The Battleground of Grammar

Afew decades ago I, like every other college freshman in America, bought a copy of The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. With all the certainty of youth, I leafed through the book and quickly decided that everything in it was either obvious or wrong. This annoyed me so much that I resolved to write a reply called “Strunk and White Are Full of Sh**.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t decide whether the verb should be “Are” or “Is,” and the project died of indecision. (You don’t look too disappointed.)