'The Elements of Style' by William Strunk Jr.

Book Review

A brief but inspired tract on the elements of better English writing, Strunk's 'The Elements of Style' remains a favourite of authors and literature students everywhere.

To be sure, this is a short work. There is perhaps good reason for this: one of the book's major teaching points is the the value of conciseness in writing.

Starting with an explanation of the apostrophe ('), the book's first part deals with 'elementary rules of usage', including the use of commas in lists of items, and an exhortation to writers not to break whole sentences in two. 

Strunk continues with 'elementary principles of composition', which detail the features of stylistic and useful writing. Among its parts: rules asking the writer to, wherever possible, adopt the active voice and keep to a single tense in summaries.

I found the final sections, dealing with misused and misspelled words and expressions, the most interesting and eye-opening of the book. Strunk pulls no punches, yet the clarity and efficacy of his own writing remains by far his best argument.

A deserving classic.