William Strunk Jr. (1869-1946) was an American professor of English at Cornell University and author of the world famous book The Elements of Style (1918). This book became a highly influential guide to English usage during in the 20th century. Strunk was born and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
He earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Cincinnati in 1890 and a PhD at Cornell University in 1896. He spent the academic year 1898–99 at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, where he studied morphology and philology.
Strunk first taught mathematics at Rose Polytechnical Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1890–91. He then taught English at Cornell for 46 years. He became an expert in both classical and non-English literature. In 1935–36, Strunk enjoyed serving as the literary consultant for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Romeo and Juliet (1936).
