Comparing Strunk & White with Williams

There are two books on style which can prove to be very helpful for writers looking to improve their abilities. One book is called The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, while the other is called Style:Towards Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams.  After reading through both of the books  I have determined that the Strunk and White’s book would be most helpful for those who feel they are novice writers whereas Williams’ book would be better received by a writer who already has an advanced grasp. The two books had some similar points, but mostly I found their approaches toward achieving better writing  were quite different.

I had noted in a previous blog my initial impressions of Strunk and Williams, and in that blog I wrote about their book being set up as a giant list of rules. I actually found this format to be very disagreeable because such a rigid set of rules gives the impression that for a writer there is little room to be an individual with style.  I am of the opinion that every writer will have developed attributes and characteristics which distinct their writing from any others. I look at style as reflecting the very notion of human nature; everybody is different, or special in their own way. Strunk and White’s book was full of rules that wanted to place everybody’s style of writing on the same level and without room to differentiate I think then style becomes learning about grammar instead.

In Williams’ book it was clearly stated at the very beginning that the suggestions prescribed are to be taken as guidelines to help shape writing instead of rules that always must be followed. Williams’ books was much more in depth than Strunk and White’s and drew on the help of many diagrams and examples. The writing diagram that was dispersed over the first five chapters is incredibly clever as a tool for shaping writing style. It is easy to understand and makes perfect logistic sense as each part is explained and built upon in every chapter.  I liked this approach to style because it allows writers to take a piece of their writing and revise according to the tips and suggestions Williams provides. Williams doesn’t necessarily prescribe rules , just guidelines to help a writer be more clear and cohesive.

One topic that I noticed both books made reference to was the use of negatives and affirmatives. Both books suggested that an affirmative statement is more convincing than a negative one, but the difference of how the books recounted this information illustrates why I prefer the Williams book over Strunk and White. Williams waits until the end of his book to mention affirmatives and negatives; when he does so the reader is given a statement in the affirmative and the negative and Williams asks the reader to choose which version sounds more convincing. This method allows the reader to implicate and apply what they may or may not know about affirmatives and negatives and also provides a little bit of practice as well. Strunk and White mention that as a rule an affirmative statement is always superior to a negative one, but throughout the rest of their book there are a number of rules written in the negative – this representation seems counterproductive don’t you think?

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