English as she is Wrote
Kevin Drum’s liberal optimism comes out in interesting ways. For instance:
Still, the basic idea is sound: given that most of our misspellings are now corrected for us by computers, the only thing standing between us and perfect spelling is homonyms.
Alas, the main thing standing between us and better writing may be Microsoft Word. This is probably just sheer prejudice on my part, however. Kevin’s list of usage rules for homonyms is very useful—just the kind of thing that my students need stapled to their monitors. I was going to say “stapled to their foreheads,” but then they wouldn’t be able to read it.
Sociologists are notoriously bad writers, of course, so when writing papers, or even just blogging, I feel I have a lot to make up for. Pardon me. I mean, I’ve got a lot up for which to make. If you want to be a better writer, here are three books which will help a great deal. They cover three parts of the Eightfold Way of Writing: right grammar, right words, and right edits. (I’ll make up the other five later.)
- The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, by Karen Elizabeth Gordon.
The book about grammar with the best pictures. Read, look, learn. (Consider also The New Well-Tempered Sentence, Gordon’s guide to punctuation.)
- Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words, by Bill Bryson.
Originally published in the 1980s and also known as “Facts on File: Dictionary of Troublesome Words” and “The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words” (that’s the version I have), this book is in the same spirit as Kevin’s post. It lists troublesome words and phrases of all kinds (Affect or Effect? Pathos or Bathos? Can you Gild a Lily? Is that modifier dangling?) and explains their proper use in a reasonable way. There are lots of entertaining examples, too.
- The 10% Solution: Self-editing for the modern writer, by Ken Rand.
A quirky little book, but very useful. Amongst other things, Rand gives a list of words and phrases that everyone should search their writing for when editing. This alone is worth the price of book. The book tends to provoke strongly divergent reactions, as the Amazon reviews show. It has the virtue of being very cheap, so if you don’t like it you’ll only be down the price of a large latte.
I’ve deliberately chosen less well-known guides, partly because everyone should have their copy of Strunk & White, but mostly because learning to write well means learning to write in your own voice, and each of these books has a strong personality.
Oh yeah, before I forget. Using “incredibly” as a synonym for “very” is currently at the top of Kieran’s List of Usage Peeves.
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