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The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, and E- Writing by Dianna Booher are writing guides written for different audiences in different eras. In relation to current writing, style and practice, the question exists as to whether one of these two very different writing and style guides is better than the other. Is the more current and technology based E-Writing a better approach to style, or should one look to the more academic and literary based views of The Elements of Style when trying to develop his or her writing? A critical look at the �Approach to Style� section of Elements and the �Editing for Style� section of E-Writing will help in analysis of this question.
In attempting to analyze the specific differences between these two books one must first begin with the authors. The Elements of Style was originally published in 1959 and then in 1972. The original version, by school professor William Strunk Jr., was written as a guide for his students. A real stickler to rules of grammar, punctuation and the like, Strunk set out to give students a research tool to look to in those incidents when attempting to compose things such as composition papers, letters, or prose when the proper grammatical rule or word usage could not come to mind. By reading Strunk�s book, one could say that Strunk was simply tired of receiving work that he considered sub par from students who were at a point in his or her scholarly career where these simple rules should have been ingrained in his or her writing. Strunk was tired of sloppy work. An English student of Strunk, E.B. White, was a writer for The New Yorker. In The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition, there is a preface composed by Roger Angell who was the step-son of E.B. White. Angell describes remembering how his step-father would spend Tuesday mornings tucked away in his study attempting to write the �Notes and Comments� page for The New Yorker. He describes the hours he recalls White spending in his study banging on his typewriter only to never be completely satisfied with the end result of his labor stating, �I wish it were better� (Strunk ix). Angell believes that it was the hours of writing, revising, and questioning himself with regard to various elements of style that led White to revise and publish The Elements of Style, originally written as a guide to his students by Strunk, in an effort to aid other writers with the same questions.
E-Writing, by Diana Booher, is a book written for a different audience that that of The Elements of Style. Published in 2001, E-Writing, like The Elements of Style, is a guide for correct usage of grammar, punctuation, and basic style questions; however E-Writing contains many elements that are not addressed by Strunk and White. E-mail communication is a major part of Booher�s focus in E-Writing along with specific style technique suggestions that deal with communication within the workplace in a corporate setting. While Strunk and White attempt to set guidelines for a more scholarly type of writing, Booher is focusing on written communication not in the mind set of a student handing in an assignment or a writer of a newspaper attempting to compose a column, but of a business executive sending a memo to both his staff and individuals in higher positions within the company.
In addition to the difference in content with regard to the type of writing that each of these authors are attempting to aid in the creation of, and in order to fully understand why Elements of Style and E-Writing are written in such opposite styles, one must consider the specific physical difference between the authors of both of each books in relation to the time periods in which they were written. Specifically, William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White were both white men. The word �were� is used here due to the fact that both Strunk and White are deceased. Diana Booher is, obviously, a female. She is an approximately middle aged woman who is the author of thirty-seven books and founder and CEO of her own training firm. The backgrounds of these authors could not be more different. In the time of Elements, a woman was not expected to be a writer, let alone a successful professional. This gap in time between the two books explains why Roger Angell states in his forward that The Elements of Style had to be revised with regard to some of its original examples prior to its final publication to account for the changing times. In other words, women and minorities used in what would now be considered derogatory ways within the book have been revised. E-Writing, on the other hand, was written with all of the current concepts of what is and is not considered appropriate with regard to gender, race, and the like in mind.
Keeping in mind the issues of the different types of writing that The Elements of Style and E-Writing address and the differing audiences that Strunk and White and Booher are directing their writing manuals toward, several differences with regard to the ideas of each author relating to what is now considered appropriate style are quite clear. Although one could analyze the differing concepts of the importance of things such as grammar and punctuation between Strunk and White and Booher which are specific and solid issues to address, it is interesting, instead to take a different approach and look at the differing opinion of the authors with regard to what exactly makes up a writer�s personal style and each author�s definition of style.
In Strunk and White, Section V, �An Approach to Style� describes what the authors consider to be the elements that make up each individual writer�s style. In this regard, Strunk states, �Who can confidently say what ignites a certain combination of words causing them to explode in the mind? Who knows why certain notes in music are capable of stirring the listener deeply�? These are high mysteries�There is no satisfactory explanation of style��(Strunk 66). In this opening paragraph, Strunk is making the statement that, though other areas of the language have specific rules with which a writer can follow to make his or her writing correct grammatically, there is no specific formula to look to that dictates each person�s style. Strunk then goes on to say, �Style is an increment in writing. When we speak of Fitzgerald�s style, we don�t mean his command of the relative pronouns, we mean the sounds his words make on paper. All writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities and their biases� (Strunk 66-67). This statement truly speaks to what Strunk mean by style. Although Strunk is admitting that style is not necessarily about �relative pronouns,� Strunk is also stating the basis which he believes a writer should look to when composing a writing. Strunk then goes on to give some examples of what is meant by the idea that we all have a different and inherent style. To prove his point, Strunk quotes parts of poems from Whitman and Frost. The section from Frost goes as follows, �My little horse must think it queer/To stop without a farmhouse near/ Between the woods and frozen lake/The darkest evening of the year� (Strunk 68-69). Strunk quotes from Whitman, �I perceived to be that with those I like is enough,/To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,/To be surrounded by beautiful, curious breathing, /laughing flesh is enough�� (Strunk 69). While Strunk is attempting to show how different two writers can be and how we must all find our own style, he is also showing the reader exactly what type of writing he considers appropriate when it comes to style, which would be that of a scholarly, educated, well read literature or composition writer. In addition to the fact that the examples listed here and the other examples within this section of the book are all literature/scholarly based examples of Strunk�s idea of developing a style of writing, it is interesting to note that all of the authors in this section as well as throughout most of the rest of the book are men. Any examples which feature female writers were actually added later to make the book more current with the changing times. These opening statements and examples in the �An Approach to Style� section of The Elements of Style illustrate the type of reader that this manual was specifically created for and what type of writing it focuses on.
In E-Writing Dianna Booher discusses her opinions on what is meant by the term �style� in Chapter 17, �Editing for Style.� Booher has a slightly similar opinion to Strunk regarding the basic definition of style. Booher states, �Style reflects individuality; it is your personal logo. Some people write with a warm, personal, flowing style; others have a formal, impersonal, stilted way with words� (Booher 273). This statement is similar to Strunk�s idea that �all writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities and their biases�, however it is not exactly the same and it does a good job in pointing out the differences in opinion between Strunk and Booher with regard to style and to whom exactly each of these writers are speaking (Booher 273). While Strunk uses examples of literature and well known writers such as Frost and Whitman to put forth his opinion as to what makes up a writer�s personal style, Booher is much more technical in her description of what a writer uses to make up his or her personal style. Booher states, �Just as a company�s logo consists of artwork, colors, and their arrangement, your writing style is reflected in three ways: the illustration of your ideas, the illustrations you select to make your ideas clear and memorable, and the language you use� (Booher 273). While Strunk is even lyrical in his description of style and the notion of a writer coming up with ideas for his writing making such statements as, �A writer is a gunner, sometimes waiting in the blind for something to come in, something roaming the countryside hoping to scare something up,� Booher is much more direct and technical when it comes to style of composition (Strunk 69). Booher even goes so far as to break writing style down into three separate categories, those being Stuffed Shirt Style, Simple-Direct Style, and T-Shirt Style. In Booher�s opinion, the Simple-Direct approach is usually the best option. Since Booher is writing her manual to the professional business person and not the scholarly student or literary writer that Strunk is, she tends to take the opinion that less is more. Booher states, �The first step in striking a happy medium between overly formal and overly informal writing is the appropriate word choice. Use simple words, not pompous ones or inappropriate slang� (Booher 275). While Strunk is not accepting of inappropriate slang, one can make the statement that much of what Strunk considers �appropriate� style in writing would be considered pompous by Booher. When discussing the idea of �Simple-Direct Style�, Booher uses a basic, business related example which states, �As large volumes of gas are metered, temperature variation will result in lost revenues unless we take corrective action� (Booher 274). Booher�s example is simple, direct, non-pompous, and to-the-point, as would be the style of writing of the professional, corporate individual which Booher speaks to in E-Writing. This is completely opposite to the style of Strunk.
After analysis of the differing opinions of the idea of style illustrated in The Elements of Style and E-Writing, the differences in the authors of each book, and the time period in which each book was written, one cannot simply pick one book out of Elements of Style by, William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White and E-Writing, by Dianna Booher, and state that one writing manual is better than the other. Each book is directed at a different type of writer. One can make the statement that Booher�s E-Writing makes more sense in the current world where each of us communicate by e-mail on a regular basis and more technical, business style writing is the norm in much written communication. However, although most everyone today society has a computer and at least one e-mail address which he or she uses in a fairly regular basis, not everyone is a business person interested in sending intra-office memos in proper style to those higher-ups in management positions. Some writers are students, writers of magazines or newspapers, or authors of books. While a business person might benefit more from a manual such as that of Booher�s E-Writing, there are just as many who would benefit equally well from a basic writing guide that focuses more on literature and composition type writing such as that of Strunk and White�s The Elements of Style. Style of writing, then, is, in many ways, determined by who one is communicating with and in what capacity, whether that may be in the business world or otherwise.
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, and E-Writing by Dianna Booher are writing guides written for different audiences in different eras; however, both are still useful writing tools for today�s business or literary writer. With regard to style, electronic may be the newer, more popular form of written communication, but traditional, basic style in writing is far from a thing of the past. Neither The Elements of Style nor E-Writing could be considered a better guide to writing and style than the other. The well rounded writer should take heed to both of these manuals and use tips from both Strunk and Booher to develop his or her own personal, reader specific style.
Strunk, William, Jr. and E.B. White. The Elements of Style:Fourth Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.