After having to read William Strunk and E.B. White's Elements
of Style and Dianna Booher's E-Writing, I found that both books
had many similarities and differences in the particular points that each
author chooses to address. For example, Booher talks more about the
text from an e-mail stand point, while Strunk and White talk about the writing
aspect in an old-fashioned way. What Strunk and White felt as important
in their book Booher did not always express the same concern on that particular
topic. To understand these two pieces of text I will give you a brief
overview of what was contained in each book.
The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B.
White were intended for the audience of high school students or maybe incoming
freshmen in college. This book stresses the certain points of writing
that will make for an excellent paper such as the use of the comma or, the
use of active voice. Strunk and White were two white, older men who
were picky on what they considered to be the right way to do writing and
what is the wrong way. They were not polite about letting you know
what should and should not be done in a paper. For example, when Strunk
and White talk about exclamations they say, "Do not attempt to emphasize
simple statements by using a mark of exclamations. What a wonderful
show! What a wonderful show. The exclamation mark is to be reserved
for use after true exclamations or commands." Elements of Style
is a rather small book compared to E-Writing. Even though the
book is small the information that is contained is important when writing
a good paper. This also makes it less intimadating to pick up and read.
E-writing is rather thick and Booher is long winded in her descriptions
of what should be done in proper e-mails. Now that you have a little
bit of background about Elements of Style, let us switch our focus
to E-Writing.
Dianna Booher is a white women who wrote E-Writing
on the basis of the certain elements needed when trying to communicate on
the Internet. Although Booher is writing about writing on the Internet
she makes many of the same points that Strunk and White do when it comes
to writing with paper and pencil. While Strunk and White come right
out and state their rule in one or two sentences, Booher tends to talk about
one topic for a couple of pages. For example, Booher writes about the
usage of commas for four pages. Booher goes into more detail about
what the rule means, how to use it, and how not to use it, which makes the
book thicker than the Elements of Style book. The audience that
is targeted in the E-Writing book is a beginner when it comes to using
e-mail and the Internet. This book about writing on the web would not
have been written in the times of Strunk and White. No one even knew
what it meant to type an e-mail and send it as a form of communication.
One of the topics that Strunk and White and Booher all
touched on in more than one sentence were words and expressions commonly
misused. All of the authors seem to stress the importance of using
the correct word in the context that it is meant to be used. Strunk
and White say, "The shape of our language is not rigid; in questions of usage
we have no lawgiver whose word is final." What I think that Strunk
and White meant by this statement is that although there is a right way to
use certain words there is no one to say that we are using that word wrong.
Words can be used in whatever way we the writer or speaker thinks it
needs to be used as long as there is no confusion in the understanding. Strunk
and White break each word down alphabetically; next to the word they have
what the word means and how it is many times misused. For example,
"All right. Idiomatic in familiar speech as a detached phrase in the
sense "agreed" or "go ahead," or "O.K." Properly written in two words-all
right." Strunk and White have thirty pages in this section of the book
dedicated to this particular topic. Since this book is rather small
to have thirty pages on this topic must mean that it is important.
Booher, on the other hand, gives the misused word and
a very brief description of what meaning this word takes. For example,
"accept (verb-to recieve)." the misused words are broken up into a
chart alphabetically with their meaning next to it in parentheses. She
does not even take the time to give you examples or even define the word
in detail for the writer of the misusage. One thing that Booher does
in her book that Strunk and White do not, is she has a separate chart for
the common misspelled words. For example, "accessible, acessible" both
look like the right way to spell this word, but the first way is the right
one. I personally think this is a good addition because many people
misspell words, and sometimes if you misspell a word it could take on another
meaning and make the reader confused on the message. Although the authors chose to talk about this subject in
both of their books the words that were chosen in each of the books is different.
You do have to take into consideration that Elements
of Style is a rather old book written first in, 1935, while E-Writing
was written in 2001. Even though we use the same words throughout time
the misuse of them any have changed or the importance of certain words could
have changed over the years. This could explain the words that were
chosen in each of the books as concerns of words misused. Another reason
for the words chosen in both of the books is the different texts that are
being addressed in each book. Elements of Style, is addressing
the concerns of students doing school writing. While E-Writing
is a book that deals with formal and informal messages sent on the Internet
to either one person or a group of people.
In conclusion, Elements of Style and E-Writing
are both great books to have to help with writing a paper or beginning
to learn about Internet writing. Every person should have a copy of
these books to look back and reference to when they need that extra help
with a particular topic they forget to do with. We all make some of
these common mistakes without even knowing it, or even caring that we are
doing it. Misused words and misspelled words always give people problems
whether you are a great writer or not. Why else do you think that these
authors would chose to talk in depth in both of these books about misspelled
words and expression?
