According to The Elements of Style, which answer choice is consistent with Strunk’s rules?
Answer:
As per the rules laid down by Strunk in The Elements of Style, the answer that best captures Strunk’s advice would be; ‘omit needless words’. Accordingly, Strunk pays much attention to the fact that clear writing is brief writing. He said that while writing a sentence it should be as if the given construction is a picture that has no extra lines or a device that does not contain any extra screws or bolts. This rule belongs to the so-called “Elementary Principles of Composition,” in which Strunk emphasizes simplicity and clear aims at the provision of concise. For instance, one might use “The reason for this is because..” when a concise form such as “Because..” will suffice Similarly, instead of using “at this point in time,” one could just write “now.” All in all, writing according to Strunk means choosing words wisely and making certain that all the words in the sentence are as efficient as possible. It is applied not only within the isolated sentences but within the paragraphs and the compositions too. Writers can achieve tighter and more accurate text and provide readers with exams that are relevant and consider their time. Though there can be criticism by various literacies like Geoffrey Pullum, they state that Strunk’s rules are particularly confining, the rule of omission is a principle of World English Writing well applied in fulfilling communication needs in many forms of letters; academic, business among others.