On Writing Well

Phil Gons put me on to 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice, a delightfully-testy attack on Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style.

So I won’t be spending the month of April toasting 50 years of the overopinionated and underinformed little book… English syntax is a deep and interesting subject. It is much too important to be reduced to a bunch of trivial don’t-do-this prescriptions by a pair of idiosyncratic bumblers who can’t even tell when they’ve broken their own misbegotten rules.

Alas, The Elements march on unmolested. A testimony to the convenience of their form, the boldness of the assertions, and the continued strength of the brand.

In that spirit:

1. Throw away your Elements.
2. Purchase On Writing Well, by William Zinsser.