Writers Who Write

Today is National Grammar Day, a time when a fading institution, the written word, gets its annual 24 hours of attention. As such, we thought we'd take a moment to encourage writers -- young and old -- to dust off a helpful book about writing: "The Elements of Style." The short, to-the-point book, written in 1918 by E.B. White, the author of "Charlotte's Web," is an adaptation of the smart lessons of his former teacher, William Strunk, Jr., who shares honors as co-author. "The Elements of Style" is a mainstay for many English teachers in America for its simple, utilitarian approach to the language. There's no discouraging red pen in the book, rather simple, persuasive advice for writers written in plain English.

There's lots to be said about punctuation and other in-the-weeds issues. We thought we'd  highlight a more general rule that we hope more people will embrace: "Omit Needless Words." (Yes, you long-winded, shameless self promoters at The Huffington Post, we're thinking especially of you!) "Vigorous writing is concise," according to the authors. "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."

Here are a few phrases to demonstrate:

As Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, once wrote: "So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads."

Happy Grammar Day!

| More...