Working with Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors

by Jean Gaddy Wilson, James L Pinson, Brian S. Brooks, et al.

Book Overview

"Regardless of the medium, from print to broadcast to PR to digital, Working with Words has you covered. With a focus on improving skills in both grammar and style, this book serves as an invaluable... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1457604930
• ISBN13: 9781457604935
• Release Date: December 2012
• Publisher: Bedford Books
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A great English grammar bible

I have a tore up version of this book from my college days! It's the 1993 version, but I use it frequently. This book is a great tool on grammar that explains things simplisticly. Whether you are looking for answers on where to put an apostrophe or whether a comma goes inside or outside of quotation marks, this book will tell you in simple terms. Love it!!

A Media Writer Must-Have

This book always with me in addition to my AP Stylebook. It's wonderfully helpful in all areas of writing, including glossaries of confused words, hyphenation as a spelling problem, and a glossary of common redundancies. They even have a section on American versus British spelling. I don't understand how someone couldn't find helpful information in this book, it tells you very plainly what is right and wrong. (I'm looking two examples in the book right now, one labeled RIGHT, one labeled WRONG) How anyone would be confused with the information is beyond me. This is a must have resource.

well written and clear

This is simply the best single text on writing. It is well written and clear. It covers all the aspects of mechanics that are necessary for good writing. It also gives the necessary teaching about proper grammar. There are many good (as well as confusing) books on the market about this topic, but, for me, this is the "writing bible." I have multiple copies of this book so I can loan them out from time to time, but I also have a personal copy at home as well as at work that no one gets to "touch" except me. I recommend this text to all my students.

Extremely helpful reference

In many ways, "Working with Words" differs little from other grammar books. It accomplishes its task very well, though. A highlight of this book has to be its organization. The book is divided into 11 chapters and 4 appendixes. All the basics are covered: sentences, phrases and clauses; the parts of speech; punctuation, etc. Other sections cover tight writing, muddled language and "sexism, racism and other '-isms.'" But the absolute best parts of this book are the lists and appendixes. "What to Tighten A-Z" offers a quick guide to getting rid of phrases that are wordy, redundant or cliche. "Confused words" helps you decide whether to use continual or continuous, fortuitous or fortunate among many others. Sections on common mistakes and frequently misspelled words also help you avoid errors. But my favorite section has to be the one called "One word, two words or hyphenated?" It is a fabulously quick and easy reference.

This Book Rocks

I first bought Working With Words in 1991 as a journalism student at University of Missouri, where the authors are profs. This book is as responsible for preparing me for my current job as section editor at a major metropolitan newspaper as was any class I ever took.Executives, assistants, sales reps -- anyone who needs to write and speak like an intelligent human being -- should own this book.The first thing I do when get a new copy editor is buy them a copy of Working with Words. Buy one yourself and you'll be amazed at how much you don't know.BTN, Chicago Tribune, MU BJ '92