Garner's Modern American Usage
By Bryan A. Garner
* Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages: 928
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0195161912
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780195161915
Product Description:
The first edition of Garner's Modern American Usage established Bryan Garner as "an American equivalent of Fowler" (Library Journal). With more than 23,500 copies sold, this witty, accessible, and engaging book has become the new classic reference work praised by professional copyeditors as well as the general public looking for clear advice on how to write more effectively. In 1999, Choice magazine named it an Outstanding Academic Book and the American Library Association dubbed it an Outstanding Reference Source. With thousands of succinct entries, longer essays on key issues and problematic areas, and up-to-the-minute judgments on everything from trendy words to the debate over personal pronouns, GMAU is approachable yet authoritative. Since the book first appeared in 1998, Bryan Garner has diligently continued tracking how we use our language. The second edition includes hundreds of new entries ranging from Dubya to weaponize (coined in 1984 but used extensively since 9/11) to foot-and-mouth, plethora (a "highfalutin equivalent of too many"), Slang, Standard English, and Dialects. It also updates hundreds of existing entries. Meanwhile, Garner has written a major essay on the great grammar debate between descriptivists and prescriptivists. Painstakingly researched with copious citations from books and newspapers and newsmagazines, this new edition furthers Garner's mission to help everyone become a better writer, and to enjoy it in the process.
Summary: Easy to use & understand - even for a non-professional
Rating: 5
After 20 years developing software, I switched to product marketing - with a related but wholly different set of skill requirements. I got this book after struggling through months of frustrating collateral reviews. I will never be a good copy editor, but with the help of this easy to use reference book I won't struggle quite as often.
Summary: Brilliant, essential; a masterpiece
Rating: 5
I have purchased several of Mr. Garner's books and this one, like all the others, is a masterpiece. Mr. Garner's command and understanding of the English language, combined with his concise, crisp descriptions, make this work an essential addition to anyone's library. I applaud Mr. Garner for his extraordinary efforts and I thank him for sharing his genius with the rest of us.
Summary: Bryan Garner I Worship You
Rating: 5
Garner's Usage is likely the single most useful and entertaining book on the topic. Little else needs to be said about it.
Summary: Professor Garner
Rating: 5
Garner's Modern American Usage My daughter attends law school at SMU in Dallas where Garner is adjuct professor. She says he is a great teacher. We ordered two copies. Yes, it's indispensible as a reference, but it also makes great bedside reading for us wordsmiths.
Summary: Indispensable
Rating: 5
I ordered this reference based on an essay I read by David Foster Wallace titled "Authority and American Usage." In it, Wallace dissects the ongoing debate between the Prescriptivists (those claiming to defend the King's English) and the Descriptivists (those who claim language rules should reflect current practice rather than old rules), and he does so in the context of, essentially, a long-winded review of Garner's Modern American Usage.
The big problem with Prescriptivism is one of authority, or "why" their rules are what they are. The problem with Descriptivism is one of, well, spinelessness in the sense that rules cannot be based simply on "what everybody else is doing."
Garner, however, deftly walks the line between these two perspectives. He acknowledges common, accepted usage, but still has the guts to make "rules" where necessary. And when he does so, he resolves the "authority" question by logically and fairly arguing his case, rather than simply "that's how it is done."
In my limited reading of Garner's reference so far, I've found it to be amazingly thorough in its examination of everything from common errors to idioms to punctuation, and surprisingly down to earth for a linguistic reference.
Personally, I think everybody should have books like this. But if you write for a living or simply have an interest in language and grammar, this book is essential to your collection. |
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