Grammar Girl here, today's topic is the Elements of Style by Strunk & White.

50 years ago this month, Strunk & White's The Elements of Style as we know it today was

published.

In honor of the occasion, the noted linguist and grammarian Joffrey Pullman has written

a scathing review of the book in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled 50 Years of Stupid

Grammar Advice.

And many people who listen to this podcast or subscribe to my email newsletter have

written in to ask what I think.

Well, I know many of you love that book, but Pullman backs up every one of his criticisms.

For example, pointing out that Strunk & White's examples in the Use Active Voice section

are strangely contrived, and the examples of passive voice sentences aren't actually

passive voice sentences.

It's hard to argue with that.

But I have my own beef with Strunk & White, which doesn't so much relate to the content,

but instead to the hallowed status so many writers give the book.

I can forgive a few errors, although after 50 years you'd think someone would have fixed

them.

But the tragedy to me is that Strunk & White is the only grammar book so many people have

ever studied, and nobody bothered to tell them, or they didn't remember, that the book

is largely about style choices, not hard and fast rules.

A style guide is by definition a book that in large part prescribes how a writer should

treat things that could go either way, style choices.

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