The Elements of Style [pdf]

Post by jcranmer » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 1:27 PM UTC

madcaptenor wrote: post #29

jcranmer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the most damning thing about the book is the invective against the passive. The book opens with use of the passive voice, its authors apparently unaware how idiomatic its use is in certain circumstances. It introduces the passive voice with a sentence that is in the passive voice but is so independently clunky that an astute reader would wonder "no, wait, why would anyone attempt the passive?" It then goes th…

(For reference, the first sentence is "This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature.") Out of curiosity I googled "we intend this book" and people do seem to use that wording sometimes in introducing their books. Why don't Strunk and White do that?

Post by madcaptenor » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 1:39 PM UTC

jcranmer wrote: post #31

madcaptenor wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(For reference, the first sentence is "This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature.") Out of curiosity I googled "we intend this book" and people do seem to use that wording sometimes in introducing their books. Why don't Strunk and White do that?

Not certain as to why, but one plausible explanation is an opinion that using first person pronouns would be inappropriate, as it is "too conversational" or something like that.

Post by lindig » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 1:45 PM UTC

Post by ryanklee » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 2:00 PM UTC

grayclhn wrote: post #21

canjobear wrote: post #3

Nothing but a pile of linguistic ignorance and the authors’ weird peeves. See http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf

I was expecting something a bit more comprehensive and damning after the link… but if one of the most objectionable and controversial claims in the book is about adverbs modifying “unique” I think I’ll continue to recommend elements of style.

Post by dcuthbertson » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 2:23 PM UTC

dsign wrote: post #32

erksa wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As English is not my first language, Elements of Style really has done a decent job of highlighting things that I either completely missed back in my English education, or was not covered at all.

I struggle mightily with "on"/"in". It's a funny thing; English native speakers will tell you that there are rules: "in" is for "inside" and "on" is for "on the surface", as simple as that. But almost every use I can think of is ambiguous. Is that smile in your face or on your face? Are you sleeping in your bed, because your mattress closes over you like the insides of a bag, or on your bed, because it's just a woode…