The Elements of Style is a writing style guide for American English, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage," ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled". William Strunk Jr. wrote the first edition, published by Harcourt in 1920. Thirty-five years later, the writer and editor E. B. White revised and expanded the guide for publication by Macmillan Publishers in 1959, widely cited as Strunk & White.