Strunk and White comments

I think Strunk and White’s Elements of Style is great for me as a student, and as a writer, because it clarifies a lot of the rules I've already heard, plus adds a few new rules that will improve my writing.

I found rule number 17 “omit needless words” (Strunk, White. 23-24) helpful. This is helpful to me because I tend to ramble and insert unnecessary words. I’m always being told to be more concise. My problem with the rule, is I often have trouble finding the unnecessary words. Or if I find the unnecessary words, I will have trouble rephrasing the sentence to get rid of the extra words. But after reading the description under the rule, I think I understand what to look for and how to rephrase the sentence better than before.

Rule 15 “Put statements in positive form.” (Strunk, White. 19) I can see being helpful to me. In a journalism course I took, I was told to never write ‘not guilty’ or ‘not innocent’ just in case a typo happens and it is printed ‘guilty’ when the person is really innocent. Printing something like that would be a big mistake. Another reason why this rule is a good rule is because it gets rid of unnecessary words like the example used on page 19, “He was not very often on time,” and the positive “He usually came late.” The negative is seven words and the positive is only four words. So putting sentences in positive form can also help get rid of needless words.

What Strunk and White had to say about headings, I found unhelpful. “Headings. If a manuscript is to be submitted for publication, leave plenty of space at the top of page 1. The editor will need this space to write directions to the compositor. Place the heading, or title, at least a fourth of the way down the page. Leave a blank line, or its equivalent in space, after the heading. On succeeding pages, begin near the top, but not so near as to give a crowded appearance. Omit the period after a title or heading. A question mark or an exclamation point may be used if the heading calls for it.” (Strunk, White. 34) I find this unhelpful because when submitting a manuscript for publication, I have always been told to put in your title one-third down the page, not a quarter of the way down. At the top of the first page, on the left side, you put your contact information, on the right side, you put the total word count, the rights being offered for sale, and your copyright notice. On the following pages, all that is at the top is the author’s last name, a dash, and the page number. All the pages are double spaced, with one inch margins on all sides. It is in these spaces that the editor will write any comments about the manuscript, which unless accepted, will never reach the author, because publications don’t return rejected manuscripts.