Strunk and White: First Impressions

After reading Strunk and White's, The Elements of Style, I was intrigued with the information in the book. I felt the book was a fairly easy read and the information wasn't overbearing to comprehend. As I was reading, I realized that there were answers in this book to many of the questions that I had as a writer. This is a little book, but I feel that is useful to have for writers of any level. I feel that the book is conveniently small for writers to have in any place, and easy to look up information as well.

There were several "elements" mentioned that I felt are useful for me to have as a writer. The element that caught my attention was chapter 4, which was a list of words and expressions commonly misused. There are a lot of words listed that I commonly misuse, and honestly didn't know the correct meanings. For example nauseous meaning sickening to contemplate, and nauseated meaning sick at the stomach. I have always used these words interchangeably, not knowing the difference in meaning. In Chapter 4 I liked that the words listed were written with examples of how they were used incorrectly, and the correct way to use these words as well. I felt this to be most helpful.

There were a few elements that I found unhelpful for a writer, or just couldn't understand. Chapter 3 discusses the matters of form. I found that some of these were dated. The discussion of margins isn't of any help, since most writers use a word processor with margins already set. Also, I don't feel that there is one correct way of writing titles, headings, or numerals in a paper. I feel like there are many correct ways, other then the ones stated by Strunk and White.

Overall, I found that this is a useful reference book for any writer, or student to own. I feel like this is a book that answers questions that many of us have. I don't think that there are exact rules for each element of writing, but I do feel that there are useful examples in this book that a writer can always refer back to.