Why ‘The Elements of Style’ is out of style
The Elements of Style
In 1959, The New York Times praised “The Elements of Style” as a “splendid trophy for all who are interested in reading and writing.” According to The Guardian, the slim writing guide by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White is one of the 25 best nonfiction books of all time.
John McWhorter, on the other hand, disagrees. He's the host of the Slate podcast “Lexicon Valley” and teaches linguistics, philosophy and music at Columbia.
He explains why Strunk and White's many rules — such as avoiding the passive voice, qualifiers and the word “hopefully” — are completely arbitrary and do little but make “good people insecure about their speech and their writing.”
“Strunk and White does not have the authority of, say, the table of the elements or ‘Gray's Anatomy,’” McWhorter says. “It's just a couple of guys.”
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.