> Strunk’s likes and dislikes, explains White, “were almost as whimsical as the choice of a necktie,” yet he had an uncanny ability to make his preferences “see

> Strunk’s likes and dislikes, explains White, “were almost as whimsical as the choice of a necktie,” yet he had an uncanny ability to make his preferences “seem convincing.” This is an important point: Learners need to have preferences fed to them, as they have none of their own, but the next step in learning is making your own preferences, not blindly following the ones given to you. Also, a point of humor I rarely find anyone mention: > “Omit needless words!” Ha! And triple ha! How superfluous that is. Why does it need to specify "needless" at all? Are we going to omit essentials? Of course not! And it explicitly says "words" right there. Right there, mind you! What else are we to omit, lemons? Obviously, the dictum must be "Omit!" and it must never be repeated. Superfluity, in this case, does vitiate.