Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 418
 A concise writing bible March 13, 2010
Hui-ying Chen (Arlington)
I started to get down to the book based on personal recommendation. My professor told me that this book is a must-read and will help us go down to the same path he did. I wanna break the norm that scientists can't write well.
This awesome book was originally written by Willim Strunk Jr, in the hope of helping his students to write well in his class. To his great surprise, one of his students, E.B. White followsuit the clear-cut, lucid, easy-to-read guidlines and transcended the pocket book into a writing bible that's sold millions of copies to this day.
The author provided lucid dos and donts , each with the correct and flawed demonstration.
Classic misused phrases include: per se, -wise, in terms of, interestingly, the fact that to name a few.
He also gave tips on properly using punctuations and where to watch out for.
In the last chapter, he got straight to the point to provide tips for emerging writers and journalists:
1. avoid overstatement
2. familiarity with the use of language will help us form our own style, so just follow the flow
3. there are no infallible, definite guidelines to abide by
4. use spelling check
5. avoid foreign language and colloquial expression
6. dont overexplain things
7. the use of fancy words or trying to be flashy, showy doesn't make you smarter
8. write in a coherent, consistent manner
I had a great time digesting the wisdom within the book with pleasure and euphoria. I hope ya'll can find it helpful, and one day can all write like Strunk and White!
Not just for writers! March 10, 2010
Kristine A. Nicholas (Boston, MA USA)
I was thinking about starting an editing business out of my home, so I purchased this with that in mind. Well, I never did get around to editing, but I still read and re-read this book -- many times. In fact, both my adult children bought copies for themselves. One was in college at the time, the other just enjoyed the book enough to want a copy for herself.
This is a great book that would make a fantastic gift for a high-schooler, or someone in college, as well as the linguist in your life.
My copy is now dogeared, and very much worn. It is time I bought another copy for myself.
 Useful and concise February 26, 2010
RG (USA)
I bought this book as one of the textbooks for a class. It is a pocket size book, and as an international graduate student I find it very useful, specially because English is not my mother language and I have to write many papers for different classes and scientific articles.
 How to Write - The Fundamentals February 19, 2010
stoic (Mobile AL)
With all of the great reviews posted about The Elements of Style, it is a difficult to add anything that hasn't been said before. The Elements of a Style is a great book that will help improve your writing - regardless of how well you write at present. This book is one that writers will want to keep handy.
One of the few drawbacks of The Elements is that it may make people self conscious about all of the mistakes that they have been making in their writing. A bigger problem, as many reviewers have pointed out, is that some of the advice is dated because it is based on the way Americans spoke and wrote in the past.
I recommend The Elements of Style.
Not the best edition February 11, 2010
Ian N. (Southern California, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not the best edition of the book. It seemed to be a more accurate representation of the original writing but The Elements of Style 4th Edition is a better educational book.
The Elements of Style (4th Edition)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 418
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