The Elements of Style
"Use the active voice."
— William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style (1920)
Introduction
| The Elements of Style | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | William Strunk Jr. |
| Language | English |
| Subject | English language; Rhetoric; Style guide |
| Genre | Nonfiction; Reference |
| Publisher | Privately printed |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (pamphlet); e-book |
| Pages | 43 |
| Website | gutenberg.org |
📘 The Elements of Style is a concise American style guide compiled by Cornell English professor William Strunk Jr., first circulated in 1918 as a 43-page, privately printed handbook. [1] It presents compact rules of usage and principles of composition and famously urges writers to “omit needless words,” reflecting a brisk, prescriptive voice. [2] Harcourt, Brace republished the manual for general readers in 1920, fixing the chapter structure that many reprints follow. [3] The book’s wider influence grew after E. B. White revised and expanded it for Macmillan, published in late April 1959. [4] By its 50th anniversary in 2009, The New Yorker noted ten million copies sold. [5] In higher education, the Open Syllabus database ranks it the most frequently assigned text, appearing on more than 15,000 syllabi. [6]
Chapter summary
This outline follows the Harcourt, Brace and Company edition (1920).[3] First-edition bibliographic details (Ithaca: Privately Printed, 1918; 43 pp.) are confirmed by HathiTrust.[1]
📘 1 – Introductory.
🧭 2 – Elementary Rules of Usage.
🏗️ 3 – Elementary Principles of Composition.
🧾 4 – A Few Matters of Form.
🚫 5 – Words and Expressions Commonly Misused.
🔤 6 – Spelling.
📝 7 – Exercises on Chapters II and III.
Background & reception
🖋️ Author & writing. Strunk, a professor of English at Cornell, assembled the handbook to state “in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style,” concentrating on a few essentials rather than exhaustive rules. [2] The original was privately printed in 1918 at 43 pages; Harcourt, Brace republished it in 1920 with the familiar sequence of usage rules, composition principles, matters of form, and lists of misused and misspelled words. [1][3] In March 1957, a copy reached E. B. White at The New Yorker, prompting his “Letter from the East” about Strunk and, soon after, Macmillan’s invitation to create a revised edition; White added a new chapter on style and lightly modernized the text. [4] The result retained Strunk’s crisp prescriptions—“omit needless words” chief among them—while broadening the guidance for mid-century readers. [2]
📈 Commercial reception. The Strunk–White edition appeared in late April 1959; it was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection in May, had 60,000 copies in print by August, and sold about 200,000 copies in its first year while charting across major bestseller lists. [4] By 2009, The New Yorker marked ten million copies sold. [5]
👍 Praise. Contemporary notices were enthusiastic: The New York Times urged, “Buy it, study it, enjoy it,” and The New Yorker praised its “brevity, clarity, and prickly good sense.” [4] Later accolades include TIME’s 2011 list of the 100 best and most influential nonfiction books in English. [7] In 2016, The Guardian placed the 1959 edition at No. 23 in its “100 best nonfiction books” series. [8]
👎 Criticism. Some linguists argue that the book’s prescriptions oversimplify grammar or misdescribe constructions. Geoffrey K. Pullum’s widely cited Chronicle essay contends that much standard advice in Strunk & White is inconsistent and mistaken, especially on the passive voice. [9] The New Yorker has framed these disputes within the larger prescriptivist–descriptivist debate in English usage. [10] Detailed discussions from academic linguists likewise explain why blanket bans on the passive are misguided and how passives actually work in English. [11]
🌍 Impact & adoption. In teaching, the Open Syllabus database consistently ranks The Elements of Style as the most-assigned text, with more than 15,000 appearances across college syllabi. [6] The book has also inspired adaptations and new formats: Penguin published an illustrated edition by Maira Kalman (paperback, 2007), and the New York Public Library hosted a sold-out 2005 song-cycle by Kalman and composer Nico Muhly based on the text. [12][13]
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The elements of style / by William Strunk, Jr". HathiTrust Digital Library. HathiTrust. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "The Elements of Style (1918/1920 text)". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The elements of style" (PDF). Internet Archive. Cornell University Library. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Word Perfect". Cornell Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Elements and Elegance: Fifty Years". The New Yorker. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "The Open Syllabus Project Visualizes the 1,000,000+ Books Most Frequently Assigned in College Courses". Open Culture. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ "Elements of Style". Time. Time USA, LLC. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ McCrum, Robert (4 July 2016). "The 100 best nonfiction books: No 23 – The Elements of Style by William Strunk and EB White (1959)". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ Geoffrey K. Pullum (17 April 2009). "50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice" (PDF). University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ Acocella, Joan (14 May 2012). "The English Wars". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ Geoffrey K. Pullum (24 January 2011). "The passive in English". Language Log (University of Pennsylvania). Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ "The Elements of Style Illustrated". Penguin Random House. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ↑ "LIVE from NYPL: The Elements of Style: A Short Happy Evening of Song with Maira Kalman and Nico Muhly". New York Public Library. 20 October 2005. Retrieved 8 November 2025.