The Elements of Style

I must start with a confession. I am not very good at picking up books and reading them. This is not good for one who wants to write. The problem, I feel, is due to an inability to concentrate rather than a weakness in my reading ability. Fairly or not I attribute the cause to many years skim reading technical books to extract information quickly rather than reading books for pleasure or deeper study.

This only partly explains why I had not started reading the book, The Elements of Style, before tonight. I received the book as a Christmas present a year ago.

Tonight I have read the Foreword and Introduction which I normally skip, but this is about changing my habits, and the first chapter, Elementary Rules of Usage. I felt comfortable with the style and pace of the first chapter. Some of the ‘rules’ have already had an influence on this piece of writing so I must have understood some of what I read. I am also sure I have broken some of the ‘rules’, but I aim to break fewer in the future.

Kev