The Elements of Style: 60 Minutes to Better Writing & Grammar

By: Professor William Strunk Jr.

Narrated by: uncredited

Length: 1 hr and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

What you need to know about grammar and writing as taught widely in colleges, high schools, and grammar schools wherever American English is spoken!

William Strunk, Professor at Cornell, wrote his famous Little Book on good grammar and writing to simplify the subject for students far and wide. His famous motto was, "Omit needless words." This unabridged version follows this motto and can be listened to in just 60 minutes!

This is the original "Little Book," without add ons by later writers. This is a treasure to writers because it "omit(s)" needless words" and subject matter Professor Strunk did not believe was core to better writing. The brevity encourages relistening to deepen one's knowledge of the subject, the point made by Professor Strunk to his students: "the knowledge comes from rereading" or in our case, relistening. This unabridged version has 25 tracks: 1. Preface. 2. Introduction.. 3. Elementary Rules of Usage. 4. Form the Possessive Singular of Nouns with 's. 5. Three or More Terms with a Single Conjunction. 6. Enclose Parenthetic Expressions Between Commas. 7. Place a Comma before and or but. 8. Do Not Join Independent Clauses by a Comma. 9. Do Not Break Sentences in Two. 10. A Participial Phrase at the Beginning of a Sentence. 11. Divide Words at Line-ends. 12. Elementary Principles of Composition. 13. Make the Paragraph the Unit of Composition. 14. Begin a Paragraph with a Topic Sentence. 15. Use the Active Voice. 16. Put Statements in Positive Form. 17. Omit Needless Words. 18. Avoid a Succession of Loose Sentences. 19. Express Co-ordinate Ideas in a Similar Form. 20. Keep Related Words Together. 21. In Summaries Keep to One Tense. 22. Keep the Emphatic Word of a Sentence at the End. 23. A Few Matters of Form. 24. Words and Expressions Commonly Misused. 25. 56 Words Commonly Misspelled.

©2008 William Strunk (P)2008 Simply Magazine Inc.

Clear Instruction and Good Narrator

If you could sum up The Elements of Style: 60 Minutes to Better Writing & Grammar in three words, what would they be?

The narrator is very professional and clear. He keeps the lecture at a good pace but it is somewhat difficult to listen to without a book. I suggest listening to this audio to brush up on your grammar only if you are already familiar with and are a fan of the original Strunk and White.

Any additional comments?

This audio is worth the price. I'm glad I bought it although it takes a lot of concentration if you are behind on your grammar skills. This is not for the novice. I would not suggest it to my students.

A well written and well narrated concise book

What did you love best about The Elements of Style: 60 Minutes to Better Writing & Grammar?

The book is concise and the author focused on what matters most.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The narrator

What about uncredited’s performance did you like?

In spite of a few, sparse hiccups, the performance is next to perfect.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

The author had a clear idea and plan before starting to write; the book is consequently terse and free of extraneous sections.

A must have for writers.

If you're a writer, and you want a no nonsense brush up on the bare bones of the tools you need, get this book.

Good set of rules in book, impossible to listen to

Some things that are written, just impossible to understand when listen to. I have read the book several times, and use it as a reference book to write better English. But listen to it is very difficult, it is like listening to a dictionary on double speed. I do not manage to catch much. I would recommend to buy the hardcopy book but listen to something else.

Great help!

Listened to it in preparation for college English. Liked it very much. Deaver Brown does an excellent job of narrating.

Great book, bad narration

Any additional comments?

The material here is great - a must for anyone who wants to write well.

The narrator, though, is far too dry, he mispronounces words, and he entirely fails to make the language engaging.

A book this fundamental to modern English prose deserves better narration.

Helpful book

The book was helped me strengthen my understanding of grammar. The narrators voice is a bit dry, but it's still worth the listen.

my brain hurys

I should have paid more attention in school. this is great! something to listen to over and over again.

The narrator literally clears his throat.

This is better read in general, as it is more easily referenced on the go.

The narrator is trash. Literally within the first three minutes, he makes a pleasant throat clearing sound.

I can't believe I paid for this.

Go to Manual for Writers

This audio book is concise and informative, the go to manual for writers wanting to improve their craft. My only concern is the narrator speaks too fast, at times, which makes the information difficult to conceptualize and retain. More simply, the narrator should have focused on clarity and sound explanations, rather than adhere to a time constraint. Overall, this audio book is still a solid listen.