Chicago manual of style VS Strunk and White

[Raphee]

Which one is better? I have S and W. I was wondering if the Chicago manual is worth buying.

[Birol]

They aren't comparable. They perform different tasks. S&W is a book of general writing knowledge. The Chicago Manual of Style is a style book. House styles -- whether the serial comma is used, how numbers are formatted, etc. -- vary from publication to publication. Many do base their styles on The Chicago Manual of Style, making it a useful reference book for a writer's shelf. If you write anything other than novels, you will probably end up with multiple style books on your shelf.

[mscelina]

I agree. I have both CMoS and Strunk's, plus every grammar book I've owned since high school.

And I use them daily.

[Bartholomew]

Oh, god. You mean I shouldn't be bloody formatting my novel to bloody AP style!?

@#$%$#@!

[Medievalist]

I agree. I have both CMoS and Strunk's, plus every grammar book I've owned since high school.

And I use them daily.

Grammar perve ! :D

[johnnysannie]

Oh, god. You mean I shouldn't be bloody formatting my novel to bloody AP style!?

@#$%$#@!

No. I have an AP style book from my journalist days but for novels and fiction, I use Strunk & White (as well as my favorite - a 5th grade grammar book discarded when I was a kid and given to me my cousin because even then he knew I wanted to be a writer!)

[Gillhoughly]

S&W is best for writers; CMS is best for editors.

S&W is also a heck of a lot cheaper. You can find a copy at a used bookstore for just a couple bucks. It has all the basics you will need and takes up less space on the desk.

Your MS is applying for a job with someone like me. Put it in a nice suit and comb its hair. The effort is appreciated!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Rowdymama]

Good advice, Gil, but as a freelance writer I cruise the Net daily for work, and many of the ads for writers I see specify AP, or CMS, or ALA or whatever style they like. There is no fixed standard. With all due respect, style manuals are not only for editors, a freelancer ought to be familiar with all of them. Is it worth it, for $0.10 a word, or $9 an hour?

[Gillhoughly]

Thanks!

Rules are different for freelancers. Your venue is competitive in a different way, so I'd say, yes, it's worth it--but hit the used bookstores for copies of what's needed. No point in paying more than necessary!

For the novelists on this thread the rules are less complicated and S&W is just fine.

Too bad I didn't know about it until after I got my first book contract. I might have sold sooner!

[Namatu]

Check out half.com for a cheaper price on Chicago or, if you're able, add the cost to your expenses for tax purposes.

[Raphee]

Thanks a lot everyone for their input. I'll go on living with S and W for the time being.

[steveg144]

Which one is better? I have S and W. I was wondering if the Chicago manual is worth buying.

Totally different beasts, that solve totally different problems. That being said, if you want to be a writer I recommend you memorize -- memorize, mind you -- your Strunk & White. It remains the single best pocket reference for how to write proper, effective English.

[HeronW]

http://www.netauthor.org/resources.html
has S&W and other helpful FR*EE ebooks

[Raphee]

Thanks for the link Heron. Loads of great stuff there that I am in the process of checking out.

[David I]

For a good Strunk-and-White bashing from some of the best writers of our time, see Ben Yagoda's fine book The Sound on the Page (http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Page-Great-Writers-Writing/dp/0060938226/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211231196&sr=1-5).

Strunk and White is good for preventing anyone from perpetrating anything abominable in terms of grammar, bad neologisms, or bureaucratic doubletalk. But, as Harold Bloom says about Elements of Style in an interview:

The first half, the rules of grammar and so forth, is perfectly sensible, but you could not write two pages in which you try to say anything that matters to you and obey what is going on in the second half of that little manual. It outlaws everything that I care for in writing, in literature, in the act of writing. It tries to pretend it is against the overly baroque, but what it's against is what I would say is imagination itself.

In fiction--and this is the novel forum, isn't it?--the self-effacing transparency S&W urge isn't always desirable. If it were, I'd have to throw out three-quarters of my library.

[James D. Macdonald]

Chicago Manual? Hah! Strunk & White? Bah! The real grammar book is Fowler's Modern English Usage. (Avoid, avoid, avoid the loathsome third edition, the so-called "New Fowler's Modern English Usage.")

[mjlpsu]

Everyone has pretty much given great advice here. I own both.

If you're searching for a good grammar book (as well as great definitions and commonly confused words) get Index to English. I use it a bit for teaching my students.

[job]

I own a number of grammar books. Looking through three or four books, I can generally find one that addresses my problem, or explains the issue clearly, or -- this is best of all -- agrees with me.

For anything fairly simple, OWL at Perdue, here (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/), is fast and clear and to the point.

After you've sold the ms, find out the 'house style' is at your publisher. This is the time to buy AP Style or Chicago.
They annoy any right-thinking person and get under foot when you are trying to write, so you might as well put it off as long as possible.

[David I]

Chicago Manual? Hah! Strunk & White? Bah! The real grammar book is Fowler's Modern English Usage. (Avoid, avoid, avoid the loathsome third edition, the so-called "New Fowler's Modern English Usage.")

Whether or not you agree with Fowler on every issue, Fowler is at the minimum a great deal of fun to read. Everyone ought to nose through it at least once.

[victoria.goddard]

The thing is, neither Fowler's nor the Chicago Manual of Style has an illustrated version the way Strunk and White does. And, apparently, also a musical adaption: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4985137

I also remember something from a Publisher's Weekly that a new edition is coming out at some point, with annotations concerning how it has inspired/helped/annoyed various writers . . .

So really you need to have it as a cultural touchstone.

[Smiling Ted]

Does Strunk & White come in audiobook?
Maybe voiced by Sir Ben Kingsley?