The Elements of Style

Many consider The Elements of Style—originally composed by William Strunk Jr. in 1918 and subsequently enlarged and modernized by his student E.B. White in 1959—to be a definitive text on English grammar and composition. It prescriptively conveys elementary principles of composition within a remarkably trim volume.(1) Strunk’s aim was to cultivate good writing by addressing the virtues of cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English. Since its publication, the much-loved “little book” has fulfilled that goal and reminded countless writers—including me—of the importance of every written word and how to make each understandable by means of lucid, concise prose. 

The essential principles enumerated by The Elements of Style—such as working from a suitable design and using definite, specific, and concrete words—have proven applicable to more than writing alone. My professor at the University of Oregon, William {“Bill”) Kleinsasser, recognized how felicitous its approach to style, matters of form, and principles of composition are to the creation of architecture. Though they required translation from their literary framework, Bill liberally featured excerpts from The Elements of Style in his self-published textbook Synthesis to emphasize how appropriate organizational structure for built-places is derived—like good writing—from fundamental areas of concern. 

For example, achieving parts and wholes that are clear, or creating both diversity and unity so that people might say all components in a place have their own identity. Or providing a variety of parts that are nonetheless mutually dependent and form a recognizably single whole. As with well-written letters or essays, the most important parts of built places are tied fundamentally to their organizational structure. 

Strunk and White likewise inspired Bill and his thinking about the making of evocative, memorable, eloquent, and alive places. Just as writers employ words to poetic effect, architects strive to achieve more than merely utilitarian solutions to design problems. William Strunk would have undoubtedly agreed with Bill’s assertion that vitality, complexity, vivid parts and wholes, and multiplicity of experiences—whether associated with architecture or writing—are best achieved via expressive, yet economic means. 

The following are selections from The Elements of Style that Bill cited with regularity while outlining his theory base for architecture: 

“The first principle of composition . . . is to foresee or determine the shape of what is to come, and pursue that shape . . . (All) forms of composition have skeletons to which the (composer) will bring the flesh and blood. The more clearly he perceives the shape, the better are his chances of success.” 

"Before beginning to compose something, gauge the nature and extent of the enterprise and work from a suitable design. Design informs even the simplest structure, whether of brick and steel or of prose. You raise a pup tent from one sort of vision, a cathedral from another . . . Columbus didn’t just sail, he sailed west, and the new world took shape from this simple and, we now think, sensible design.” 

“Use definite, specific, concrete language.” 

“Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.” 

“If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest writers—Dante, Homer, Shakespeare—are effective largely because they deal in and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures 

“It is not that every detail is given—that would be impossible, as well as to no purpose—but that all the significant details are given, and with such accuracy and vigor that the reader, in imagination, can project himself into the scene. 

“In his Philosophy of Style, Herbert Spencer gives two sentences to illustrate how the vague and general can be turned into the vivid and particular: 

• In proportion as the manners, customs, and amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations of their penal code will be severe. 
• In proportion as men delight in battles, bullfights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, burning, and the rack.” 

“To show what happens when strong writing is deprived of its vigor, George Orwell once took a passage from the Bible and drained it of its blood. (First), below, is Orwell’s translation; (following), the verse from Ecclesiastes: 

• Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must inevitably be taken into account. 
• I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nether yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” 

“Vigorous writing is concise. 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. 

“A common way to fall into wordiness is to present a single complex idea, step by step, in a series of sentences that might to advantage be combined into one. For example: 

• Macbeth was very ambitious. This led him to wish to become king of Scotland. The witches told him that this wish of his would come true. The king of Scotland at this time was Duncan. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth murdered Duncan. He was thus enabled to succeed Duncan as king. (51 words) 
• Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth achieved his ambition and realized the prediction of the witches by murdering Duncan and becoming king of Scotland in his place. (26 words)” 

“Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such separate entity; it is nondetachable, unfilterable. The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style—all mannerisms, tricks, adornments.” 

“The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.” 

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It’s easy to see why Bill looked to the work of Strunk and White. He knew how influential The Elements of Style was and found within the book affirmation of truths he considered universally applicable. It was Bill’s genius to introduce his architecture students to lessons from disparate and seemingly unrelated points of view. 

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I looked for my copy of The Elements of Style after deciding it should be the topic for this blog post, but could not find it. It’s got to be here somewhere. If it doesn't turn up, I’ll probably acquire one of the newer editions, perhaps the much-expanded Elements of Style 2017 or The Elements of Style [Illustrated]. Or maybe I’ll simply opt for the fourth edition of the original classic.

       (1)     The original edition of The Elements of Style comprised only forty-three pages. The later, expanded versions by White totaled slightly more than one hundred pages.