Product Description

Celebrating its 75th year, this classic text has become the standard work on the correct but natural use of English and has ensured that Fowler is a household name. Written in Fowler's inimitable style, it gives clear guidance on usage, word formation, inflexion, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation, and typography. It includes advice on using: that, which or who; working and stylish words; worn-out humour; hybrids and malformations. Witty and practical, it remains an invaluable
source of useful guidance on the correct use of English.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #238471 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

Synopsis
Celebrating its 75th year, this classic text has become the standard work on the correct, but natural use of English and has ensured that Fowler is a household name. Written in Fowler's inimitable style, it gives clear guidance on usage, word formation, inflexion, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation, and typography. It includes advice on using: that, which or who; working and stylish words; worn-out humour; hybrids and malformations. Witty and practical, it remains an invaluable source of useful guidance on the correct use of English.

About the Author
Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933) was a translator, lexicographer, and grammarian. With his brother Frank (1870-1918) he compiled the first edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (published 1911) and the Pocket Oxford Dictionary (published in 1924, after Franks' death). Frank helped to plan Modern English Usage with his brother but he died before it was published and it was executed by Henry alone. The name Fowler has become synonymous with reliable and accurate reference on all
aspects of written English.

Customer Reviews

Simple to use; difficult to read
This book is extremely simple to understand -- the title of "Dictionary" is very appropriate, however the terrible printing and layout mean once you've found the entry you're looking for it's difficult to read.
On some pages it's tricky even to visually distinguish the boldface words from the body text, relegating this book to the shelf.

The standard upon which the others are built
Before we presume to be artists or journalists or even readable purveyorsof newsletters (or Internet blogs, for that matter) we must of necessity,if we are to be effective, be craftsmen.
Such a sentiment would, I imagine, sit well with Henry Watson Fowler who,some eighty years ago in collaboration with his younger brother Frank,wrote this famous book of English language guidance and prescription (andproscription!). Central to his purpose was the belief that the right wordat the right time in its proper place and context constituted the backboneand much of the muscle and sinew of forthright and effective writing. That belief along with Fowler's celebrated passion for good writing andhis intolerance of ignorance and humbug, coupled with his sometimesincomparable expression, long ago won him the undying respect andadmiration of careful writers of the English language the world over.
And this has been something of a problem. Since Fowler last set pen topage some seventy-one years ago (he died in 1933), the English languagehas changed and grown enormously. What was correct and effective in 1926(the year the 1st Ed. of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage waspublished), as well as what was ineffective, offensively brash ordownright ugly has in some cases become acceptable and even felicitous. So, like it or not, Fowler had to be updated, and of course there was noshortage of lexicographers, linguists, grammarians, journalists and otherslooking to do the job. Furthermore, the "Great Divide" between AmericanEnglish and British English needed to be explained, recorded, andcodified. Some of the people who have joined in this enterprise over theyears have been H. L. Mencken, Jens Jespersen, Margaret Nicholson, DwightMacDonald, Bergen and Cornelia Evans, and more recently, Bryan A. Garnerand R.W. Burchfield (who edits the Third Edition of this book), and manyothers. I think all of them, if they looked over their shoulder would seeupon the wall an especially sober portrait of Fowler passing silentjudgment upon their protracted labors. Certainly on their desks would bethis book.
And of course there is Sir Ernest Gowers who revised and edited thiscelebrated Second Edition. He writes in the Preface that the mostimportant changes he had to make were those of vocabulary itself. "Wordsunknown in Fowler's day--teenager for instance--are now among our hardestworked." He adds that "Vogue words get worn out and others take theirplace." He admits to having omitted "one or two" of Fowler's famouslittle essays as being "no longer relevant to our literary fashions." (Would that he had preserved such specimens in an appendix.) He alsoallows that "many" of Fowler's "articles" called "for some modernization,"and therefore, "a few have been rewritten in whole or part, and severalnew ones added."
So this is not your pristine Fowler's, yet so carefully did Gowerspreserve and build upon that earlier edifice that most people have beenquite pleased. In fact so nearly universal has been the admiration forthis particular book that the so-called Third Edition of 1996, edited bythe aforementioned Burchfield, has yet to receive universal acceptance andis indeed disparaged in some circles as not being true to the letter andspirit of Fowler.
For me two things stand out in this much admired Second Edition: (1) theabsolute delight one finds in the many pronouncements on language; and (2)the odd but satisfying mix of the old-fashioned prescriptive grammariancommingled with someone who disdains pedantry for its own sake, andcondemns what is seen as unnecessarily purist. Perhaps more than anythingwhat one loves about this book is Fowler's incisive dry wit. Here isFowler/Gowers on two words easily confused (those are my quotation markssince Amazon does not support the italics used in the original):
prescribe, proscribe. These words are often confused, especiallyby the use of "pro-" for "pre-." "Pro-" means to put outside theprotection of the law, to denounce as dangerous; "pre-" means to lay downas a rule or direction to be followed. "If I look at the list ofproscribed authors in our various universities, I notice with pleasurethat since 1940 no year has passed without Jane Austen appearing in thesyllabus of at least one." The speaker clearly did not mean, as one mightinfer from the word he used (or perhaps the printer substituted), thatJane Austen's works were on the Index.
Also of interest here is Gowers' Preface which amounts to an understandingand appreciation of Fowler and his work.

Classic, reliable and indispensable
A wonderful book which deserves to be on every shelf in the UK (and beyond).

It is not a thesaurus or a dictionary, but a carefully constructed masterpiece which should ensure you never put a foot wrong in expressing yourself in English either in writing or in speech.

Unfortunately, much correct usage is disappearing - so buy the book and make your writing remarkable!