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| + | # Strunk & White | ||
| + | **Strunk & White** is a guide on writing text in the English language. The guide is contained in a book titled "The Elements of Style" | ||
| + | The guide is relatively short (~80 pages) compared to definitive guides like " | ||
| + | |||
| + | The following are Wikipedia articles of these style guides: | ||
| + | |||
| + | - [The Elements of Style](https:// | ||
| + | - [The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)](https:// | ||
| + | - [American Psychological Association (APA)](https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | # Overview | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## Elementary rules of usage: | ||
| + | |||
| + | 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. | ||
| + | 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjuction, use a comma after each term except the last | ||
| + | 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas | ||
| + | 4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause | ||
| + | 5. Do not join independent clauses with a comma | ||
| + | 6. Do not break sentences in two. | ||
| + | 7. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, | ||
| + | 8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary. | ||
| + | 9. The number of the subject determines the number of the verb. | ||
| + | 10. Use the proper case of pronoun. | ||
| + | 11. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## Elementary principles of composition | ||
| + | |||
| + | 12. Choose a suitable design and hold to it. | ||
| + | 13. Make the paragraph the unit of composition. | ||
| + | 14. Use the active voice. | ||
| + | 15. Put statements in positive form. | ||
| + | 16. Use definite, specific, concrete language. | ||
| + | 17. Omit needless words. | ||
| + | 18. Avoid a scucession of loose sentences. | ||
| + | 19. Express coordinate ideas in similar form. | ||
| + | 20. Keep related words together. | ||
| + | 21. In summaries, keep to one tense. | ||
| + | 22. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## A few matters of form: | ||
| + | |||
| + | - Colloquialisms | ||
| + | - Exclamations | ||
| + | - Headings | ||
| + | - Hyphen | ||
| + | - Margins | ||
| + | - Numerals | ||
| + | - Parentheses | ||
| + | - Quotations | ||
| + | - References | ||
| + | - Syllabication | ||
| + | - Titles | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## Words and expressions commonly missused | ||
| + | |||
| + | - Aggravate. Irritate | ||
| + | - All right | ||
| + | - Allude | ||
| + | - Allusion | ||
| + | - Alternate. Alternative. | ||
| + | - Among. Between. | ||
| + | - And / or. | ||
| + | - Anticipate. | ||
| + | - Anybody. | ||
| + | - As good or better than. | ||
| + | - As to whether. | ||
| + | - As yet. | ||
| + | - Being. | ||
| + | - But. | ||
| + | - Can. | ||
| + | - Care less. | ||
| + | - Case. | ||
| + | - Certainly. | ||
| + | - Character. | ||
| + | - CLaim. | ||
| + | - Clever. | ||
| + | - Compare. | ||
| + | - Consider. | ||
| + | - Contact. | ||
| + | - Cope. | ||
| + | - Currently. | ||
| + | - Data. | ||
| + | - Different than. | ||
| + | - Disinterested. | ||
| + | - Dividided into. | ||
| + | - Due to. | ||
| + | - Each and every one. | ||
| + | - Effect. | ||
| + | - Enormity. | ||
| + | - Enthuse. | ||
| + | - Etc. | ||
| + | - Fact. | ||
| + | - Facility. | ||
| + | - Factor. | ||
| + | - Farther. Further. | ||
| + | - Feature. | ||
| + | - Finalize. | ||
| + | - Fix. | ||
| + | - Flammable. | ||
| + | - Folk. | ||
| + | - Fortuitous. | ||
| + | - Get. | ||
| + | - Gratuitous. | ||
| + | - He is a man who. | ||
| + | - Hopefully. | ||
| + | - However. | ||
| + | - Illusion. | ||
| + | - Imply. Infer. | ||
| + | - Importantly. | ||
| + | - In regard to. | ||
| + | - In the last analysis. | ||
| + | - Inside of. Inside. | ||
| + | - Insightful. | ||
| + | - In terms of. | ||
| + | - Interesting. | ||
| + | - Irregardless. | ||
| + | - -ize. | ||
| + | - Kind of. | ||
| + | - Lay. | ||
| + | - Leave. | ||
| + | - Less. | ||
| + | - Like. | ||
| + | - Line. Along these lines. | ||
| + | - Literal. Literally. | ||
| + | - Loan. | ||
| + | - Meaningful. | ||
| + | - Memento. | ||
| + | - Most. | ||
| + | - Nature. | ||
| + | - Nauseous. Nauseated. | ||
| + | - Nice. | ||
| + | - Nor. | ||
| + | - Noun used as verb. | ||
| + | - Offputting. Ongoing. | ||
| + | - One. | ||
| + | - One of the most. | ||
| + | - -oriented. | ||
| + | - Partially. | ||
| + | - Participle for verbal noun. | ||
| + | - People. | ||
| + | - Personalize. | ||
| + | - Possess. | ||
| + | - Presently. | ||
| + | - Prestigious. | ||
| + | - Refer. | ||
| + | - Regretful. | ||
| + | - Relate. | ||
| + | - Respective. Respectively. | ||
| + | - Secondly, thirdly, etc. | ||
| + | - Shall. Will. | ||
| + | - Sort of. | ||
| + | - Split infinitive. | ||
| + | - State. | ||
| + | - Student body. | ||
| + | - Than. | ||
| + | - Thanking you in advance. | ||
| + | - That. Which. | ||
| + | - The forseeable future. | ||
| + | - The truth. | ||
| + | - They. He or She. | ||
| + | - This. | ||
| + | - Thrust. | ||
| + | - Tortuous. Torturous. | ||
| + | - Transpire. | ||
| + | - Try. | ||
| + | - Type. | ||
| + | - Unique. | ||
| + | - Utilize. | ||
| + | - Verbal. | ||
| + | - Very. | ||
| + | - While. | ||
| + | - -wise. | ||
| + | - Worth while. | ||
| + | - Would. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## An approach to style | ||
| + | |||
| + | 1. Place yourself in the background. | ||
| + | 2. Write in a way that comes naturally. | ||
| + | 3. Work from a suitable design. | ||
| + | 4. Write with nouns and verbs. | ||
| + | 5. Revise and rewrite. | ||
| + | 6. Do not overwrite. | ||
| + | 7. Do not overstate. | ||
| + | 8. Avoid the use of qualifiers. | ||
| + | 9. Do not affect a breezy manner. | ||
| + | 10. Use orthodox spelling. | ||
| + | 11. Do not explain too much. | ||
| + | 12. Do not construct awkward adverbs. | ||
| + | 13. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking. | ||
| + | 14. Avoid fancy words. | ||
| + | 15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good. | ||
| + | 16. Be clear. | ||
| + | 17. Do not inject opinion. | ||
| + | 18. Use figures of speech sparingly. | ||
| + | 19. Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity. | ||
| + | 20. Avoid foreign languages. | ||
| + | 21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat. | ||
