Modern American Usage

The American language has changed since Modern American Usage was first published in 1966, but many usage manuals still focus on describing these changes rather than prescribing the rules that help us understand them. This revised edition brings back into use the one American manual that unashamedly declares that we should all aspire to be best in our language - which is often the simplest. The convenient alphabetical format of Modern American Usage - along with hundreds of cross-references - allows the reader to zero in on troubling words & phrases without having to know whether the problem is one of grammar, style, or syntax. The careful writer will learn how to sidestep the vague, the wordy, the counterfeit, the technical, & the pedantic. With verve & eloquence, the author of the revised edition fends off such guff as "valid priorities," "hands-on agendas," "closure," & all that is "basically viable." He takes account of a generation of changes in American idiom & of attempts to reform the use of pronouns, titles, & phrases to fit shifting ideas of social justice. The result is a book that speaks with easy learning & humor, & will prove valuable for both the experienced writer & the newcomer to our language.

Erik Wensberg has worked as an editor at Esquire and The New York Times Book Review, and has taught nonfiction writing at Columbia University.