The New Fowler's Modern English Usage - Hardcover

R. W. Burchfield; Henry Watson Fowler

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198691262 ISBN 13: 9780198691266

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

First published in 1926, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage is one of the most celebrated reference books of the twentieth century. Commonly known as "Fowler," after its inimitable author, H.W. Fowler, it has sold more than a million copies and maintained a devoted following over seven
decades, in large part because of its charming blend of information and good humor, delivered in the voice of a genial if somewhat idiosyncratic schoolmaster. "Reading Fowler," William F. Buckley once noted, "provides instruction and knowledge and direction, but the whole of it is a sensual
delight." And Jessica Mitford wrote that Fowler's style "has afforded me endless amusement and instruction through my very long life." The first place to turn for sensible advice on the thorny issues of grammar, meaning, and pronunciation, "Fowler" is one of those rare reference books that can also
be read simply for pleasure.
Now this classic is available in a new edition--the first major revision since Fowler's original. Rewritten, updated, and expanded to take into account the vast linguistic changes of the past three-quarters of a century, here are thousands of alphabetically arranged entries, offering advice and
background information on all aspects of the English language, from grammar to spelling to literary style. This masterful revision has been carried out by Robert Burchfield, hailed by The Chicago Tribune as "the greatest living lexicographer." In his hands, the MEU has retained its beloved
traits--accessibility, authority, and (not least) personality--while acquiring new ones, most notably, up-to-the-minute currency. As in "Fowler," the new edition is a cornucopia of information on such troublesome areas as the plural form of foreign words (adagio, curriculum, memorandum, virus);
related or like-sounding words (affect/effect, continual/continuous); rarely encountered literary terms (alcaics, alexandrine, arsis); and unusual inflected forms (for instance, taxi, taxis, taxiing). But there are also many innovations. Burchfield, who spent decades working on the Oxford English
Dictionary, has introduced the OED's historical approach to the MEU, providing fascinating details on how and when new usages entered the language. In addition, he has combed novels, newspapers, and magazines to replenish the book's many illustrative sentences with new examples from the 1980s and
1990s, taken from such sources as The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and from such writers as Saul Bellow, John Updike, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Anita Brookner, and Penelope Lively. The new MEU also covers much more of the English-speaking world than did "Fowler"--including not only
the United Kingdom and the United States, but also Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere--and pronunciation is now given in the International Phonetic Alphabet, with an easy-to-consult guide given across each double-page spread.
For seventy years, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage has supplied readers with information, guidance, and amusement. This major revision provides an MEU for the next century: a completely up-to-date work based on the immense databases of the Oxford English Dictionary, providing the same
insightful, authoritative, and lively coverage that has long made "Fowler" a synonym for correct English.

About this title

About the Author

About the Editor:
Robert Burchfield was the Chief Editor of the OED from 1971-84. He was a Senior Research Fellow of St Peter's College Oxford from 1979-90 and is now an Emeritus Fellow of the College. His distinguished lexicographical career has included a number of key publications: The Oxford Dictionary of
English Etymology, 1966 (with C. T. Onions and G. W. S Friedrichsen), A Supplement to the OED, 1972-86 (with D. Donoghue and A. Timothy), The English Language, 1985, and The New Zealand Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 1986.

Reviews

An icon to those who write and think about words, Fowler's has not been updated since 1965. (It was originally published in 1926.) Burchfield, the chief editor of The Oxford English Dictionary and its four-volume supplement, is perhaps the best equipped to tackle this monument. His revision pulls a much-loved and slightly eccentric work out of the charm of the past and into the whirlwind of today's language. In a simple, alphabetical arrangement, the third edition covers grammar, syntax, style, word choice, and advice on usage. Some of the contents have been changed completely: there are explanations of the differences between British and American usage, new pronunciation guidelines, and new entries reflecting the politicizing of speech (sexist language, political correctness). The most famous and endearing aspect of Fowler's, the treatment of the split infinitive, has been rewritten to provide more explanation than wit. Some of the contents have only been updated and clarified, retaining the same examples. For instance, the second edition seeks to define "dead letter" apart from "its Pauline and post-office uses"; the new edition changes this to "apart from its theological and post-office uses"; both use "quill pens, top hats, [and] steam locomotives" as examples of objects that have fallen out of fashion. The result is a work that is different from the original and more useful, but academic libraries will want to keep the first and second editions as well. Other libraries will definitely want to update their copies; this work will be a standard in the field for years to come.?Neal Wyatt, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

First published in 1926, Fowler's Modern Usage was revised in 1965 by Ernest Gowers. Now Robert Burchfield, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary for almost 30 years, has undertaken a thorough rewriting of what he has termed "a fossil." Fowler still gives advice on choosing the right word, word formation, pronunciation, and punctuation. However, now there are lots of examples from the 1980s and 1990s. Burchfield has gotten rid of Fowler's amusing but often useless headwords ("Between Two Stools"). He provides new usage for words such as gender (Fowler said it was only a grammatical term). Fowler is now much more reflective of current usage than Partridge's Usage and Abusage [RBB My 1 95], which only got a cosmetic revision.

Burchfield's explanations of the usage of problem words such as that/which and like/as are clear. Fowler used simple respelling for pronunciation; Burchfield uses the International Phonetic Alphabet. The book still has no index, and even the classified index from earlier editions has been dropped, but long entries now have tables of contents. Many writers will be loathe to give up their old Fowler, but libraries with an earlier edition will want to add this new one, which will be used by writers long into the twenty-first century.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198691262
• ISBN 13: 9780198691266
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 896