The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr.

The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr. # Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form. This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. Familiar instances from the Bible are the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church. In the fifth book of The Excursion, Wordsworth gives a minute description of this church. Cast iron, when treated in a Bessemer converter, is changed into steel. By treatment in a Bessemer converter, cast iron is changed into steel. The objection is that the interposed phrase or clause needlessly interrupts the natural order of the main clause. This objection, however, does not usually hold when the order is interrupted only by a relative clause or by an expression in apposition. Nor does it hold in periodic sentences in which the interruption is a deliberately used means of creating suspense (see examples under Rule 18). The relative pronoun should come, as a rule, immediately after its antecedent. There was a look in his eye that boded mischief. In his eye was a look that boded mischief. He wrote three articles about his adventures in Spain, which were published in Harper's Magazine. He published in Harper's Magazine three articles about his adventures in Spain. This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, who became President in 1889. This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison. He became President in 1889. If the antecedent consists of a group of words, the relative comes at the end of the group, unless this would cause ambiguity. The Superintendent of the Chicago Division, who A proposal to amend the Sherman Act, which has been variously judged A proposal, which has been variously judged, to amend the Sherman Act A proposal to amend the much-debated Sherman Act The grandson of William Henry Harrison, who William Henry Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison, who A noun in apposition may come between antecedent and relative, because in such a combination no real ambiguity can arise. Modifiers should come, if possible next to the word they modify. If several expressions modify the same word, they should be so arranged that no wrong relation is suggested. # In summaries, keep to one tense. But whichever tense be used in the summary, a past tense in indirect discourse or in indirect question remains unchanged. The Legate inquires who struck the blow. Apart from the exceptions noted, whichever tense the writer chooses, he should use throughout. Shifting from one tense to the other gives the appearance of uncertainty and irresolution (compare Rule 15). In notebooks, in newspapers, in handbooks of literature, summaries of one kind or another may be indispensable, and for children in primary schools it is a useful exercise to retell a story in their own words. But in the criticism or interpretation of literature the writer should be careful to avoid dropping into summary. He may find it necessary to devote one or two sentences to indicating the subject, or the opening situation, of the work he is discussing; he may cite numerous details to illustrate its qualities. But he should aim to write an orderly discussion supported by evidence, not a summary with occasional comment. Similarly, if the scope of his discussion includes a number of works, he will as a rule do better not to take them up singly in chronological order, but to aim from the beginning at establishing general conclusions. # Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. The proper place for the word, or group of words, which the writer desires to make most prominent is usually the end of the sentence. The word or group of words entitled to this position of prominence is usually the logical predicate, that is, the new element in the sentence, as it is in the second example. The effectiveness of the periodic sentence arises from the prominence which it gives to the main statement. The other prominent position in the sentence is the beginning. Any element in the sentence, other than the subject, becomes emphatic when placed first. A subject coming first in its sentence may be emphatic, but hardly by its position alone. In the sentence, Through the middle of the valley flowed a winding stream. The principle that the proper place for what is to be made most prominent is the end applies equally to the words of a sentence, to the sentences of a paragraph, and to the paragraphs of a composition.