THE ELEMENTS OF Style WILLIAM STRUNK Jn With Revisions, an Introduction, and a Chapter on Writing BY E. B. WHITE FOURTH EDITION New York San Francisco Boston London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong MontrealTHE ELEMENTS OF Style WILLIAM STRUNK Je With Revisions, an Introduction, and a Chapter on Writing BY E. B. WHITE FOURTH EDITION New York San Francisca Boston London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Monteeal‘Cormmucirr © 2000, 1979, ALN & Bacon A Pearson Education Company ‘Needham Heights, Massachusetts 02494 All rights reserved. No part of this book mney be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic oF mechanical, including photo- copying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without emission in waiting from the Publisher. Earlier editions © 1959, 1972 by Macmillan Publishing Co., Ine. ‘The Introduction originally appeared, in slighty different form, in The New Yorker, and was copyrighted in 1957 by The New Yorker Magazine, In. ‘The Blements of Style, Revised Baition, by William Strunk Js and Edward {A Tenney, copyright 1935 by Oliver Strunk Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, Strunk, William, 1869-1946, ‘The elements of style /by Wiliam Strunk, Je. with revisions, introduction, and a chapter on writing by E. B. White, — 4th ed. Pom, Includes index ISBN 0-205-30902-X (paperback). — ISBN 0-205.31349.6 (easchound) 1. English language—Rhetoric. 2. English language—Styl. 3. Report writing, I. White, E, B. (Elwyn Brooks), 1890- ML, Title PEIO.S772 1990 308'.042—de21 9.16119 cr PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, bo 4 BC Contents ForEworD INTRODUCTION I. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ’ 2. Ina series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas 4. Place a comma before a conjunetion introducing an independent clause. 5. Do not join independent clauses with a comma. Do not break sentences in two. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. 8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long, appositive or summary. 9. The number of the subject determines the number of the verb. 10. Use the proper case of pronoun, xiii ae