The King's English (Wordsworth Collection)

By Henry Watson Fowler, F G Fowler, F.G. Fowler, et al.

Book Overview

In this classic reference book the Fowler brothers illustrate by example all the commonly-made blunders of English usage and guide the reader to improved expression and style. If Dickens had owned a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1853263044
• ISBN13: 9781853263040
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Wordsworth Edition
• Length: 383 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Shall you be there? “Learned from Lord Peter Wimsey”.

When I tackled the university, they told me not to waste time with grammar classes as it would be picked up naturally while writing essays. So, I learned the finer points from Ogden Nash. This book is good for filling in the proper English that did not need to be overlooked at the university. Much better than grammar, this book gives not only the how but the why when conversing. On the nature of Shall and Will – “It is unfortunate that the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen (who will find most of this section superfluous), is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it; and for them, the section is in danger of being useless.” The only problem I have is with a section on Americanism. “There is a real danger of our literature being Americanized, and that not nearly in details of vocabulary – which we are all that we are here directly concerned with – but in the general tone.” After reading, see if anyone notices that your English has changed shape.

Prequel to Fowler's "Dictionary of Modern English Usage"

If you liked "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage," you will love "The King's English."For three generations, a single book dominated the market as the authoritative reference in matters of grammar, style, and usage in the English language: "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" by H.W. Fowler, first published in 1926, now in its third edition (published 1996). Twenty years earlier, however, Fowler and his younger brother F.G. (their given names were Henry Watson and Francis George) had collaborated on a precursor, "The King's English," first published in 1906 (and which went into its third edition a quarter century later, a few years after the first edition of "A Dictionary" appeared).This book is every bit as charming and graceful as the later "Dictionary" and, while this earlier work covers fewer topics than "Dictionary," it treats the ones that it does cover with as much thoroughness and skill as "Dictionary"--in some cases with more thoroughness, since the book is structured as part essay, part textbook, and can thus afford more examples and exercises than "Dictionary." The book begins by laying out five "general principles" worthy of Strunk and White (whose masterpiece "The Elements of Style" did not appear until half a century later): "Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. Prefer the short word to the long. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance."The Fowlers expand upon those five "principles," and also treat vocabulary, syntax, punctuation, and other such technical matters in great depth. But amidst these technical chapters they also include a lengthy chapter on "airs and graces," in which they advise the reader about imbuing writing with art.The Fowlers write with every bit as much elegance, flair, and humor as they advise their readers to use, and their mastery of their subject is unsurpassed. "The King's English" has stood the test of time and, today, a century after its initial publication, it still stands the Fowler brothers with Strunk and White from half a century ago and Bryan Garner of today in the first rank of authors about style and usage in the English language.