The Elements of Style

Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" is revered in the seedy underworld of grammar. Originally self-published in the early 1900's, this little book of 85 pages has become an icon. The authors' main creed: Simplify!

I found the book useful. And, although I would recommend reading this classic, it is too narrow to be considered a complete grammar reference source. Instead of addressing the fundamentals, Strunk addresses common grammatical errors. The tone is that of an exasperated teacher wanting to correct, once-and-for-all, the annoying mistakes he encounters every year. This approach is excellent for a student already well versed in the jargon of grammar: prepositions, modifiers, auxiliaries, and such. However, a thorough introduction to these building blocks would be more useful to me at this point.