Product Description

The Penguin Writer’s Manual is the essential companion for anyone who wants to master the art of writing good English. Whether you’re composing an essay, sending a business letter or an email to a colleague, or firing off an angry letter to a newspaper, this guide will help you to brush up you communication skills and write correct and confident English.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87007 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From the Back Cover
A Selection of Sample Entries:

`'meter or metre? In British English a metre is a measurement of length equal to 100 centimetres, while a measuring instrument is a meter: to read the meter. Likewise, in British English, the rhythmic pattern of a line of poetry is its metre, though the words for specific types of mere end in -er: hexameter; iambic pentameter. In American English the spelling meter is used for all of these senses'.

`And

'assume or presume? Assume and presume are almost interchangeable in the meaning 'suppose'. Presume is rather more formal and tends to suggest that a supposition is made on the basis of a deduction or a reasonable likelihood, and has a slightly unfavourable tinge, possibly picked up from its other meaning ('to take liberties'): Dr Livingstone, I presume? (who else could it be?); From what you said yesterday, I presumed that you'd already made up your mind. Assume is, however, definitely the word to choose if something is being put forward as a basis for argument: In drawing up your pension forecast, I assumed that interest rates would remain at about 5 per cent'.

`And

'till or until? Till and untill can be used interchangeably. Until is slightly more formal than till and in writing until is more commonly found than till'.

About the Author
MARTIN MANSER is an experienced editor and reference writer. He has written numerous books on language including THE MACMILLAN GUIDE TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR and THE BLOOMSBURY GUIDE TO BETTER ENGLISH and he is also an editor of the forthcoming PENGUIN A-Z THESAURUS. He lives in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended
This book is extremely useful. It will help anyone at any level, from a regular or professional writer to someone trying to create a CV or letter.

Everything is explained in simple layman's terms, and is supported by useful everyday examples. The best thing is that it's not at all patronising, it's just very matter of fact.

I would strongly recommend this book, and would also recommend "The Penguin Guide to Punctuation" by Robert L. Trask in the same series.

A book to turn everyone into a writer
I write for a living and I also train others to improve their writing and this lovely little book as been a godsend. I encourage everyone I ever teach to buy it (or get the boss to buy it for them).

It's written so well that you can relax with it over a cup of tea or read it on the train home after a tiring day's work and it won't send you to sleep! It is practical, approachable and has everything it says that good writing should: clarity, simplicity, economy, variety, vigour and suitability.

Mind you, I would have called it the Penguin Writers' Manual. I wonder if they agonised over that. Maybe they want us all to have one each, not to share.

First-time the Title says what it means
I purchased "The Penguin Writer's Manual (Penguin Reference Books)". Although it says reference - it actually is teaching you how to group words into paragraphs. Over-all how to construct paragraphs into an essay.

Not only that, it starts from basics to advance writing essays or novels.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn from scratch or use it as a reference book.

The great thing about this book is that it is so easy to understand. The author has taken great deal of pains taking to explain how the paragraph's can be constructed in a lay man's term.

It is definitely better book!