To My Fellow Students of Life

When did the Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., get pushed aside by the Concise Rules of APA Style from the American Psychological Association.

We had APA when I was an undergrad starting in 1987. I started out as a psych student, and switched to communicative disorders, and both used APA. I'm not sure when APA took over everything. When was the last time you remember using Elements of Style?

Oh, APA evolved a lot from when I was in school the first time, and when I went back in 2003.

Good lord, the Elements of Style has been out of date since I was in high school in the early 1980s. Even then it was "quaint" and not really taken seriously.

Rap,

I completed my MBA in 1984. This online class to get certified to teach online at a local university is the third course, other than a multitude of corporate training classes, I have taken since then.

I was able to recall The Elements of Style book from the archives in my brain from high school, more than 40 years ago. I have no idea when I got this old.

Candy,

Be gentle with me. It took a lot of courage to announce my ignorance on this topic.

Now everyone knows I'm old, and I haven't take many writing courses. Getting a B.B.A. in General Business, followed by an M.B.A. in Financial Management skewed my studies toward the business side of things.

At least you had the sense to major (twice) in a field that will never die and that has some assurance of paying well. Unlike me.

I got my undergrad in 1999. I had a history class that used the Elements of Style by William Strunk. I definitely learned more from that book.

Candy,

I had been working in business when I needed to pick a major. I was enjoying business, and my brother had a MBA from Harvard, so I wanted one too. I graduated from Pace University in NY.

Thanks, DePressMe, for your comments. I always thought of the Elements of Syle as a classic.

We've been having very interesting discussions on my online class, so I thought we might like to kick this around here.

EJ