The Elements of Style

• Elementary rules of usage
• Elementary principles of composition
• A few matters of form
• Words and expressions commonly misused

Elementary rules of usage

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with ‘s.

   Charlie’s friend

   Burn’s poems

   Exceptions are possesives of ancient names in -es and -is.

   Achilles’ heel

   Moses’ laws

   Commonly replaced by

   The heel of Achilles

   The laws of Moses

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

   red, white, and blue

   honest, energic, but headstrong

   In names of businesses firms the last comma is ommited

   Brown, Shipley and Company

   etc., even if is a single word it always comes preceded by a comma.

3. Enclose parenthesic expressions between commas.

   The best way to see a country, unless are pressed for time, is to travel on foot.

   If the interruption to the flow of the sentence is but slight, the writer may safely omit one or the other comma.

   Marjorie’s husband, Colonel Nelson paid us a visit yesterday,

   or

   My brother you will be pleased to hear, is now in perfect health,

4. Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause.

   The early records of the city have disappeared, and the story of its first years can no longer be reconstructed.

   The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.

5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma.

   The proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon

   Stevenson’s romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures.

   It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.

   It is also correct ro replace semicolons with periods.

   If a conjuntion is inserted the proper punctuation is a comma.

   Stevenson’s romances are entertaining, for they are full of exciting adventures.

6. Do not break sentences in two.

   Or basically, don’t use periods as commas.

7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject.

   Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman accompanied by two children.

8. Divide words at line-ends, in accordance with their formation and pronunciation.

   A. Devide the word according to its formation

   know-ledge, de-scribe, atmo-sphere

   B. Devide on the vowels

   edi-ble, propo-sition, ordi-nary

   C. Devide between double letters

   apen-nines, Cincin-nati, refer-ring; but tell-ing

Elementary principles of composition

1. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.

2. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning.

   Ending with a digression, or with an unimportant detail, is particularly to be avoided.

3. Use the active voice.

   The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive.

   I shall always remember my first visit to Boston.

   Is much better than

   My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me.

4. Put statements in positive form.

   Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.

   He was not very often on time.

   He usually came late.

   He did not think that studying Latin was much use.

   He thought the study of Latin useless.

   It is better to express a negative in positive form.

   not honest, dishonest

   not important, trifling

   did not remember, forgot

5. Omit needless words.

   the question as to whether, whether

   there is no doubt but that, no doubt

   used for fuel purposes, used for fuel

   he is a man who, he

6. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.

   Loose sentences of a particular type, those consisting of two co-ordinate clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction or relative. Although single sentences of this type may be unexceptionable (see under Rule 4), a series soon becomes monotonous and tedious.

7. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form.

   The French, the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese – Bad

   The French, the Italians, the Spanish, and the Portuguese – Good

   In spring, summer, or in winter – Bad

   In spring, summer, or winter – Good

8. Keep related words together.

   Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church. – Bad

   In the fifth book of The Excursion, Wordsworth gives a minute description of this church. – Good

   Cast iron, when treated in a Bessemer converter, is changed into steel. – Bad

   By treatment in a Bessemer converter, cast iron is changed into steel. – Good

9. In summaries, keep to one tense.

   In summarizing the action of a drama, the writer should always use the present tense. In summarizing a poem, story, or novel, he should preferably use the present, though he may use the past if he prefers.

10. 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.

    Humanity has hardly advanced in fortitude since that time, though it has advanced in many other ways. – Bad

    Humanity, since that time, has advanced in many other ways, but it has hardly advanced in fortitude. – Good

A few matters of form

• Headings. Leave a blank line, after the title or heading of the manuscript. On succeding pages, begin on the first line.
• Numerals. Don’t spell them, write them in figures or Roman notation.
• Parentheses. A sentence containing an expression in parenthesis is punctuated, outside of the marks of parenthesis, exactly as if the expression in parenthesis were absent.
• Quotations.

  • Formal quotations as documentary evidence with semicolon an quotation marks

    The provision of the Constitution is: “No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.”

  • Quotations grammatically in apposition or the direct objects of verbs are preceded by a comma with quotation marks

    Aristotle says, “Art is an imitation of nature.”

  • Quotations of an entire line, or more, of verse, are begun on a fresh line and centred, but not enclosed in quotation marks.
  • Proverbial expressions and familiar phrases of literary origin require no quotation marks.

• References. Give the references in parenthesis or in footnotes, not in the body of the sentence. Omit the words act, scene, line, book, volume, page, except when referring by only one of them.

  2 Samuel i:17-27

  Othello II.iii 264-267, III.iii. 155-161

• Titles. Italics with capitalized initials.

  The Iliad; the Odyssey; As You Like It; To a Skylark; The Newcomes.

Words and expressions commonly misused

• All right. Agreed or go ahead. In other cases better to be avoided.

• As good or better.

  My opinion is as good or better than his. – Bad

  My opinion is as good as his, or better – Good

• To whether. Whether is sufficient.
• Bid. Takes infinitive without to. The past tense is bade.
• Case. The word is usually unnecessary.
• Certainly. Bad in speech is even worse in writing.
• Character. Ofter simply redundant.
• Claim. Not to be used as a subsitute for declare, maintain, or charge.
• Compare. Compare to point out resemblances between different objects. Compare with to point out differences in resembling objects.
• Clever. Greatly overused, best to restrict it to small matters.
• Consider. Not followed by as when it means “believe to be”
• Dependable. Could be substituted by reliable, trustworthy.
• Due to. Incorrectly used for through, because of or owing to.
• Effect. Not to be confused with affect (to influence). Often can be replaced by something else on writing about fashions, music, painting and other arts.
• Etc.. Not to be used of persons. It should not left the reader with doubt of the continouty of the serie.
• Fact. Used when verified, not of matters of judment.
• Factor. Usually can be replaced by something more direct and idiomatic.
• Feature. It usually adds nothing to the sentence it occurs.
• Fix. In writing restrict it to its senses, fasten, make firm or immovable, etc.
• He is a man who. Redundant.
• However. In the meaning of nevertheless, not to come first in its sentence or clause.
• Kind of. Not to be used as a replacement for rather. Prefer to use something like. Same for sort of.
• Less. Not to be misused for fewer. Less refers to quantity, fewer to number.
• Line, along these lines. Has been overworked. Better to be discarded entirely.
• Literal, literally. Oftern incorrectly used in support of exaggeration or violent metaphor.
• Lose out. Just use lose.
• Most. Not to be used for almost.
• Nature. Often redundant.
• Near by. Near, or near at hand is better.
• Oftentimes, oftimes. Not used, just use often.
• One hundred and one. Don’t forget the and.
• One of the most. Avoid begining paragraphs with it.
• People. The people is a political term, not to be confused with the public. Not to be used with words of number.
• Phase. Means a stage of transition.
• Possess. Not to be used as a substitute of have or own.
• Respective, respectively. May be ommited.
• So. Avoid using it as an intensifier.
• State. Restrict it to the sense of express fully or clearly.
• Student body. Awkard expression. Use students.
• System. Frequently used without need.
• Thanking you in advance. Simply write “Thanking you”.
• They. The intention being either to avoid the awkward “he or she,” or to avoid committing oneself to either. Just use “he”.
• Very. Try to avoid it.
• Viewpoint. Better to use point of view. Do not misuse it for view or opinion.
• While. Avoid the indiscriminate use of this word for and, but, and although.
• Whom. Often incorrectly used for who before he said or similar expressions.
• Worth while. Try to avoid it. Can be applied for actions.

• Would. A conditional statement in the first person requires should, not would.

  I should not have succeeded without his help.

  The equivalent of shall in indirect quotation after a verb in the past tense is should, not would.

  He predicted that before long we should have a great surprise.

  To express habitual or repeated action, the past tense, without would, is usually sufficient, and from its brevity, more emphatic.

  Once a year he would visit the old mansion. – Bad

  Once a year he visited the old mansion. – Good