In Stanley Fish's essay, Why You Won't Find The Answer in Strunk and White, Fish writes about the difficulties in understanding the well-praised book The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White that was published in 1959 by Macmillan Company. Fish acknowledges that "Strunk and White's advice assumes a level of knowledge and understanding only some of the readers will have attained; the vocabulary they confidently offer is itself in need of an analysis and explanation they do not provide."
I agree with Stanley Fish. While highly educated English Majors may understand the contents and say Duh! while reading it, many other students (such as me) read the book, scowl and say Huh? For years, the book sat upon my shelf and every so often, I would grab the book and flip it open in hopes of fixing that bad sentence I just wrote. Each time I flipped the book open, I was disappointed all over again. Now the book sits untouched on that same shelf.
In 1986, Mamillan publishing company strived to get it right when they published "The Elements of Grammar" by Margaret Shertzer. Aspiring writers who struggle with the difficulties of grammar rushed to the bookstores in hopes of learning and improving our writing styles. Well, Macmillan, you published another disaster and failed me yet again.
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