Title
Dreyer's English : an utterly correct guide to clarity and style / Benjamin Dreyer.
Edition
First edition.
ISBN
9780812995701 (hardcover)
0812995708 (hardcover)
Published
New York : Random House, [2019]
Language
English
Description
xviii, 291 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Call Number
PN145 .D74 2019
Dewey Decimal Classification
808.02
Summary
"Authoritative as it is amusing, this book distills everything Benjamin Dreyer has learned from the hundreds of books he has copyedited, including works by Elizabeth Strout, E. L. Doctorow, and Frank Rich, into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best foot forward in writing prose. Dreyer offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation and grammar, including how to navigate the words he calls 'the confusables,' like tricky homophones; the myriad ways to use (and misuse) a comma; and how to recognize -- though not necessarily do away with -- the passive voice. (Hint: If you can plausibly add 'by zombies' to the end of a sentence, it's passive.) People are sharing their writing more than ever -- on blogs, on Twitter -- and this book lays out, clearly and comprehensibly, everything writers can do to keep readers focused on the real reason writers write: to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Chock-full of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts on the rules (and nonrules) of the English language."-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: By way of introduction
The life-changing magic of tidying up (your prose)
Rules and nonrules
67 assorted things to do (or not to do) with punctuation
1, 2, 3, go: The treatment of numbers
Foreign affairs
A little grammar is a dangerous thing
The realities of fiction
Notes on, amid a list of, frequently and/or easily misspelled words
Peeves and crotchets
The confusables
Notes on proper nouns
The trimmables
The miscellany
Outro: By way of conclusion
Things I like.
