other ways.

• Grammatical distinctions must be maintained, such as using fewer for countable numbers and less for quantities.

Less refers to quantity, fewer to number.

• Use singular pronouns like he with distributive antecedents instead of incorrectly applying plural forms.

Some bashful speakers even say, “A friend of mine told me that they, etc.”

• Specific hyphenation rules are given for time-related words like to-day and to-morrow.

Write to-day, to-night, to-morrow (but not together) with hyphen.