Strunk/White: First Impressions

I have to admit, one of the best sections in this book is the section on spelling. (p. 48) I used to be such a good speller, but I've really had a hard time spelling recently! I think it has a lot to do with the amount that I'm reading--I used to read all the time, and now that I don't read nearly as much, I think that I'm losing my ability to spell. It made me feel so much better to see the list of commonly misspelled words. I saw words on there that I myself have trouble with sometimes, and I think from the viewpoint of a future educator, I can focus on this and reference it when I need to work with my students. I think it's a really great tool for teaching, so that we identify and target these words for students, and so they know and have a bit of reassurance that everyone has trouble spelling some words and it's ok.

I felt that the section titled "Words and Expressions commonly misused" was both helpful and dated. I think that some of the expressions like "all right" are timeless, because people will never be able to identify the correct version. However, some of the expressions listed (i.e., using "but" unnecessarily after words) just seem old and dated. I think this list could certainly be updated, because I think a lot of this misuse happened in the generation before ours.

I know the assignment was to reflect on this reading as a student and writer, but the entire time I was reading this, I was in the mind of a future educator. I think the "Elementary Rules of Usage" was really helpful in the "form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's." How many times to students, and adults, misuse the apostrophe? I think this is a great reference, especially because the examples are really user-friendly, so anyone could pick this book up and understand how to properly form the possessive singular.

Overall, I found the usage rules to be the most helpful, because that's where I found myself learning and re-learning things that involved many different areas of writing, moreso than just rules in regards to essay writing.