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 answers--large and small--for readers who want to use English clearly, naturally, and correctly. Alphabetical for easy consulting (and full of cross-references), the book carries the reader to the entry that explains a troublesome word or phrase--and 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 more--and 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.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Follett's Guide to Usage:
As one who thinks it necessary to own every major English usage manual from Fowler on, I here state the firm opinion that Follett is the best of the reasonably contemporary examples and second only to Fowler. Follett is more erudite, more complete (not more comprehensive, I grant), and more analytical than the rest. (Yes, Bryan, this means you). For example, compare his treatment of the indefensible "in terms of" to any other.
Someone speaks here of "disagreeing" with Follett's remarks on... more info
"A Guide" -- but not much of one:
A poor, incomplete and unwieldy reference. "Modern American Usage" fails to deal with many of the everyday issues people struggle with in their writing -- the list of omissions is long and varied -- and those that are included are sometimes addressed with a lack of thoroughness or clarity. Too often, and too irritatingly, entries merely redirect users to other headings, when the issue could easily have been resolved under the original entry-heading. Those involved in creating this edition seem not to... more info
A handy guide with helpful advice for the general writer:
This is a very handy book. Some will have different views of the guidance this book provides, but for the general writer this book can be very helpful. There is an essay in the back: "On Usage, Pedantry, Grammar, and the Orderly Mind". The more you agree with this essay the more you will like this book. And the more you find yourself disagreeing with the essay you will find yourself disliking this book.
It is organized in a way that looks like a dictionary, but you may or may not be using the same word or... more info
For conservative writers:
First I must disagree with the reviewer who calls a noun followed by an apostrophe and an "s" a possessive noun. There is room for legitimate argument here, and I prefer to call such a word a possessive adjective. To me it is far more adjective than noun and so the noun part of it can't be an antecedent for a later pronoun. Therefore, I agree with what the reviser of Follett's book says rather than with what he does. Another man, who was once an English professor at Ohio State (Corbett, I think), and for... more info
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