Talk:The Elements of Style

Information about this edition
Edition:	1918 edition
Source:	Bartleby.com
Contributor(s):	User:Kernigh
Level of progress:
Notes:	Originally on Wikibooks, then moved here
Proofreaders:	User:Zhaladshar, User:Quadell

Transwiki from Wikibooks

This public-domain text from 1918 was originally uploaded to Wikibooks and wikified by Wikibooks:User:Lord Emsworth in 2003. In January 2006, Kernigh transwikied the text from Wikibooks:Elements of Style to Wikisource. Here is a copy of Wikibooks:Talk:Elements of Style:

Are we supposed to make our own modifications to this book? (I mean, yes, this is a wiki, but if we do...then it's not really The Elements of Style by Strunk and White anymore, is it?) After all, some of the information is out of date, such as the suggestion that "to-day" is preferred to "today" (the former looks dated in even very formal texts now).

--Furrykef 07:56, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Basically what I was asking is if it belongs in Wikibooks, or if it belongs more in Wikisource...

--Furrykef 03:22, 14 May 2004 (UTC)

I concur; this seems like it should be moved to Wikisource. 62.49.9.94 00:50, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Referring to Furrykef's comment above, I would also note that all online editions I have seen (including this one) have what appears to be an error on the first page of chapter 2: I suspect the word "ending" is missing from the first sentence of the third paragraph. i.e. "ancient proper names ending in -es and -is".

I am not, however, familiar with the book, and this may be something that has already been discussed and accepted in print or online.

Anyway, the question remains, are we editors who will fix typos, or are we strictly copyists?

--Trevorbsmith (talk) 23:30, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

If you look at http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924014450716#page/n7/mode/2up you will see that part is word correct to the work. I am not touching the aspect of whether it is grammatically correct.

Our current position is that we reproduce books as is, and if a note is useful then there is some scope for annotation or general note. Where a more in depth analysis is to be undertaken, at this time we would look to utilise the Portal: namespace to undertake, though it is one of our considerations on how to better analyse works, or similarly to translate works in other languages. As comment I regularly use the template {{SIC}} in cases of obvious spelling mistakes contemporaneous to the time of publication. That said, many of the works that we do either have variant spellings, or reproduce variant spellings from an earlier period, so the practice of fixing typos can be considered biased to a modern viewpoint whereas spelling of words seems more a dynamic matter. — billinghurst sDrewth 00:30, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Redirect

I moved this book from Wikibooks. I am now creating the obvious redirect, The Elements of Style. --Kernigh 21:54, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

I decided instead, to redirect Elements of Style to The Elements of Style. --Kernigh 21:59, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

later editions covered by copyright

(Renewal: R298078) and (Renewal: R291182) cover the 1934 edition revised by Edward A. Tenney, and (Renewal: RE346035) covers the 1959 edition with E. B. White. John Vandenberg ^(chat) 13:33, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

This is not the "Strunk and White" version.

This is the original 1920 edition.

White has no part of this version and the reference in the introductory paragraph (the redundant ("parenthetical") entry that reads ("Strunk & White") - and don't get me started on that level of error on a page about a book about how not to make that sort of error) is incorrect and misleading.

1918 edition, as noted above. - Amgine (talk) 17:57, 7 October 2018 (UTC)