Strunk and White: First Impressions

$6.00 is a pretty good price for this helpful little book... Though I've bought and sold it at least three or four times in my college career thus far. I believe I'll hang onto it this time... It seems to be pretty well respected.

Actually, on second thought... I don't like it very much. It's too small and I have a book that I prefer a little bit more called "Woe is I".

Reading through any book of this sort will provide a nice refresher for one's grammar. Most of the rules and suggestions in the book seem pretty fundamental. Of course, even after reading little grammar helpers for a whole lifetime someone could probably still open one up and find something they could use a little refresher on.

For example, I was reading the correct usage of that and which a little while ago. Though I probably use the right one in most cases, I only do so because it sounds right. It's nice to know the difference now.

The teacher that assigned this book is a great teacher.
The teacher, which assigns this book, is a great teacher.

That is defining, while which isn't. So the first sentence describes a specific teacher while the second describes any teacher who assigns this book.

I can't disagree whole heartedly with any specific rules. It's a good idea to stick to the rules if you want to be sure that people will have an easier time making their way through your text. Of course, sometimes the rules need to be broken to make something sound the way you want it to sound, and that's ok too. It's nice to have a reference around though to make sure that, most of the time, you know the rules whether you are breaking them or not.