The Word According To Strunk (and White)
If I were a religious man, I might be inclined to believe that my eyes were being guided to a little book called Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. "How is that?" you may ask. Thanks for asking. Please let me elaborate.
When you checked out the little Amazon link (Haven't yet? Go ahead. I'll wait.) you will now know that "Elements of Style" is a short authoratative book about writing in the English language.
Growing up I never encountered this book. About all I remember of grade school grammar lessons was that they made sure we knew what a subject and predicate were and how to identify a noun or verb. The man who taught my English classes during 7th and 8th grade was very unhappy with his job and life in general. I think my little brothers class broke him entirely and he went on to a career in bartending. In high school we were taught about the five paragraph format argument (Introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion) and about the importance of varying sentence introductions and verbs (please circle every instance of the verb to be).
From my college experience (Two major universities and one junior college over a 9 year period) I thave come to believe that this particular work is not as popular these days as almost every class that involved writing in any way required the student own a copy of Diana Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual. I was were never actually told to open and read any section of Hackers book. The book was required primarily to provide students with the proper tools to create a works cited page using either the MLA or APA formats. By the time I got around to taking a course about language and grammar I was so mired in the world of alcohol distribution that I rarely showed up for class and dropped out before I actually learned anything about the way our language is put together and flows.
So about a year ago I was reading a back issue of the Fantasy & Science Fiction and found a short story about a guy rebelling against the strictures of Strunk and White as laid down by the university only to find out that it is actually the law of a secret society bent on controlling society. The story caught my interest and I mentioned it to my father. He in turn told me that he had a copy of The Elements of Style and showed me the little volume that had found a place amongst his friends the dictionary and the thesaurus.
I brought the thin volume up to me room determined to see what it was all about. I quickly breezed through the fascinating introduction as its only a couple pages long. A Bathroom Read if you will. I then dumped the book in my box of guilt next to my bed where it has since taken up the task of gathering dust.
Yesterday, I come across this site. It's funny and smart and obviously written by someone who loves language and what it can do. In this post the author makes a reference to the authors of "The Elements of Style" Strunk and White. This demanded an immediate bookmark for later perusal and perhaps to be forwarded to Mental Multivitamin as more in her league of things to talk about than mine. I usually rant about my Master Plan (to take over the world) not finer points of the English Language and the people who do it justice.
So this evening I notice that I'm getting a large number of referrals from Mental Multivitamin. From past experience I knew that Shockingly Provincial must have been mentioned again and I quickly looked up M-MV to find out not only had I been mentioned but an entire section discussed my writing style and My Plea. You will notice that not only am I called on the carpet for my lack of proof reading (I am especially bad with their / there) but earnestly asked to reconsider my plea to the parents of the world.
So first I must say this:
Dear parents of the world,
Please get your children to read any way you can. If the bathroom is the place they feel comfortable then stock it with books and magazines (real magazines not anything so empty as FHM or People). Lock up the TV when you aren't home and password protect your computers so that they can use them only to do what you want and allow them to do. And if you have an adult female child in her late twenties or early thirties with a job and a willingness to support an overweight slightly balding male send them my way. (Hey if the parents of the world are listening to my plea about reading its worth a shot.)
The next issue I need to address that while I'm a professed agnostic, I'm still a pretty superstitious guy. With to "signs" in as many days about grammar I think I'm going to have to read Strunk and White cover to cover just to be safe. The writing muse might get angry.
Omit Needless Words
When you checked out the little Amazon link (Haven't yet? Go ahead. I'll wait.) you will now know that "Elements of Style" is a short authoratative book about writing in the English language.
Growing up I never encountered this book. About all I remember of grade school grammar lessons was that they made sure we knew what a subject and predicate were and how to identify a noun or verb. The man who taught my English classes during 7th and 8th grade was very unhappy with his job and life in general. I think my little brothers class broke him entirely and he went on to a career in bartending. In high school we were taught about the five paragraph format argument (Introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion) and about the importance of varying sentence introductions and verbs (please circle every instance of the verb to be).
From my college experience (Two major universities and one junior college over a 9 year period) I thave come to believe that this particular work is not as popular these days as almost every class that involved writing in any way required the student own a copy of Diana Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual. I was were never actually told to open and read any section of Hackers book. The book was required primarily to provide students with the proper tools to create a works cited page using either the MLA or APA formats. By the time I got around to taking a course about language and grammar I was so mired in the world of alcohol distribution that I rarely showed up for class and dropped out before I actually learned anything about the way our language is put together and flows.
So about a year ago I was reading a back issue of the Fantasy & Science Fiction and found a short story about a guy rebelling against the strictures of Strunk and White as laid down by the university only to find out that it is actually the law of a secret society bent on controlling society. The story caught my interest and I mentioned it to my father. He in turn told me that he had a copy of The Elements of Style and showed me the little volume that had found a place amongst his friends the dictionary and the thesaurus.
I brought the thin volume up to me room determined to see what it was all about. I quickly breezed through the fascinating introduction as its only a couple pages long. A Bathroom Read if you will. I then dumped the book in my box of guilt next to my bed where it has since taken up the task of gathering dust.
Yesterday, I come across this site. It's funny and smart and obviously written by someone who loves language and what it can do. In this post the author makes a reference to the authors of "The Elements of Style" Strunk and White. This demanded an immediate bookmark for later perusal and perhaps to be forwarded to Mental Multivitamin as more in her league of things to talk about than mine. I usually rant about my Master Plan (to take over the world) not finer points of the English Language and the people who do it justice.
So this evening I notice that I'm getting a large number of referrals from Mental Multivitamin. From past experience I knew that Shockingly Provincial must have been mentioned again and I quickly looked up M-MV to find out not only had I been mentioned but an entire section discussed my writing style and My Plea. You will notice that not only am I called on the carpet for my lack of proof reading (I am especially bad with their / there) but earnestly asked to reconsider my plea to the parents of the world.
So first I must say this:
Dear parents of the world,
Please get your children to read any way you can. If the bathroom is the place they feel comfortable then stock it with books and magazines (real magazines not anything so empty as FHM or People). Lock up the TV when you aren't home and password protect your computers so that they can use them only to do what you want and allow them to do. And if you have an adult female child in her late twenties or early thirties with a job and a willingness to support an overweight slightly balding male send them my way. (Hey if the parents of the world are listening to my plea about reading its worth a shot.)
The next issue I need to address that while I'm a professed agnostic, I'm still a pretty superstitious guy. With to "signs" in as many days about grammar I think I'm going to have to read Strunk and White cover to cover just to be safe. The writing muse might get angry.
Omit Needless Words
posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 3:14 AM
4 Comments:
Thank you for the plug on reading!! I agree it is an important thing parents need to instill in their children.
As for the daughter thing.. well, I think if you've already lost enough hair I won't send mine or what is left on your head would turn grey too. Be very careful what you ask for!
orphicsoliloquy.blogdrive.net
i don't think parents need to keep their kids away from computers to make them read - computers can help with reading too. there's ebooks, books on cd-roms, books on cd-roms that read along with your kids (talk about doing the parents' job for them), on-line serials, zines, and... blogs. hey, they could assign the kids to correct our spelling and grammar.
on second thought, yeah, keep them away from computers. paper books. buy them paper books.
The one thing that has stuck with me from Strunk and White for far too many years is the difference between nauseous and nauseated. If you are nauseous you make people want to puke...if you are nauseated you feel like you are going to puke. Somewhere along the line this may have changed for I hear the line constantly in movies...She was nauseous...and immediately old Strunk and White pops into the head and I snicker. Partly because whoever it is does make me want to puke. Did this make sense, oh well.
Anon _ Im a big reader. I'm very grateful that my parents always made sure there were books in our hosue and were willing to talk about and encourage reading. As for the wish for thing I forgot to add unemployed. That pretty much shows the humurous intent.
Tom - My computer comment is just that I just dont think kids should have unsupervised access to the internet. They can find all the smut and message boards they want when they go to college. I've known a number of people who know less about their computer and internet connection then their little children.
Sara sometimes I snicker at bad dialogue on television or in the movies. A lot fo the time I start making angree remarks and get kicked out of the room for interupting peoples enjoyment of bad media.
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