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books tagged “English Usage”
books tagged “English Usage”
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Basic English Usageby M. SwanISBN 0194311872 (0-19-431187-2)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Wordsby Bill BrysonISBN 0767910435 (0-7679-1043-5)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words'Book summary:One of the English languages most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.
As usual Bill Bryson says it best: English is a dazzlingly idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully at odds with logic and common sense. This is a language where cleave can mean to cut in half or to hold two halves together; where the simple word set has 126 different meanings as a verb, 58 as a noun, and 10 as a participial adjective; where if you can run fast you are moving swiftly, but if you are stuck fast you are not moving at all; [and] where colonel, freight, once, and ache are strikingly at odds with their spellings. As a copy editor for the London Times in the early 1980s, Bill Bryson felt keenly the lack of an easy-to-consult, authoritative guide to avoiding the traps and snares in English, and so he brashly suggested to a publisher that he should write one. Surprisingly, the proposition was accepted, and for a sum of money carefully gauged not to cause embarrassment or feelings of overworth, he proceeded to write that bookhis first, inaugurating his stellar career.
Now, a decade and a half later, revised, updated, and thoroughly (but not overly) Americanized, it has become Brysons Dictionary of Troublesome Words, more than ever an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. With some one thousand entries, from a, an to zoom, that feature real-world examples of questionable usage from an international array of publications, and with a helpful glossary and guide to pronunciation, this precise, prescriptive, andbecause it is written by Bill Brysonoften witty book belongs on the desk of every person who cares enough about the language not to maul or misuse or distort it.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]More editions of Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words:
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Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Rightby Bill BrysonISBN 0767910427 (0-7679-1042-7)
Hardcover, Broadway Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right'Book summary:One of the English languages most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.
As usual Bill Bryson says it best: English is a dazzlingly idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully at odds with logic and common sense. This is a language where cleave can mean to cut in half or to hold two halves together; where the simple word set has 126 different meanings as a verb, 58 as a noun, and 10 as a participial adjective; where if you can run fast you are moving swiftly, but if you are stuck fast you are not moving at all; [and] where colonel, freight, once, and ache are strikingly at odds with their spellings. As a copy editor for the London Times in the early 1980s, Bill Bryson felt keenly the lack of an easy-to-consult, authoritative guide to avoiding the traps and snares in English, and so he brashly suggested to a publisher that he should write one. Surprisingly, the proposition was accepted, and for a sum of money carefully gauged not to cause embarrassment or feelings of overworth, he proceeded to write that bookhis first, inaugurating his stellar career.
Now, a decade and a half later, revised, updated, and thoroughly (but not overly) Americanized, it has become Brysons Dictionary of Troublesome Words, more than ever an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. With some one thousand entries, from a, an to zoom, that feature real-world examples of questionable usage from an international array of publications, and with a helpful glossary and guide to pronunciation, this precise, prescriptive, andbecause it is written by Bill Brysonoften witty book belongs on the desk of every person who cares enough about the language not to maul or misuse or distort it. [via]More editions of Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right:
C. The New Cambridge English Course: Practice 1 + Keyby Michael Swan, Catherine WalterISBN 0521664918 (0-521-66491-8)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usageby Theodore M. BernsteinISBN 0684826321 (0-684-82632-1)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage'Book summary:The definitive writers handbook of alphabetized entries that provides answers to questions of use, meaning, grammar, punctuation, precision, logical structure, and color.The Careful Writer is a concise yet thorough handbook, covering in more than 2,000 alphabetized entries the problems that give (or should give) writers pause before they set words to paper. It is perhaps the liveliest and most entertaining reference work for writers of our timedelighting while it instructs and amusing even as it scolds and cajoles the reader into skillful, persuasive, and vivid writing. The Careful Writer, Mr. Bernsteins major work on usage, is an indispensible desk reference, and a perennial source of continuing reading pleasure. [via]
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The Careful Writer; A Modern Guide to English Usageby Theodore Menline BernsteinISBN 0689705557 (0-689-70555-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Careful Writer; A Modern Guide to English Usage'Book summary:The definitive writers handbook of alphabetized entries that provides answers to questions of use, meaning, grammar, punctuation, precision, logical structure, and color.The Careful Writer is a concise yet thorough handbook, covering in more than 2,000 alphabetized entries the problems that give (or should give) writers pause before they set words to paper. It is perhaps the liveliest and most entertaining reference work for writers of our timedelighting while it instructs and amusing even as it scolds and cajoles the reader into skillful, persuasive, and vivid writing. The Careful Writer, Mr. Bernsteins major work on usage, is an indispensible desk reference, and a perennial source of continuing reading pleasure. [via]
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Choose the Right Word: A Contemporary Guide to Selecting the Precise Word for Every Situationby Eugene H. Ehrlich, S. I. HayakawaISBN 0062731319 (0-06-273131-9)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Choose the Right Word: A Contemporary Guide to Selecting the Precise Word for Every Situation'Book summary:This unique blend of thesaurus, dictionary, and manual of English usage defines, compares, and contrasts words of similar but not identical meaning--such as "infer" and "imply". More than 6,000 synonyms are included.
[via]More editions of Choose the Right Word: A Contemporary Guide to Selecting the Precise Word for Every Situation:
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Choose the Right Word: A Modern Guide to Synonymsby S.I. HayakawaISBN 0060913932 (0-06-091393-2)
Softcover, Perennial Library
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The Complete Plain Wordsby Ernest GowersISBN 1567922031 (1-56792-203-1)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Plain Words'Book summary:Covers the issues in the choice and handling of words - will energise anyone with a writing job to do. Offers a checklist of words and phrases to be used with care - will save many a writer from committing embarrassing blunders by writing something unintended, misleading or downright foolish. [via]
The Complete Plain Wordsby Janet Whitcut, Ernest Gowers, Sidney GreenbaumISBN 0117011215 (0-11-701121-5)
Hardcover, H.M.S.O.
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Plain Words'Book summary:Covers the issues in the choice and handling of words - will energise anyone with a writing job to do. Offers a checklist of words and phrases to be used with care - will save many a writer from committing embarrassing blunders by writing something unintended, misleading or downright foolish. [via]
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The Concise Usage and Abusage: A Modern Guide to Good Englishby Eric PartridgeISBN 0837124662 (0-8371-2466-2)
Hardcover, Greenwood Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Concise Usage and Abusage: A Modern Guide to Good English'Book summary:This work examines the best and worst uses of English in order to help speakers, writers and thinkers express themselves more clearly. It looks at archism, echoism, obscurity and tautology, and should be useful as reference book. [via]
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Concise Usage and Abusageby PartridgeISBN 185326346X (1-85326-346-X)
Softcover, Wordsworth Editions, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Concise Usage and Abusage'Book summary:This work examines the best and worst uses of English in order to help speakers, writers and thinkers express themselves more clearly. It looks at archism, echoism, obscurity and tautology, and should be useful as reference book. [via]
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The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Languageby Tom McArthur, Roshan McArthurISBN 0198631367 (0-19-863136-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'Book summary:First published in 1992, The Oxford Companion to the English Language was described by The Times as an `excellent guide to the history, geography and contours of English', one that `immediately establishes itself as a necessary book'. A carefully-planned shorter version of the Oxford Companion to the English Language, this new Concise concentrates on the central themes in the language: grammar, usage, dialect, pronunciation, and the history of English. Within each theme all the key subjects are covered, and individual entries offer all the most essential information from the parent Companion.
With nearly 2,000 articles in A-Z format the Concise Companion is an ideal reference for both students and general readers wanting access to the highly readable scholarship of the Companion in a portable and affordable format. [via]More editions of The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language:
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Crazy Englishby Richard Lederer, Elaine PfefferblitISBN 067168907X (0-671-68907-X)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Crazy English'Book summary:One of the most unforgettable moments of my youth was learning the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I was in third grade. So what if Richard Lederer has come up with a chemical compound that consists of 1,913 letters? Owning a word like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is empowering at any age. If you have ever been completely wowed by the power you can have over language, or its power over you, Richard Lederer is your patron saint. His oft-reprinted introduction to Crazy English, which was originally published in 1989, claims that English is "the most loopy and wiggy of all tongues." And then he demonstrates: "In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway? ... Why do they call them apartments when they're all together?" And so on. Lederer's pace is frenetic. He alights on oxymorons ("pretty ugly," "computer jock"), redundancies, confusing words (are you sure you know the meaning of enormity?), phobias, contronyms, heteronyms, retroactive terms (acoustic guitar, rotary phone), and a host of other linguistic delights.
Though English may be one of the crazier languages--Lederer claims that about 80 percent of our words are not spelled phonetically--they are all, he says, a little crazy. "That's because language is invented ... by boys and girls and men and women, not computers. As such, language reflects the creative and fearful asymmetry of the human race, which, of course, isn't really a race at all." --Jane Steinberg [via]
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Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Languageby Richard LedererISBN 1417616989 (1-4176-1698-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language'Book summary:One of the most unforgettable moments of my youth was learning the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I was in third grade. So what if Richard Lederer has come up with a chemical compound that consists of 1,913 letters? Owning a word like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is empowering at any age. If you have ever been completely wowed by the power you can have over language, or its power over you, Richard Lederer is your patron saint. His oft-reprinted introduction to Crazy English, which was originally published in 1989, claims that English is "the most loopy and wiggy of all tongues." And then he demonstrates: "In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway? ... Why do they call them apartments when they're all together?" And so on. Lederer's pace is frenetic. He alights on oxymorons ("pretty ugly," "computer jock"), redundancies, confusing words (are you sure you know the meaning of enormity?), phobias, contronyms, heteronyms, retroactive terms (acoustic guitar, rotary phone), and a host of other linguistic delights.
Though English may be one of the crazier languages--Lederer claims that about 80 percent of our words are not spelled phonetically--they are all, he says, a little crazy. "That's because language is invented ... by boys and girls and men and women, not computers. As such, language reflects the creative and fearful asymmetry of the human race, which, of course, isn't really a race at all." --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language:
- Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language: ISBN 0671023233 (0-671-02323-3)
Softcover, Pocket Books - Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language: ISBN 0671689061 (0-671-68906-1)
Hardcover, Pocket Books - Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language: ISBN 1417616989 (1-4176-1698-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
- Crazy English: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language: ISBN 0671023233 (0-671-02323-3)
Dictionary of Idioms and Their Originsby Roger Flavell, Linda FlavellISBN 1856261298 (1-85626-129-8)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dictionary of Idioms and Their Origins'Book summary:Examining the origins of everyday idioms and expressions, such as "a storm in a teacup" and "flavour of the month", this book explains their meanings and gives examples of their use. Interspersed with the individual entries are mini-essays on recurring themes - familiar phrases with nautical origins, expressions based on the macabre and on the peculiarly British view of foreigners. (Why do we have Dutch uncles and Dutch treats, but take French leave?) For the serious student, there are dates of first use and guidance on correct or current usage, while the browser and lover of words is offered a source of fascination and enjoyment. The authors' previous books include "Current English Usage". [via]
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Dictionary of Idioms and Their Originsby Linda Flavell, Roger FlavellISBN 1856263681 (1-85626-368-1)
Softcover, Cathie Limited, Kyle
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A Dictionary of Modern English Usageby Henry Watson FowlerISBN 0192813897 (0-19-281389-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'Book summary:A guide to precise phrases, grammar, and pronunciation can be key; it can even be admired. But beloved? Yet from its first appearance in 1926, Fowler's was just that. Henry Watson Fowler initially aimed his Dictionary of Modern English Usage, as he wrote to his publishers in 1911, at "the half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities who wants to know Can I say so-&-so?" He was of course obsessed with, in Swift's phrase, "proper words in their proper places." But having been a schoolmaster, Fowler knew that liberal doses of style, wit, and caprice would keep his manual off the shelf and in writers' hands. He also felt that description must accompany prescription, and that advocating pedantic "superstitions" and "fetishes" would be to no one's advantage. Adepts will have their favorite inconsequential entries--from burgle to brood, truffle to turgid. Would that we could quote them all, but we can't resist a couple. Here Fowler lays into dedicated:
He is that rara avis a dedicated boxer. The sporting correspondent who wrote this evidently does not see why the literary critics should have a monopoly of this favourite word of theirs, though he does not seem to think that it will be greatly needed in his branch of the business.
Needless to say, later on rara avis is also smacked upside the head! And practically fares no better: "It is unfortunate that practically should have escaped from its true meaning into something like its opposite," Fowler begins. But our linguistic hero also knew full well when to put a crimp on comedy. Some phrases and proper uses, it's clear, would always be worth fighting for, and the guide thus ranges from brief definitions to involved articles. Archaisms, for instance, he considered safe only in the hands of the experienced, and meaningless words, especially those used by the young, "are perhaps more suitable for the psychologist than for the philologist." Well, youth might respond, "Whatever!"--though only after examining the keen differences between that phrase and what ever. (One can only imagine what Fowler would have made of our late-20th-century abuses of like.) This is where Robert Burchfield's 1996 third edition comes in. Yes, Fowler lost the fight for one r in guerrilla and didn't fare too well when it came to quashing such vogue words as smear and seminal. But he knew--and makes us ever aware--that language is a living, breathing (and occasionally suffocating) thing, and we hope that he would have welcomed any and all revisions. Fowlerphiles will want to keep their first (if they're very lucky) or second editions at hand, but should look to Burchfield for new entries on such phrases as gay, iron curtain, and inchoate--not to mention girl. --Kerry Fried [via]More editions of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage:
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A Dictionary of Modern English Usageby Simon Winchester, Henry FowlerISBN 0198605064 (0-19-860506-4)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'Book summary:A guide to precise phrases, grammar, and pronunciation can be key; it can even be admired. But beloved? Yet from its first appearance in 1926, Fowler's was just that. Henry Watson Fowler initially aimed his Dictionary of Modern English Usage, as he wrote to his publishers in 1911, at "the half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities who wants to know Can I say so-&-so?" He was of course obsessed with, in Swift's phrase, "proper words in their proper places." But having been a schoolmaster, Fowler knew that liberal doses of style, wit, and caprice would keep his manual off the shelf and in writers' hands. He also felt that description must accompany prescription, and that advocating pedantic "superstitions" and "fetishes" would be to no one's advantage. Adepts will have their favorite inconsequential entries--from burgle to brood, truffle to turgid. Would that we could quote them all, but we can't resist a couple. Here Fowler lays into dedicated:
He is that rara avis a dedicated boxer. The sporting correspondent who wrote this evidently does not see why the literary critics should have a monopoly of this favourite word of theirs, though he does not seem to think that it will be greatly needed in his branch of the business.
Needless to say, later on rara avis is also smacked upside the head! And practically fares no better: "It is unfortunate that practically should have escaped from its true meaning into something like its opposite," Fowler begins. But our linguistic hero also knew full well when to put a crimp on comedy. Some phrases and proper uses, it's clear, would always be worth fighting for, and the guide thus ranges from brief definitions to involved articles. Archaisms, for instance, he considered safe only in the hands of the experienced, and meaningless words, especially those used by the young, "are perhaps more suitable for the psychologist than for the philologist." Well, youth might respond, "Whatever!"--though only after examining the keen differences between that phrase and what ever. (One can only imagine what Fowler would have made of our late-20th-century abuses of like.) This is where Robert Burchfield's 1996 third edition comes in. Yes, Fowler lost the fight for one r in guerrilla and didn't fare too well when it came to quashing such vogue words as smear and seminal. But he knew--and makes us ever aware--that language is a living, breathing (and occasionally suffocating) thing, and we hope that he would have welcomed any and all revisions. Fowlerphiles will want to keep their first (if they're very lucky) or second editions at hand, but should look to Burchfield for new entries on such phrases as gay, iron curtain, and inchoate--not to mention girl. --Kerry Fried [via]More editions of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage:
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuationby Lynne TrussISBN 1592402038 (1-59240-203-8)
Softcover, Gotham Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation'Book summary:We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.[via]More editions of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation:
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: ISBN 1592400876 (1-59240-087-6)
Hardcover, Gotham Books - Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: ISBN 1861976127 (1-86197-612-7)
Hardcover, Profile Books Ltd - Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: ISBN 1592402038 (1-59240-203-8)
Softcover, Gotham Books
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: ISBN 1592400876 (1-59240-087-6)
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!by Lynne Truss, Bonnie TimmonsISBN 0399244913 (0-399-24491-3)
Hardcover, Putnam Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!'Book summary:[via]Illuminating the comical confusion the lowly comma can cause, this new edition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves uses lively, subversive illustrations to show how misplacing or leaving out a comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely.
This picture book is sure to elicit gales of laughterand better punctuationfrom all who read it.
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Eats, Shoots, and Leavesby Lynne TrussISBN 0786268379 (0-7862-6837-9)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves'Book summary:A New York Times Bestseller
In 2002 Lynne Truss presented a well-received BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation which led to the writing of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The book became a runaway success in the UK, hitting number one on the bestseller lists and prompting extraordinary headlines such as "Grammar Book Tops Bestseller List" (BBC News). With over a half million copies in print in England, Truss is ready to rally the troops on this side of the pond with her rousing cry, "Sticklers unite!"
Available only in Core 7. [via]
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The Elements of Styleby William Strunk, E. B. White, Maira KalmanISBN 1594200696 (1-59420-069-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Elements of Style'Book summary:You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered.This book's unique tone, wit and charm have conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing. [via]
More editions of The Elements of Style:
- The Elements of Style: ISBN 020530902X (0-205-30902-X)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group - The Elements of Style: ISBN 0486447987 (0-486-44798-7)
Softcover, Dover Pubns - The Elements of Style: ISBN 0205313426 (0-205-31342-6)
Hardcover, Allyn & Bacon - The Elements of Style: ISBN 0881030686 (0-88103-068-6)
Hardcover, Bt Bound - The Elements of Style: ISBN 0205191584 (0-205-19158-4)
Softcover, Pearson P T R - The Elements of Style: ISBN 0024181900 (0-02-418190-0)
Hardcover, Allyn & Bacon - The Elements of Style: ISBN 1594200696 (1-59420-069-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
- The Elements of Style: ISBN 020530902X (0-205-30902-X)
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The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writersby William StrunkISBN 097522980X (0-9752298-0-X)
Softcover, Kt Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writers'Book summary:Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. [via]
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The Elements of Style With Indexby William StrunkISBN 0024182001 (0-02-418200-1)
Softcover, Prentice Hall
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Elements of Style With Index'Book summary:Composition teachers throughout the English-speaking world have been pushing this book on their students since it was first published in 1957. Co-author White later revised it, and it remains the most compact and lucid handbook we have for matters of basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style. [via]
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The Facts on File Dictionary of Troublesome Wordsby Bill BrysonISBN 0816019339 (0-8160-1933-9)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Facts on File Dictionary of Troublesome Words'More editions of The Facts on File Dictionary of Troublesome Words:
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Fowler's Modern English Usageby R. W. Burchfield, H. W. FowlerISBN 0198610211 (0-19-861021-1)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fowler's Modern English Usage'Book summary:For generations, lovers of the English language have turned to trusty copies of Fowler's to settle nagging grammatical questions, or, for true hard-core language junkies, for the sheer fun of reading H. W. Fowler's classic outrage contained in entries on "Hackneyed Phrases" or "Pedantic-Humour Words."
The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, the first revision in more than 30 years, has not arrived without controversy. Some language (and Fowler) purists complain that the book is too liberal at times, noting that usage is common as opposed to correct. Those points are debatable, and, indeed, they're what makes the book's nearly 900 pages so interesting to peruse. The currency of the new Fowler's extends to, in the entry on "Vogue Words," such novelties as "couch potato," "flavour of the month," "on a roll," and the notorious "parameter." [via]
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Funk and Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions.by James Champlin FernaldISBN 0308400240 (0-308-40024-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Funk and Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions.'More editions of Funk and Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions.:
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The Good Grammar Bookby Michael Swan, Catherine WalterISBN 0194315207 (0-19-431520-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Good Grammar Book'Book summary:This book will improve students' understanding and use of grammar every time they refer to it. [via]
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Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usageby William Morris, Mary MorrisISBN 006272021X (0-06-272021-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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How English Works: A Grammar Practice Bookby Michael SwanISBN 0194314561 (0-19-431456-1)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How English Works: A Grammar Practice Book'Book summary:This book makes grammar practice interesting by presenting rules that are easy to understand and remember, with exercises that entertain as they teach. [via]
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The King's Englishby H. W. Fowler, H.W. Fowler & F.G. FowlerISBN 1559213507 (1-55921-350-7)
Softcover, Moyer Bell Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'King's English'Book summary:This work contains sections on vocabulary, punctuation and "airs and graces" as well as contentious syntactical sections. [via]
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The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usageby Kingsley AmisISBN 0312206577 (0-312-20657-7)
Softcover, St. Martin's Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage'Book summary:Kingsley Amis's The King's English is as witty and biting as his novels. Modestly presented as a volume "in which some modern linguistic problems are discussed and perhaps settled," Amis's usage guide is a worthy companion to his revered Fowler's. The King's English is distinctly British, but never mind: it is sensational. And unlike many of his countrymen, Amis is decidedly pro-American, even admitting a "bias towards American modes of expression as likely to seem the livelier and ... smarter alternative." In a world populated by usage mavens too willingly to waffle, Amis is refreshingly unequivocal. On the expression meaningful dialogue? It "looks and sounds unbearably pompous. Nevertheless one would not wish to be deprived of a phrase that so unerringly points out its user as a humourless ninny." To cross one's 7's, he says, "is either gross affectation or, these days, straightforward ignorance." And the frequently misused word viable, he claims, "should be dropped altogether ... simply because it has taken the fancy of every trendy little twit on the look-out for a posh word for feasible, practicable." Forget Amis's protestations of being unfit for the position of language arbiter; after all, as he says, "the defence of the language is too large a matter to be left to the properly qualified." --Jane Steinberg [via]
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The King's English: An Essential Guide to Written Englishby F. G. Fowler, H. W. FowlerISBN 0198813309 (0-19-881330-9)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The King's English: An Essential Guide to Written English'Book summary:384pages. in8. broché. [via]
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Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problemsby Bernard Smith, Michael SwanISBN 0521779391 (0-521-77939-1)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems'Book summary:This updated edition is a practical reference guide which compares the relevant features of a student's own language with English, helping teachers to predict and understand the problems their students have. Learner English has chapters focusing on major problems of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and other errors as well as new chapters covering Korean, Malay/Indonesian and Polish language backgrounds. [via]
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Legal Writingby Barry TitmanISBN 1854311697 (1-85431-169-7)
Hardcover, Wm Gaunt & Sons
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Legal Writing'Book summary:Although the art of legal writing and drafting has been practised for as long as there have been laws and lawyers, it is only recently that the subject has been recognised as worthy of serious study. Traditional training methods which have been handed down from generation to generation have not served the profession well. Legal writing is often accused of suffering from lack of clarity owing to its lengthy intricate construction and antiquated forms of expression. People read legal writing not because they want to, but because they have to. Lawyers need to learn to write in good clear English that their clients understand. This book gives guidance in good practice to those just starting out on a legal career so that bad habits are eliminated from the outset rather than perpetuated. [via]
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The Little Oxford Dictionary of English Grammarby Sylvia Chalker, Edmund WeinerISBN 0198613156 (0-19-861315-6)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Little Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar'Book summary:What is a subordinate clause? A neologism? A phrasal-prepositional verb? Need to remember the definition of a participial adjective? Or of a collocation? Based on Oxford's international best-seller The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, this convenient and accessible dictionary covers all the accepted grammatical terms and concepts used in English today (as well as some of the old traditional names) to make answering such questions easy.
The straightforward A-Z format of The Little Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar makes finding topics quick and simple, and its 20 tables bring together related terms to show how grammar functions as a system. In addition, the plentiful examples throughout make grammatical ideas easy to grasp, giving guidance as well as definitions.
For school, home, or office, this compact resource is both a simple introduction and a lasting reference to the rules that govern the English language. [via]More editions of The Little Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar:
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Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English UsageISBN 0877796335 (0-87779-633-5)
Softcover, Merriam Webster
Find This BookBook summary:Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage is a dictionary. It is not a usage guide. It is not Fowler, or Partridge, or Bernstein (nor, at 799 pages, is it exactly concise, but that's another matter). Unlike those eminent watchdogs of the English language, the editors of this volume are record-keepers, chronicling the way language is used, not the way it should be used. Based on Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, this book cites the classic English-language specialists generously but finds its true course by observing actual contemporary usage. Take the word discomfit, for example, the meaning of which (to thwart, foil, or frustrate) is staunchly defended in many usage guides. Sorry, says Merriam-Webster. Their survey says that the use of the word as a synonym to discomfort is so entrenched as to have become "thoroughly established" as the most prevalent meaning. Though the editors of this book are more reporters than campaigners, their prose is eminently readable, charming, and even, like that of the best usage enforcers, quirky. For instance, the word data, they claim, is a "queer fish," while errata "leads a double life," and yclept is "peculiar-looking." --Jane Steinberg [via]
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Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usageby Theodore M. BernsteinISBN 0374523150 (0-374-52315-0)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage'Book summary:Paperback: 260 pages Publisher: Hungry Minds Inc,U.S. (April 5, 1984) Language: English [via]
More editions of Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage:
- Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage: ISBN 0671504045 (0-671-50404-5)
Softcover, Simon and Schuster - Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage: ISBN 0374210438 (0-374-21043-8)
Hardcover, Farrar, Straus and Giroux - Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage: ISBN 0374523150 (0-374-52315-0)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Outmoded Rules of English Usage: ISBN 0671504045 (0-671-50404-5)
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Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, And Outmoded Rules of English Usageby Theodore Menline Bernstein, Theodore M. BersteinISBN 1933572000 (1-933572-00-0)
Softcover, Centro Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, And Outmoded Rules of English Usage'Book summary:The old adage, rules are made to be broken has never been as well defended as in MISS THISTLEBOTTOM'S HOBGOBLINS. Throughout the book, Bernstein asserts that we have been indoctrinated with English usage rules that lack flexibility and evoke fear, confusion and frustration in writers. There are times when splitting an infinitive or ending a sentence with a preposition makes sense. Through a series of one-sided correspondences with Bertha Thistlebottom, an archetypal grade school English teacher, Bernstein addresses the community of rule mongering sticklers who have tried to squeeze the English language into a set of inflexible rules and outmoded definitions that only serve to stifle its growth and paralyze writers. In addition to his letters to Miss Thistlebottom, there are scores of entries where Bernstein debunks the rules of yesteryear with wit and intelligence and illustrates how to write effectivelywithout the worry of hobgoblins. [via]
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Modern American Usageby Wilson FollettISBN 080900139X (0-8090-0139-X)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Modern American Usage'Book summary:A classic since its first edition in 1966, Modern American Usage has been called a book that every literate American ought to read. Now fully revised and brought up-to-date, this one-volume course in good writing brims with helpful answerslarge and smallfor readers who want to use English clearly, naturally, and correctly.[via]
Alphabetical for easy consulting (and full of cross-references), the book carries the reader to the entry that explains a troublesome word or phraseand shows how to use or avoid it. Every page offers natural ways to avoid saying or writing the vague, the long-winded, the needlessly technical, and the hopelessly stale. With verve and eloquence, Erik Wensberg spears the empty words that clog clear thought impact, frustrated, basically, and many moreand offers us good English words that are definite and have more life.
Offering standards by which to judge language now and in the future, Modern American Usage takes account of a generation of changes in American idiom and of attempts to reform the use of pronouns, titles, and phrases to fit shifting ideals of social justice. All this it does with easy learning and with sympathy alike for the experienced writer and for those who come new to American English. -
Modern American Usage: A Guideby Carlos Baker, Jacques Barzun, Wilson FollettISBN 0517335093 (0-517-33509-3)
Hardcover
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Modern American Usage: A Guide'Book summary:A classic since its first edition in 1966, Modern American Usage has been called a book that every literate American ought to read. Now fully revised and brought up-to-date, this one-volume course in good writing brims with helpful answerslarge and smallfor readers who want to use English clearly, naturally, and correctly.[via]
Alphabetical for easy consulting (and full of cross-references), the book carries the reader to the entry that explains a troublesome word or phraseand shows how to use or avoid it. Every page offers natural ways to avoid saying or writing the vague, the long-winded, the needlessly technical, and the hopelessly stale. With verve and eloquence, Erik Wensberg spears the empty words that clog clear thought impact, frustrated, basically, and many moreand offers us good English words that are definite and have more life.
Offering standards by which to judge language now and in the future, Modern American Usage takes account of a generation of changes in American idiom and of attempts to reform the use of pronouns, titles, and phrases to fit shifting ideals of social justice. All this it does with easy learning and with sympathy alike for the experienced writer and for those who come new to American English.More editions of Modern American Usage: A Guide:
Modern American Usageby Outlet Book Company Staff, Random House Value Publishing StaffISBN 0517335085 (0-517-33508-5)
Hardcover, Random House Value Publishing
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Modern English Usageby FowlerISBN 1853263184 (1-85326-318-4)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Modern English Usage'Book summary:A guide to precise phrases, grammar, and pronunciation can be key; it can even be admired. But beloved? Yet from its first appearance in 1926, Fowler's was just that. Henry Watson Fowler initially aimed his Dictionary of Modern English Usage, as he wrote to his publishers in 1911, at "the half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities who wants to know Can I say so-&-so?" He was of course obsessed with, in Swift's phrase, "proper words in their proper places." But having been a schoolmaster, Fowler knew that liberal doses of style, wit, and caprice would keep his manual off the shelf and in writers' hands. He also felt that description must accompany prescription, and that advocating pedantic "superstitions" and "fetishes" would be to no one's advantage. Adepts will have their favorite inconsequential entries--from burgle to brood, truffle to turgid. Would that we could quote them all, but we can't resist a couple. Here Fowler lays into dedicated:
He is that rara avis a dedicated boxer. The sporting correspondent who wrote this evidently does not see why the literary critics should have a monopoly of this favourite word of theirs, though he does not seem to think that it will be greatly needed in his branch of the business.
Needless to say, later on rara avis is also smacked upside the head! And practically fares no better: "It is unfortunate that practically should have escaped from its true meaning into something like its opposite," Fowler begins. But our linguistic hero also knew full well when to put a crimp on comedy. Some phrases and proper uses, it's clear, would always be worth fighting for, and the guide thus ranges from brief definitions to involved articles. Archaisms, for instance, he considered safe only in the hands of the experienced, and meaningless words, especially those used by the young, "are perhaps more suitable for the psychologist than for the philologist." Well, youth might respond, "Whatever!"--though only after examining the keen differences between that phrase and what ever. (One can only imagine what Fowler would have made of our late-20th-century abuses of like.) This is where Robert Burchfield's 1996 third edition comes in. Yes, Fowler lost the fight for one r in guerrilla and didn't fare too well when it came to quashing such vogue words as smear and seminal. But he knew--and makes us ever aware--that language is a living, breathing (and occasionally suffocating) thing, and we hope that he would have welcomed any and all revisions. Fowlerphiles will want to keep their first (if they're very lucky) or second editions at hand, but should look to Burchfield for new entries on such phrases as gay, iron curtain, and inchoate--not to mention girl. --Kerry Fried [via]More editions of Modern English Usage:
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New Cambridge English Course 1by Michael SwanISBN 0521376378 (0-521-37637-8)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'New Cambridge English Course 1'Book summary:The New Cambridge English Course, complete in four levels, provides teachers of adult and young adult learners with the most thorough and comprehensive modern course available, for beginner through to upper-intermediate level.Levels 1 and 2 have firmly established The New Cambridge English Course as the one course which provides the wide range of features needed for successful achievement and steady progress at the beginner and low-intermediate stages: - a multi-syllabus approach, systematically covering all aspects of language from grammar, notions and functions through to pronunciation, skills and vocabulary - effective development of fluency through controlled and freer activities, as well as thorough grounding in accuracy - wide range of topics, exercises and tasks, providing stimulus and variety for both teachers and learners - very clear organisation of teaching material, explicit aims for each lesson, high quality of page design, and detailed notes for teachers in the Teacher's Book (interleaved with the student's pages) - carefully-paced lessons, providing a minimum of 72 hours class work at each level - opportunities for self-study and learner choice in the Practice Books; frequent revision, informal testing in the Student's Books, with more formal testing in the additional Test Books for the teacher The New Cambridge English Course Level 3-Intermediate and Level 4-Upper-intermediate can be used by learners who have studied Levels 1 and 2, or as intermediate and upper-intermediate courses in their own right. The organisation and structure of the course has particular benefits at these levels, enabling learners to make clearly-marked progress through the " intermediate plateau", deepening their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and at the same time developing their fluency and communication skills. The overall approach of the series ensures variety, personal involvement, stimulation and growth at this all-important level. Level 4 takes learners up to First Certificate standard, where they can take this or an equivalent exam with confidence, given suitable exam skills practice. [via]
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The New Fowler's Modern English Usageby H. W. Fowler, R. W. BurchfieldISBN 0198602634 (0-19-860263-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The New Fowler's Modern English Usage'Book summary:First published in 1926, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage is one of the most celebrated reference books of the twentieth century. Commonly known as "Fowler," after its inimitable author, H.W. Fowler, it has sold more than a million copies and maintained a devoted following over seven decades, in large part because of its charming blend of information and good humor, delivered in the voice of a genial if somewhat idiosyncratic schoolmaster. "Reading Fowler," William F. Buckley once noted, "provides instruction and knowledge and direction, but the whole of it is a sensual delight." And Jessica Mitford wrote that Fowler's style "has afforded me endless amusement and instruction through my very long life." The first place to turn for sensible advice on the thorny issues of grammar, meaning, and pronunciation, "Fowler" is one of those rare reference books that can also be read simply for pleasure.
Now this classic is available in a new edition--the first major revision since Fowler's original. Rewritten, updated, and expanded to take into account the vast linguistic changes of the past three-quarters of a century, here are thousands of alphabetically arranged entries, offering advice and background information on all aspects of the English language, from grammar to spelling to literary style. This masterful revision has been carried out by Robert Burchfield, hailed by The Chicago Tribune as "the greatest living lexicographer." In his hands, the MEU has retained its beloved traits--accessibility, authority, and (not least) personality--while acquiring new ones, most notably, up-to-the-minute currency. As in "Fowler," the new edition is a cornucopia of information on such troublesome areas as the plural form of foreign words (adagio, curriculum, memorandum, virus); related or like-sounding words (affect/effect, continual/continuous); rarely encountered literary terms (alcaics, alexandrine, arsis); and unusual inflected forms (for instance, taxi, taxis, taxiing). But there are also many innovations. Burchfield, who spent decades working on the Oxford English Dictionary, has introduced the OED's historical approach to the MEU, providing fascinating details on how and when new usages entered the language. In addition, he has combed novels, newspapers, and magazines to replenish the book's many illustrative sentences with new examples from the 1980s and 1990s, taken from such sources as The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and from such writers as Saul Bellow, John Updike, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Anita Brookner, and Penelope Lively. The new MEU also covers much more of the English-speaking world than did "Fowler"--including not only the United Kingdom and the United States, but also Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere--and pronunciation is now given in the International Phonetic Alphabet, with an easy-to-consult guide given across each double-page spread.
For seventy years, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage has supplied readers with information, guidance, and amusement. This major revision provides an MEU for the next century: a completely up-to-date work based on the immense databases of the Oxford English Dictionary, providing the same insightful, authoritative, and lively coverage that has long made "Fowler" a synonym for correct English. [via]More editions of The New Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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The Oxford Companion to the English Languageby Tom McArthurISBN 019214183X (0-19-214183-X)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Oxford Companion to the English Language'Book summary:Language is the life blood of a culture, and to be interested in culture is in some sense to be interested in language, in the shapes and sounds of words, in the history of reading, writing, and speech, in the endless variety of dialects and slangs, in the incessant creativity of the human mind as it reaches out to others. It is surprising then that until now there has been no major one-volume reference devoted to the most widely dispersed and influential language of our time: the English language.
A language-lover's dream, The Oxford Companion to the English Language is a thousand-page cornucopia covering virtually every aspect of the English language as well as language in general. The range of topics is remarkable, offering a goldmine of information on writing and speech (including entries on grammar, literary terms, linguistics, rhetoric, and style) as well as on such wider issues as sexist language, bilingual education, child language acquisition, and the history of English. There are biographies of Shakespeare, Noah Webster, Noam Chomsky, James Joyce, and many others who have influenced the shape or study of the language; extended articles on everything from psycholinguistics to sign language to tragedy; coverage of every nation in which a significant part of the population speaks English as well as virtually every regional dialect and pidgin (from Gullah and Scouse to Cockney and Tok Pisin). In addition, the Companion provides bibliographies for the larger entries, generous cross-referencing, etymologies for headwords, a chronology of English from Roman times to 1990, and an index of people who appear in entries or bibliographies. And like all Oxford Companions, this volume is packed with delightful surprises. We learn, for instance, that the first Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard later became President (John Quincy Adams); that "slogan" originally meant "war cry"; that the keyboard arrangement QWERTY became popular not because it was efficient but the opposite (it slows down the fingers and keeps them from jamming the keys); that "mbenzi" is Swahili for "rich person" (i.e., one who owns a Mercedes Benz); and that in Scotland, "to dree yir ain weird" means "to follow your own star."
From Scrabble to Websters to TESOL to Gibraltar, the thirty-five hundred entries here offer more information on a wider variety of topics than any other reference on the English language. Featuring the work of nearly a hundred scholars from around the world, this unique volume is the ideal shelf-mate to The Oxford Companion to English Literature. It will captivate everyone who loves language. [via]More editions of The Oxford Companion to the English Language:
The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammarby Sylvia Chalker, E.S.C. WeinerISBN 0192800876 (0-19-280087-6)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar'Book summary:This major new reference offers the general reader, student, and professional clear and immediate A-Z access to 1,000 grammatical terms and their meanings. All currently accepted terms are included, as well as traditional terms, more controversial newer terms, and terms belonging to linguistics. Each term is accompanied by a concise definition and detailed explanations, including examples of language in use and frequent quotations from existing texts. [via]
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The Penguin Dictionary of English Idiomsby Daphne M. Gulland, David G. Hinds-HowellISBN 0140514813 (0-14-051481-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms'Book summary:"Power nap," "the Oprah effect," "girl power"-these are just some of the recent figures of speech to have entered our language. This dictionary has been completely revised for its second edition and includes 2,000 new idioms. It provides clear and concise definitions and explains how the idioms should be used. At the same time, the dictionary's thematic arrangement makes it possible not only to study and compare all the idioms in a given subject area, but to match the right one to the right occasion.[via]More editions of The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms:
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The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Wordsby Bill BrysonISBN 0140512004 (0-14-051200-4)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words'Book summary:It is nearly 20 years since Bill Bryson first penned his deliciously witty paean to precision Troublesome Words. Now he has revised it and 60 per cent of the content is new so it's well worth another browse and a place on the desk corner of anyone who likes words and who wants to get things right.
Once a sub-editor at The Times, Bryson is irresistibly drawn to knowing that "to flaunt" means to display ostentatiously but "to flout" means to treat with contempt. Or that a straitjacket may be straight but its name means that its occupant is confined and restricted--in straitened circumstances, perhaps. And can you explain the difference between a Creole and a Pidgin or between egoism and egotism? If not consult Bryson. Then you'll be able to. There's no pedantry or pomposity in Bryson's writing. But he argues: "Just as we all agree that clarity is better served if 'cup' represents a drinking vessel and 'cap' something you put on your head, so too I think the world is a fractionally better place if we agree to preserve a distinction between 'its' and 'it's', between 'I lay down the law' and 'I lie down to sleep', between 'imply' and 'infer' and countless others."
Bryson modestly jokes that this alphabetically arranged book could be subtitled "Even More Things in English Usage That the Author Wasn't Entirely Clear about Until Quite Recently". If only most of us were sure about a fraction of the things Bryson clearly understands very well we might all be more effective writers and speakers. --Susan Elkin [via]
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The Penguin Guide to Plain English: Express Yourself Clearly and Effectivelyby Harry BlamiresISBN 0140514309 (0-14-051430-9)
Softcover, Penguin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Penguin Guide to Plain English: Express Yourself Clearly and Effectively'More editions of The Penguin Guide to Plain English: Express Yourself Clearly and Effectively:
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Practical English Usageby Michael SwanISBN 0194420981 (0-19-442098-1)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Practical English Usage'Book summary:This unique reference guide addresses problem points in the language as encountered by learners and their teachers. It gives information and advice that is practical, clear, reliable, and easy to find. Most of the book is about grammar, but it also covers selected points of vocabulary, idioms, style, pronunciation, and spelling.
· Explanations and examples based on current corpus research.
· Entries on "kinds of English," covering standard English and dialects, correctness, spoken and written English, formality, and variation and change. [via]More editions of Practical English Usage:
- Practical English Usage: ISBN 019442099X (0-19-442099-X)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr - Practical English Usage: ISBN 0194311856 (0-19-431185-6)
Softcover, Oxford University Press - Practical English Usage: ISBN 019431197X (0-19-431197-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - Practical English Usage: ISBN 0194311864 (0-19-431186-4)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press - Practical English Usage: ISBN 0194420981 (0-19-442098-1)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
- Practical English Usage: ISBN 019442099X (0-19-442099-X)
Questions of Englishby Jeremy Marshall, Fred McDonaldISBN 0198692927 (0-19-869292-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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The Reader over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Proseby Alan Hodge, Robert and Alan Hodge GravesISBN 0394729366 (0-394-72936-6)
Softcover, Bookthrift Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Reader over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose'Book summary:For those with a nose for poetry. [via]
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The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomedby Karen Elizabeth GordonISBN 0812911016 (0-8129-1101-6)
Hardcover, Times Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed'Book summary:Karen Elizabeth Gordon is no ordinary grammarian, and her works (including The New Well-Tempered Sentence, Torn Wings and Faux Pas, and The Disheveled Dictionary)--are no ordinary books of grammar. A special edition of the 1984 classic, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire is populated by a wickedly decadent cast of gargoyles, mastodons, murderous debutantes, and, yes, vampires (both transitive and otherwise), who cavort and consort in order to illustrate basic principles of grammar. The sentences are intoxicating--"How he loved to dangle his participles, brush his forelock off his forehead with his foreleg, and gaze into the aqueous depths"--but the rules and their explanations are as sound as any you might find in Strunk and White. Outlining the building blocks of the English language, from parts of speech to phrases and clauses, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire goes on to exorcise such grammatical demons as passive voice, fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences. At last, a handbook of grammar you will actually want to read. In the words of Gordon's preface, "Howling, exploding, crackling, flickering with new life-forms, and drunk on fresh blood (some of mine is certainly missing), this deluxe edition reminds us on every page that words, too, have hoofs and wings to transport us far and deep." [via]
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Troublesome Wordsby BrysonISBN 0140266402 (0-14-026640-2)
Softcover, Penguin Uk
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Troublesome Words'Book summary:This dictionary provides a straightforward guide to the pitfalls and hotly disputed issues in written English. The entries are discussed with wit and common sense, and illustrated with examples of questionable usage taken from leading British and American newspapers, plus occasional references to masters of the language such as Samuel Johnson and Shakespeare. No familiarity with English grammar is needed to learn from this book, although a glossary of grammatical terms is included and there is also an appendix on punctuation. [via]
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Usage and Abusageby Eric Partridge, Janet WhitcutISBN 0140514422 (0-14-051442-2)
Softcover, Penguin Uk
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Usage and Abusage'Book summary:Eric Partridge was a master of linguistic scholarship. Author of A Dictionary of Cliches, Shakespeare's Bawdy, and many others, Partridge's Usage and Abusage, first out in 1942, was last updated by him in 1973, six years before his death. But life and language tick on, even without Partridge. Now, Janet Whitcut has revised his classic to keep up with the 1990s. One is reminded that "ablution is now intolerably pedantic" for "hand washing," that errata should be confined to corrections in books, and that precipitously (very steeply) should not be misused in the place of precipitately (violently hurried). The entry on punctuation runs for pages and is lucid, literate, and lively. The "Vogue Words" section is completely updated and provides today's connotations for words and phrases from academic to yuppie, rounding out a scholarly reference that maintains the Partridge standard. [via]
More editions of Usage and Abusage:
- Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English: ISBN 0393317099 (0-393-31709-9)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Usage and Abusage: ISBN 0140510249 (0-14-051024-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English: ISBN 0393037614 (0-393-03761-4)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Usage and Abusage: ISBN 0140514422 (0-14-051442-2)
Softcover, Penguin Uk
- Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English: ISBN 0393317099 (0-393-31709-9)
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Writing and Thinking: A Handbook of Composition and Revisionby Norman Foerster, John M. SteadmanISBN 1889439150 (1-889439-15-0)
Hardcover, Paper Tiger
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