Strunk and White

I should start by letting you know that I have the Third Edition of Strunk and White.

My first impressions of this book, was that I couldn't believe I paid money for it. On the book shelf at my apartment I already have two or three other books that are about formatting and grammatical particulars. Strunk and White even say, "This book has been concerned with what is correct, or acceptable, in the use of English,"(66). This is an upper-level English course, I already know those things. I was very disappointed.

The element, or section, of the book that helped me the most, I suppose was, "An Approach to Style" as I felt this was the only section that could be considered new material for me. I have always had an appreciation for the idea that an author can be detected by his style alone. I agree that Faulkner and Hemingway sound very different and there is no grammatical or formatting difference to cause this as Strunk and White discuss on page 68. However, I have never seen my own writing having a style all to it's own.
For me though, this has always been okay. I never needed to have my own style. I am not trying to become famous. I am not trying to be distinguishable from the greats by how my writing sounds when read aloud, or even silently for that matter. My writings aren't that good.

Within this section the one that stuck out with me the most was #11, "Do not explain too much." I am someone who, because of my stream of consciousness writing, some times writes things that when read by someone out of context they don't understand. This is why revision is such an important step for me. I am firm believer in explaining things as far as you can because very often readers are not reading what they read daily. They are reading something out of context for there life-that is why they are reading it. Perhaps to escape from their daily life or perhaps to just experience something knew while keeping the risk minimal.
This section was more so referring to dialogue, but I feel that is transferable to many different types of writings. "It is seldom advisable to tell all...Let the conversation itself disclose the speaker's manner or condition," (75). These ideas can be transfered to almost any kind of writing.

The material I found most unhelpful would be found in the "Elementary Rules of Usage" and the "Words and Expressions Commonly Misused". To start with the "Rules", immediately I was put off by the word "elementary"-in a 300-level online writing course the word elementary should not be used to describe anything. I think most people in this course would feel there writing is beyond an "elementary" level. I, as a writer, don't need a reminder about how to form the plural of a word, how to properly write the date, or how to write a series out.
Also, as stated before, since I already own a few books with this material in it, this list of "Words and Expressions Commonly Misused" was nothing but repetitive for me. This was about 26 pages of words that just ends. There are a few comments at the beginning about how writers who mess these words up are careless and not to blame the writers style for using these words. "The Elements of Style" and this whole section has nothing to do with style, but rather laziness and the writer who is in need of another editor.