kurt@fluke.UUCP (Kurt Guntheroth) (10/17/83)
I asked (foolishly) for a good book on English grammar and usage. As I
promised, here is a summary of the responses.
First, let me explain my major mistake. I forgot to say that I already knew
about Strunk and White. I have not included all the responses that merely
mentioned Strunk and White, but here is a representitive one:
My personal favorite is "The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White. This
isn't a "complete" grammar book; in fact, it assumes that you know a good
bit about grammar already, like what a participle is. I don't, but happily
such knowledge is not often needed. Aside from such occasionally difficult
material, the book is a gem. It discusses many commonly misused words and
gives some valuable rules for good writing. It's only about 80 (short)
pages and can easily be read completely in a day or two. I have also heard
good things about Fowler's book (Modern English Usage, I think), which I
believe was (is?) used as a standard reference by The New Yorker. Hope
this helps!
p.s. The Unix(tm) "diction" and "spell" programs can also be helpful.
I also forgot to say I knew about diction and spell on unix.
Here are the rest of the responses, slightly edited.
Yesterday I received a book from the Paperback Book Club called "A
Guide To Better English". This seems to be a more elaborate book with
thousands of examples and a large glossary in the back.
We used a textbook in high school called something like "Warriner's
English Grammar", which was pretty good, and seems to be the standard.
"Writer's Guide and Index to English" which was a textbook
for my freshman English class in '72 is still an extremely
good book and very well organized.
You might try Baker's "Practical Stylist" or Strunk's "Elements of Style"
(I'm unsure of the latter title).
American Heritage's "Dictionary of American Usage" is pretty good.
There is no such thing as a concise and complete grammar book: It
takes Quirk etal 1100 pages in "A Grammar of Contemporary English"
(Longman: 1972). However, for your purposes, a usage guide rather than
a grammar is probably the best choice, and if it has to be just one
book, then I recommend: Wilson Follett. "Modern American Usage" (Hill
and Wang: 1966) This is based on the well-known Fowler's "Modern English
Usage", but with the differences that the title suggests. It can be
read from A to Z for enlightenment, and used as a reference work.
You really ought to have a dictionary as well, preferably one with
usage notes, like the American Heritage or the newly-released Webster's
Ninth Collegiate. The latter also has a useful guide to punctuation
and style at the back.
As the resident Tech Writer and Consulting Grammarian at Telematic, I
have a shelf full of reference books on English usage. The one I use
most often in "The Careful Writer" by Theodore M. Bernstein, published
by Atheneum. The paperback edition is Atheneum 233 and cost $8.95 at
the University Bookstore about three years ago.
Other good ones are "Modern American Usage" by Wilson Follett, "Modern
English Usage" and "The King's English" by Fowler, and the "usage"
notes that are included with many entries in The American Heritage
Dictionary.
In general, I am more comfortable with books that permit me to look up
the answer to a specific question than those that contain formal
rules.
--
Kurt Guntheroth
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
{uw-beaver,decvax!microsof,ucbvax!lbl-csam,allegra,ssc-vax}!fluke!kurt