Oxford Fowler's Modern English Usage Dictionary

By Henry Watson Fowler

Book Overview

This book is intended for general; students and teachers of English; anyone wanting guidance on the correct use of English.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192813897
• ISBN13: 9780192813893
• Release Date: May 1983
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.5" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

An Authoratative Guide

The idiomatic use of the English language needs a referee, and some referees are simply better than others. The "anything goes" motto of our times gives us uneven, illiterate, and occasionally brutal prose. This book helps block this inevitable slide into the lack of clarity and coherence. This second edition (cf., Third Edition) of "Modern English Usage" may strike some readers as arcane and archaic, because it is so restrictive in its prescriptions. Given the laxity of many our writers, the use of a strict disciplinarian in philology is a welcome resource.

The Best English Usage Book Available

Excuse the superfluous capitals. Fowler/Gowers 2nd Ed. is quite brilliant; learned and full of humour. It successfully walks the line between descriptive and prescriptive grammar (with perhaps a tendency to over-emphasise prescriptive). The 1st Ed. was too stuffy; the new 3rd Ed. does not come close; indeed it is far too tolerant of the monstrosities so frequently heard today. My favourite bedside book by a long way.