Garner's Modern English Usage

Bryan A. Garner

Oxford University Press, 2016 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 1056 pages

Bryan Garner is the most trusted living usage expert of our day, and Garner's Modern English Usage is the preeminent guide to the effective use of the English language. With well over 6,000 entries on English grammar, syntax, word choice, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and style, thisbook is adored by professional writers and general readers alike. In this major update to a timeless classic, Bryan Garner has dramatically expanded coverage of international English usage, making the volume for the first time a guide not only to American English usage, but to English usage aroundthe globe.Interest in the English language is greater than ever; English is the lingua franca not only of higher education and academia, but of science, business, computing, aviation, and even - arguably - entertainment. An awareness of global English matters today as never before. To ensure that BryanGarner's clear, unambiguous advice resonates with English-speakers worldwide, more than 2,000 entries have been revised to account for the nuances of English not only in the United States, but in Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Africa.Not everything has changed: readers will still find the popular "Garner's Language-Change Index" which registers where each disputed usage in modern English falls on a five-stage continuum from non-acceptability (to the language community as a whole) to acceptability, giving the book a consistentstandard throughout. Bryan Garner's tools for scientific accuracy are, however, fully updated: this fourth edition benefits from usage data generated by Google Ngrams, which charts frequencies of any word or short sentence in sources printed after 1800.With thousands of concise entries, longer essays on problematic areas such as subject-verb agreement and danglers, and meticulous citations of the New York Times, Newsweek, and other leading journalistic sources, this fourth edition of Garner's Modern English Usage provides priceless referenceinformation to anyone hoping to improve as a writer - worldwide.

What people are saying

User Review -

HATERS GONNA HATE!
This book deserves ten stars. It is brilliant. Garner has created a data-driven usage guide using Google Ngrams. I appreciate and admire his thoughtfulness and attention to nuance. Every entry is illustrated with one or several examples from published works. This work is invaluable. 

User Review -

I wouldn't put too much stock in the negative reviewer's opinion here. Most usage readers will probably find Garner engaging, scholarly, and worth looking into.

Contents

• Preface to the Fourth Edition: ix
• Preface to the First Edition: xiii
• Acknowledgments: xix
• List of Essay Entries: xxi
• List of Abbreviations: xxvii
• Pronunciation Guide: xxix
• Key to the LanguageChange Index: xxxi
• Making Peace in the Language Wars: xxxiii
• The Ongoing Tumult in English Usage: xlvii
• A: 1
• B: 89
• C: 136
• D: 240
• E: 313
• F: 373
• G: 420
• H: 445
• I: 478
• J: 535
• K: 542
• L: 547
• M: 573
• N: 612
• O: 642
• P: 667
• Q: 756
• R: 764
• S: 803
• T: 887
• U: 925
• V: 938
• W: 951
• X: 977
• Y: 978
• Z: 982
• Glossary of Grammatical Rhetorical and Other LanguageRelated Terms: 985
• A Timeline of Books on Usage: 1037
• Select Bibliography: 1049
• Select Index of Writers Quoted or Mentioned: 1053

About the author

Bryan A. Garner has been recognized as a pioneer across a wide range of fields, including English usage, grammar, jurisprudence, legal advocacy, legislative drafting, transactional drafting, legal ethics, and legal lexicography. He has written more than 25 books, many of them award-winning, including The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation; Garner on Language and Writing; Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts and Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (both with Justice Antonin Scalia); Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage; Legal Writing in Plain English; The Elements of Legal Style; The Winning Brief; and Ethical Communications for Lawyers. As editor in chief of Black's Law Dictionary, he has re-researched and rewritten that book over the past four editions while becoming one of the most widely cited legal writers in the world. He is Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University and president of LawProse Inc.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Garner's Modern English Usage
• Author: Bryan A. Garner
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016
• ISBN: 0190491485, 9780190491482
• Length: 1056 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing