11 Elementary Principles of Composition from Strunk & White
We just started homeschooling our kids and this is one of the first books we’ve given them to study. They really enjoyed “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White when they were younger so there is a natural progression to an extent.
This is a book that a lot of writers that come to La Muse mention and for good reason. The Elements of Style is basically White’s editing and revision of one of his professor’s, William Strunk Jr., privately published book.It reflects a lot of things Orwell wrote about and is a wonderful way of concentrating on trying to get your prose clean and active.
It’s a slim book but it’s 11 Elementary Principles of Composition are great:
Choose a suitable design and stick to it.
Make the paragraph the unit of composition.
Use the active voice.
Put statements in positive form.
Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Omit needless words.
Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Express coordinate ideas in similar form.
Keep related words together.
In summaries, keep to one tense.
Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
