The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style by Strunk and Whiteby William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White
The most recommended of 6 writing guides
Short, widely loved guide to clear, concise English writing, praised for practical advice in an accessible format. Critics call its prescriptive rules arbitrary and some advice unhelpful.
Short, widely loved guide to clear, concise English writing, praised for practical advice in an accessible format. Critics call its prescriptive rules arbitrary and some advice unhelpful.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 55%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clear, practical, accessible advice
“It gives clear, practical advice in a very accessible style and format.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “I'm Kenyan. I don't write like ChatGPT, ChatGPT writes like me” “A short and beloved guide”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “I'm Kenyan. I don't write like ChatGPT, ChatGPT writes like me” Better than many modern guides
“You can learn a lot more from them, than from what I've seen of this blog.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “The passive in English (2011)” “I think I benefitted more from Strunk and White's advice”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “How I Estimate Work as a Staff Software Engineer” Deserves renewed attention today
“We can hope that "Elements of Style", or similar, comes back into fashion.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “A website to destroy all websites” “I hope Elements of Style is rediscovered.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “The consumption of AI-generated content at scale”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Arbitrary prescriptive rules
“promote all sorts of prescriptivist nonsense, taking arbitrary personal preferences and elevating them to sacred rules”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “How to Write English Prose” “overly prescriptive and frankly unhelpful at turns”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “How to Write with an LLM” Much advice unhelpful or stupid
“Strunk & White, I have to agree, is mostly not very useful.”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “How to Write English Prose” “Of course, S&W is also filled with insanely stupid advice.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Em dashes are fucking amazing” “overly prescriptive and frankly unhelpful at turns”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “How to Write with an LLM” Disliked by modern linguists
“Don't even get me started on the nonsense promoted by Strunk and White”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “I'm Kenyan. I don't write like ChatGPT, ChatGPT writes like me” “Elements of Style is reviled by modern linguists and writers.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “I'm Kenyan. I don't write like ChatGPT, ChatGPT writes like me” “Strunk and White can shove it, anyway”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “How to Write English Prose” Outdated, written a century ago
“Just because two guys got together a hundred years ago and wrote some stuff doesn't mean it's worth dedicating a life of writing to.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Slop Cop” “got revised by some anonymous hack to match current-day sensibilities”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “How to Win Friends and Influence People: Unrevised Version”
Other writing guides people recommend
The four most recommended other writing guides, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Elements of Styleby William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. WhiteThis page | 12 | 10 | 55% | 8 | — | — |
| On Writingby Stephen King | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| On Writing Wellby William Knowlton Zinsser | 4 | 1 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
| The Sense of Styleby Steven Pinker and José C. Vales | 3 | 1 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Writing for Developersby Piotr Sarna and Cynthia Dunlop | 2 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
21 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Unlike "The Elements of Style", which is fine, it does a good job anchoring its suggestion in first principals”
“overly prescriptive and frankly unhelpful at turns”
“Just memorize the latter.”
“Strunk and White can shove it, anyway”
“Strunk & White, I have to agree, is mostly not very useful.”
“promote all sorts of prescriptivist nonsense, taking arbitrary personal preferences and elevating them to sacred rules”
“Of course, S&W is also filled with insanely stupid advice.”
“Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise.”
“Just because two guys got together a hundred years ago and wrote some stuff doesn't mean it's worth dedicating a life of writing to.”
“mentioning Elements of Style and Bugs in Writing certainly has helped our review LLM to make some great suggestions”
“I've copies of and I've been trying to shift us from a slides-first culture”
“You can learn a lot more from them, than from what I've seen of this blog.”
“I think I benefitted more from Strunk and White's advice”
“ubiquitous style guides like Strunk & White”
“got revised by some anonymous hack to match current-day sensibilities”
“We can hope that "Elements of Style", or similar, comes back into fashion.”
“Don't even get me started on the nonsense promoted by Strunk and White”
“It gives clear, practical advice in a very accessible style and format.”
“Elements of Style is reviled by modern linguists and writers.”
“A short and beloved guide”
“I hope Elements of Style is rediscovered.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.