The Element of Style（一）

《The Element of Style》是关于如何英文写作的书，短小精悍，是一本pocket book。文中介绍的规则，往往是我们写作时应该遵守的，是英文写作必看的书，可以常备案头，方便随时查阅。摘录一些书中经典的话和规则：

Introduction

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoided all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Elementary Rules of Usage

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.

4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause.

5. Do not join independent clauses with a comma.

6. Do not break sentences in two.

7. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation.

8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary.

9. The number of the subject determines the number of the verb.

10. Use the proper case of pronoun.

11. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject.