Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Hardcover

Bryson, Bill

3.86

528 ratings by Goodreads

9780385662079: Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385662076 ISBN 13: 9780385662079

Publisher: Doubleday Canada, 2008

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

From one of the world’s most beloved and bestselling authors, a terrifically useful and readable guide to the problems of the English language most commonly encountered by editors and writers.

What is the singular form of graffiti? From what mythological figure is the word “tantalize” derived? One of the English language’s most skilled writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage. Covering spelling, capitalization, plurals, hyphens, abbreviations, and foreign names and phrases, Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors will be an indispensable companion for all who care enough about our language not to maul, misuse, or contort it.

As Bill Bryson notes, “English is a dazzlingly idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully at odds with logic and common sense.” This dictionary is an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap:

What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? What�s the new name for Calcutta?How do you spell supersede? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Is it hippy or hippie?

These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, ever since his days as a rookie subeditor on The Times back in the 1970s; and they matter to anyone who cares about the English language. Originally published as The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors, Bryson�s Dictionary for Writers and Editors has now been completely revised and updated for the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself.

Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry � or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense, all in Bryson�s own inimitably good-humoured way.

About the Author:

BILL BRYSON’s bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, Notes from a Small Island, In a Sunburned Country, Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words, A Short History of Nearly Everything, which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Bryson lives in England with his wife and children.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.