Ten of the best things we can learn from Strunk and White on writing better non-fiction
I’m sitting at a cafe at the airport, waiting for a flight from Tallinn to London. I feel a sense of soft sadness for leaving after five months here.
But with this spare time comes the opportunity to run through some of my favourite points on writing from a writing classic:
Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.
This book, published in 1918, is continually referred to as a classic guide to English grammar and writing style. I took some of it with a grain of salt because some of their advice is a little dated, but most of it is still relevant for current writing.
Though I believe a good story and relevant content trump grammar and style, the latter is still vital and overlooked by many who want to create impact with their words.
I dipped into the book again recently and extracted some of the most critical points to help tighten up our writing.
Here we go:
Omit needless words.
Every sentence must be tightened up for brevity and subsequent clarity.
You’re not here to show off how much you can write. You’re here to serve the reader by telling us your stories in the simplest way (but not…
