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rukiyareads-blog · 6 years

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Rukiya Reads: The Elements of Style (Part 1)

The classic writer’s manual that tons of people hate for some reason. (Synopsis)

To all of you who involuntarily sighed in exasperation when you saw that title, I cordially invite you to Deal With It. Also, admit that it’s a slick title. Say it out loud and tell me you don’t feel 10% classier.

(Note: I’ll only be talking about the introduction and sections I-IV of this book. An Approach to Style, E.B. White’s section, is a totally different animal.)

Rundown for the uninitiated: William Strunk made a short book of writing etiquette for his students at Cornell in 1918. One of his students was E. B. White, who remembered the book 40 years later and said, “hey, that was a helpful book,” added some more stuff, and then published it. The Elements of Style covers some language basics, such as when to use a period vs. a comma, what constitutes a paragraph, how to make your sentences sound like a sane person wrote them, etc. You know how you’ve been told not to use passive voice? Yeah, it’s because of these guys. It’s not really a grammar book, though there are those who use it that way, but I feel like that’s on them for not checking.

Some people find The Elements outdated, hypocritical, and imperious. Those judgments aren’t necessarily wrong, but they sometimes take on a tone of furious indignation, as if the book personally attacked them somehow. This Pullum guy is especially pissed off. (Pullum, my dude, chill out. It’s only a book. Did something happen? Do you need a hug?) It just makes me wonder if these critics totally missed E. B. White’s introduction. If so, then they ignored key insights by the man who wrote the Greatest Book Ever Written, so I have nothing to say to them, except:

You’ve got some attitude, mister.

The introduction alone is a great read; it paints a vivid picture of the man whose “sharp commands” have benefited many great writers, but seriously chafed others. Why though? White says in the intro that even he can’t totally adhere to Strunk’s standards, that style rules are “a matter of individual preference” and that even established grammar rules are “open to challenge.” I know that White didn’t write the whole book, but he was close friends with the man who wrote the original, and Strunk knew what he was about, son.

“Professor Strunk, although one of the most inflexible and choosy of men, was quick to acknowledge the fallacy of inflexibility and the danger of doctrine.” — E.B. White (Strunk & White, 1959, p. xvii)

As if to prove a point, that above quote brazenly walks all over this decree from the Principles of Composition chapter: “The subject of a sentence and the principle verb should not, as a rule, be separated by a phrase or clause that can be transferred to the beginning.” (p. 29) This isn’t the only time the two authors break their own rules either, they do it a lot. So WTF, Strunk and White?

I’ll tell you WTF. Inflexibility and doctrine are serious problems to an unconventional and versatile writer, if that writer is already skilled. We have to know the rules before we can be good at breaking them. Maybe you think that’s B.S., but for those of us who’ve written something we know is terrible, without knowing why, the cure to our frustration is probably not to change all the periods to semi-colons and put all the sentences in the passive voice.

Strunk created this book for his students, probably so he could get through their papers with ink still left in his red pen. New writers should learn something about how to write effectively, which is different from just knowing the rules of grammar. I’m firmly on Strunk’s side on that point, and not just because he is an advocate of semicolons. (Although that is a big part of it. I freaking love semicolons and it’s sad that they’re not more appreciated. I have removed more than a few of them from my writing in shame, but NEVER AGAIN, SUCKERS!)

I think the problem is that Strunk’s voice reminds people of that one teacher most of us had in high school. The teacher who wouldn’t accept any work they deemed “not our best” and ignored or even mocked us when we disagreed with their methods. Hopefully at some point we realized that that teacher actually wanted us to succeed. They knew that, as teenagers, we had yet to grasp what the world was going to demand from us. Maybe the teacher’s standards were flawed, or different from ours, but the principle of the lesson holds up: The world is challenging, so know exactly what you’re capable of and stand by that. Find your real “A” game and then bring it.

The core principle in The Elements of Style can be summed up in this quote from E. B. White.

“[Strunk] felt it was worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.” —Sam Roberts (NY Times, April 21, 2009)

Strunk and White don’t hate the passive voice or elaborate prose; they hate periphrastic writing.* The book’s value is not in its individual parts, but the overall message of its advice: Say what you mean and say it clearly. Write with conviction. Write with sincerity. Avoid words that interfere with the most coherent and truest expression of your idea. Know when to shut up and let your story speak for itself.

I would not recommend going over every bit of one’s writing and making it adhere to every single rule in the book. If E.B. White couldn’t do it, then I wouldn’t even bother. (I didn’t when I wrote this.) Instead, use the book to learn consistency and self-assurance. Strunk’s advice to “omit needless words” isn’t about brevity for the sake of brevity. It’s about confidence. Great writing doesn’t hesitate.

If you use the book for nothing else, at least read the “Most Commonly Misused Words” chapter; it’s a magical joy ride of English major heaven. Plus, Strunk lays down some harsh burns. I leave you with one of my favorites.

Concerning a paragraph where all the sentences are made of two conjoined clauses that an actual person actually wrote:

“Apart from its triteness and emptiness, the paragraph above is bad because of its sentences, with their mechanical symmetry and singsong.”

Ouch, dude. OUCH.

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*Ok, White might actually hate elaborate prose, but I’ll get to that in Part 2.

(Disclaimer: I know the synopsis article I chose already mentions two of my main points, but I’d written most of this before I found it and I wasn’t about to rewrite it. They get credit for the quote, though.)

#rukiya reviews #book reviews #the elements of style #e. b. white #william strunk #strunk and white #sick burn #periphrastic #look it up

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