<P><I>The Elements of Style</I> by William Strunk Jr. is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the best-known and most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage and often is required reading in U.S. high school and university composition classes. <P>The original 1918 edition of <I>The Elements of Style</I> detailed eight elementary rules of usage ten elementary principles of composition a few matters of form and a list of commonly 'misused' words and expressions. <P>This book printed as a private edition in 1918 for the use of his students became a classic on the local campus known as 'the little book' and its successive editions have since sold over ten million copies. <P>This version is based on the public-domain text from 1918 which was originally uploaded to Wikibooks and wikified by Wikibooks:User:Lord Emsworth in 2003.<P>An Author's Republic audio production.