I especially like the free app, which allows you to click on a word three times and open up its dictionary page. I’ve converted, these days, to using apps for dictionary and etymology. When I find myself overusing the same verbs and adjectives, I can quickly reach for one of these books and get some inspiration. While I used to keep a desk-sized Merriam-Webster Dictionary on hand, I find the synonyms and thesaurus more useful these days, perhaps especially as I revise my first book of poems. Especially for those of you dreaming up holiday wish-lists, Maira Kalman’s illustrated version of The Elements of Style may be just the special book to add to the collection for you. My desk currently has my hardcover copy of The Elements of Style, The New Roget’s Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, and Soule’s Dictionary of English Synonyms. Regarding reference books, every writer’s desk seems to contain The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, a dictionary, and a well-worn thesaurus.
In the drawer of my desk, I keep mailing materials for my stack of chapbooks to sign and send to those who request it. Here’s my working writing desk, fit with all I need! I’ve got my laptop, notebooks, pens, reference books, books to review, and some of my favorite books that I keep near me for inspiration. And as I visit my friends who are writers, I notice some trends from desk to desk. And over the years, the kinds of references have grown to fit my own writerly needs. Whether I’m writing an academic paper, a cover letter, an author’s bio, a poem, a book review, or anything else, Strunk and White are there reminding me to be as clear as possible.Īs I continued to grow in my writing life, I found that other books became constant sources of aid and knowledge, so much so that my desk had its own section of books at the ready, for whatever obstacles befell a given blank page. Since that first reading encounter with The Elements of Style, my well worn copy has remained with me. From the seriousness came a great deal of humor. Amidst the seriousness in the rule there was a deep sense of snark. The first means “sickening to contemplate” the second means “sick to the stomach.” Do not, therefore, say, “I feel nauseous,” unless you are sure you have that effect on others.īesides thinking of the many times I had misused “nauseous”, I actually laughed out loud. Amid the section on misused words and expression, Strunk and White lay out the difference between nauseous and nauseated as follows: Such gravitas became most apparent to me when I arrived to page 52.
The seriousness of tone and voice in these pages presents us with far more than a reference for grammar and usage, but rather, a true understanding of style in and of itself-that rhetoric is more than grammar and syntax, but a true translation of our consciousness into clear, material words. The Elements of Style is a reference book on the rules of English rhetoric, yes, but the attitude and dogma of its writers, Strunk and White, make it as much a manifesto as a convincing collection of laws governing the way we (ought to) speak and (must) write. I, on the other hand, found my attention rapt. Though the book is a mere 87 pages, my peers seemed to begrudge the assignment or blow it off entirely. I’d only ever used reference books like dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias as touchstones during reading and writing assignments-brief interruptions to expand my knowledge and/or revise my work.Upon reading Strunk and White’s masterpiece, however, my understanding of reference books changed entirely. It seemed strange to be assigned a reference book to read cover to cover. The Elements of Style, however, became an instant mainstay to my writerly temperament. The Scarlet Letter was forgotten as soon as it was finished I instantly detested Hawthorne’s penchant for moral allegories surrounding evil and sin, finding it all a bit too on-the-nose and heavy-handed.
Tanimoto, assigned two books to incoming AP students: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. The summer before my junior year in high school, my soon-to-be teacher, Ms. Looking for the right advice on pursuing the writer’s life? You’ve come to the write place!
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