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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". It was written written by William Strunk Jr. in the 1910s and later expanded by E. B. White in the 1950s.

The guide is relatively short (~80 pages) compared to definitive guides like "Chicago Manual of Style" (~1000 pages), "America Psychological Association (APA Guide)" (~400 pages). 

The following are Wikipedia articles of these style guides:

 - [The Elements of Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style)
 - [The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicago_Manual_of_Style)
 - [American Psychological Association (APA)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_style)

# 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, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation.
 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.