Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner ISBN: 0-19-516191-2 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A worthy heir to Fowler
Comment: 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, ably revised by Sir Ernest Gowers in 1965, and now in its third edition (published 1996). But by the century's last quarter, the modern English language -- particularly its American dialect -- had begun outgrowing Fowler, and several newer guides began competing with it. The third (1996) edition of Fowler was a disappointment, and left the field without a clear leading authority.
That gap was filled in 1998, when Bryan A. Garner wrote "A Dictionary of Modern American Usage" (published by the Oxford University Press, which also published Fowler). Finally, someone had written a book that matched Fowler -- not only in its erudition, but also in its accessible style, and even its wry sense of humor. And Garner's book had the advantages of being written both in modern times for a modern audience, and in the United States by an American author about American English. The book is a gem, and as authoritative a reference as you will find in this field in the last several decades (and probably the next several too).
"Garner's Modern American Usage" is this oustanding work's second edition, now retitled after its author in view of the acclaim that the first edition earned. A new edition is appearing after only five years because, as Garner explains, "changing usage isn't really the primary basis for a new edition of a usage guide: it's really a question of having had five more years for research." The payoff shows. And the second edition builds upon the first: the first edition was a dictionary of words in usage, rather than words about usage, and therefore assumed that the reader possessed a certain working knowledge of basic grammatical terms and concepts. For example, the first edition didn't define such basic terms as "sentence," "phrase," "clause," "word," or "part of speech." The second edition appends a glossary that defines many such basic concepts. It also appends, as did the first edition, an 11-page chronology of books about usage, which illustrates both the rich tradition that Garner's work joins, as well as the tremendous resources upon which he drew in producing this magnum opus.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Best
Comment: I've got them all. This one is -- hands down -- the best. The new edition is (like the first) thorough and well researched. It is also utterly devoid of the pompous condescension that makes Fowler seem like such a crank. I keep Fowler's around for a good laugh (it's so much fun to read about how people who use a particular word or phrase are "idiots"), but there's something fundamentally inhumane about this sort of pedantry. The new Fowler retreats from this tone quite a bit, but it replaces it with a kind of linguistic democracy. For Burchfield, the most popular way is almost always the preferred way.
Garner takes the middle road. He doesn't insult people with tirades about the evils of words like "enthuse" or "personalize." Instead, he calmly explains that some words are more precise than others, that some words are entirely imprecise, and that shades of meaning need to be understood and maintained.
An essential text for the American wordsmith.
 |
Title: The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition by University of Chicago Press Staff ISBN: 0226104036 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
 |
Title: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition by Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0877798095 Publisher: Merriam-Webster, Inc. Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
 |
Title: A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage by Bryan A. Garner ISBN: 0195142365 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
 |
Title: The Elements of Legal Style by Bryan A. Garner ISBN: 0195141628 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
 |
Title: The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style by Bryan A. Garner ISBN: 0195135083 Publisher: Getty Ctr for Education in the Arts Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
