The Elements of Style is by no means a manifesto of social constructivism. It seeks to guide on a basis of grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. Yet these are all principles of English composition that have been stressed in the collective realms of academia. While Strunk and White present few explicit vessels for constructivism, I feel the ones that can be inferred are noteworthy. It is necessary to identify them as they may easily become buried in the wealth of direction provided in this guide. The instances of social constructivism are concentrated in Chapter II: Elementary Principles of Composition (10). We can see the substance first in section 11: Use the active voice (13). While the authors primarily take care in enforcing composition in the active voice, they do reveal the significance of the passive voice: The dramatists of the Restoration are little esteemed to-day. Modern readers have little esteem for the dramatists of the Restoration. The first would be the right form in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Restoration; the second, in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers. The need of making a particular word the subject of the sentence will often, as in these examples, determine which voice is to be used.(13) In matters of discussing intellectual property, the object takes precedence over the subject. In applying the passive voice, one can define the point of analysis he or she holds based on previously established concepts. Rather than sounding indistinct, passive-voiced sentences can center focus on the topic and in doing so, reveal the presence of collective knowledge.
Strunk and White instruct writers to offer statements in positive form and to “Use the wordnotas a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion” (14). In this twelfth section, they stress a process of what I’ll refer to as salting and trimming the meat; writers must expand auxiliary writing with purpose and remove weak or superfluous material. Strunk and White identify the usage of “not” ineffective. Here they emphasize replacing “not important” with “trifling” to “show the weakness inherent in the wordnot” (14). This practice of implementing positive statements highlights the supplementary nature of social constructivism; there is always an active process of addition in effect.
We’ll advance to Chapter IV. The section regarding the misuse of “they” examines the discomfort people feel when having to assign a gendered pronoun. The seductive practice of substituting “they” when one means “he/she” may seem more inclusive but in truth, it is erroneous. Time has shown it is equally important to use pronouns on a subjective basis so as not to inadvertently emphasize the masculine. It is also integral to note that this portion of the text was revised to accommodate current standards of pronominal usage (i.e. abandoning the system of automatically inserting “he” when writing calls for a singular third person pronoun). Since the guide’s creation in 1869, modules of our language hold different implications. Here, the modification demonstrates how the collective knowledge metamorphosed and had to be reflected in The Elements of Style.
Ultimately, the nuances of social constructivism (though few and far between) in The Elements of Style have transcended the time context in which it was assembled. The book itself exists as a physical transporter of knowledge from one century to the next. The brevity and clarity streamlines Strunk and White’s concepts, making them intelligible to a contemporary writer.
The instances of social constructivism are concentrated in Chapter II: Elementary Principles of Composition (10). We can see the substance first in section 11: Use the active voice (13). While the authors primarily take care in enforcing composition in the active voice, they do reveal the significance of the passive voice:
The dramatists of the Restoration are little esteemed to-day.
Modern readers have little esteem for the dramatists of the Restoration.
The first would be the right form in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Restoration; the second, in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers. The need of making a particular word the subject of the sentence will often, as in these examples, determine which voice is to be used.(13)
In matters of discussing intellectual property, the object takes precedence over the subject. In applying the passive voice, one can define the point of analysis he or she holds based on previously established concepts. Rather than sounding indistinct, passive-voiced sentences can center focus on the topic and in doing so, reveal the presence of collective knowledge.
Strunk and White instruct writers to offer statements in positive form and to “Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion” (14). In this twelfth section, they stress a process of what I’ll refer to as salting and trimming the meat; writers must expand auxiliary writing with purpose and remove weak or superfluous material. Strunk and White identify the usage of “not” ineffective. Here they emphasize replacing “not important” with “trifling” to “show the weakness inherent in the word not” (14). This practice of implementing positive statements highlights the supplementary nature of social constructivism; there is always an active process of addition in effect.
We’ll advance to Chapter IV. The section regarding the misuse of “they” examines the discomfort people feel when having to assign a gendered pronoun. The seductive practice of substituting “they” when one means “he/she” may seem more inclusive but in truth, it is erroneous. Time has shown it is equally important to use pronouns on a subjective basis so as not to inadvertently emphasize the masculine. It is also integral to note that this portion of the text was revised to accommodate current standards of pronominal usage (i.e. abandoning the system of automatically inserting “he” when writing calls for a singular third person pronoun). Since the guide’s creation in 1869, modules of our language hold different implications. Here, the modification demonstrates how the collective knowledge metamorphosed and had to be reflected in The Elements of Style.
Ultimately, the nuances of social constructivism (though few and far between) in The Elements of Style have transcended the time context in which it was assembled. The book itself exists as a physical transporter of knowledge from one century to the next. The brevity and clarity streamlines Strunk and White’s concepts, making them intelligible to a contemporary writer.