Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
Which is preferred - nom de plume, pseudonym, or pen name? What are neologisms, disguised conjunctions, and fused participles? Language enters into almost every part of human life and yet it is all too often misused: directness and clarity disappear in a whirl of cliches, euphemisms, and wooliness of expression.
Read more
Janet Whitcut has revised Eric Partridge's popular reference book to reflect the language of well-informed writers, readers, and speakers today. She has also added a section to the book entitled "Vogue Words," which includes words that have acquired a new power and influence.
Liked Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage Shares language, nonfiction, writing -
Complete Plain Words Shares language, writing, nonfiction -
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage Shares language, writing, nonfiction -
A Man of My Words: Reflections on the English Language Shares language, nonfiction, writing
“People who read Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English tend to reach for these next.”
“If you want more of the same, start with these.”
“If it was the language that hooked you, try one of these.”
-
The Lexicon: A Cornucopia of Wonderful Words for the Inquisitive Word Lover
-
The Dictionary of Disagreeable English: A Curmudgeon's Compendium of Excruciatingly Correct Grammar
-
Much Ado About English: Up and Down the Bizarre Byways of a Fascinating Language
-
Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language
