3 Takeaways from elements of style

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. is akin to a writer's rulebook. It is concise, but it is very useful. In this article, we highlight the key ideas from this already concise book for quick review.

1 Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's

It does not matter what the final consonant is.

  • Charles's friend
  • Burns's poems
  • the witch's malice

2 Use comma after each term in a series of three of more terms with a single conjunction

  • red, white, and blue
  • honest, energetic, but headstrong
  • He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.

3 Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas

  • The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is to travel on foot

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