Usage and Abusage: A Modern Guide to Good English

Usage and Abusage is Penguin's classic linguistic reference book that not only tells you how to use English correctly, but is also a declaration of war on its misuse. Covering grammatical problems, words that are commonly abused and confused, matters of style, as well as providing advice on how to communicate clearly and elegantly, it is the perfect reader for every writer.

Eric Partridge was a master of linguistic scholarship. Author of A Dictionary of Cliches, Shakespeare's Bawdy, and many others, Partridge's Usage and Abusage, first out in 1942, was last updated by him in 1973, six years before his death. But life and language tick on, even without Partridge. Now, Janet Whitcut has revised his classic to keep up with the 1990s. One is reminded that "ablution is now intolerably pedantic" for "hand washing," that errata should be confined to corrections in books, and that precipitously (very steeply) should not be misused in the place of precipitately (violently hurried). The entry on punctuation runs for pages and is lucid, literate, and lively. The "Vogue Words" section is completely updated and provides today's connotations for words and phrases from academic to yuppie, rounding out a scholarly reference that maintains the Partridge standard.