: Alternative to Strunk & White? I have to confess that I find Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style" to be a very tedious read. Can anyone recommend an alternative title that covers

Vote Up Vote Down

It depends what you're looking for.

Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century appreciates the strengths and weaknesses of Strunk and White, explains its history and tries to provide a more diverse kind of help for writers. Its longest chapter, which is over 100 pages, discusses the "rules" of word choices, but the rest of the book talks about other important aspects of writing (especially when the reader needs to learn, e.g. in non-fiction or stories with heavy worldbuilding).

Mark Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence: How To Turn the Perfect English Phrase discusses dozens of writing techniques that have been useful for centuries. Occasionally, it argues some "ungrammatical" constructions are worth it.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

At the base there are "formating" guides, the driest of them all, like the Associated Press Style, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA handbook....
S&W is sometimes listed under the former category, but it is more a writing philosophy, a stylistic statement. Yes, it can be tedious in parts, but it is well worth it. The gist of it is to be effective with your writing.
For more visual learners there is "The Elements of Style - Illustrated"
Then there are writing guides like: "On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser". Here is a link to some of the best books on writing

(0)