The books our experts recommend show how grammar and punctuation can be made interesting. Writer and self-confessed “grammar geek” Mark Nichol chooses his best books on grammar and punctuation. He discusses the role of linguistic authorities and when it is right and wrong to get fussy about usage. Among his choices are Garner’s Modern English Usageby Bryan A. Garner, Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold Contemporary Style by Arthur Plotnik and The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn.
Jonathon Green, lexicographer and dictionary maker chooses his best books on slang, which he defines as “counter-language”, since “at its heart it’s down, it’s dirty, it’s grubby, it’s tart, it’s essentially subversive.” He adds that it’s very thematic, which produces a lot of synonyms: 1,500 for having sex, 1,000 each for penises and vaginas and 2,000 drunkard- and drink-related words. Among his choices are A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words by Jon Camden Hotten, which was a pioneering work in the 19th century and The Corner: a Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood by David Simon and Edward Burns, an account of a West Baltimore family destroyed by drugs, heavily laced with the slang of that particular city and culture. He also chooses The F Word by Jesse Sheidlower, of which he says, “Everybody should look at this and see how lexicography should be done . . . it’s an amazing piece of scholarship.”
Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach, recommended by Lane Greene
Most grammar books say ‘do this, and that’s that.’ But who says? How do they know? Real rules are grounded in the facts of actual standard usage. Here are five grammar books that show their work, telling you not only what to do but why, and how they know. Accept nothing less.
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Caught in the Web of Words: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary
by K. M. Elisabeth Murray -
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The Collected Papers of Henry Bradley
by Robert Bridges -
3
The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Oxford English Dictionary
by Simon Winchester -
4
The Study of Language in England, 1780-1860
by Hans Aarsleff -
5
The Scholar's Daughter
by Beatrice Harraden
The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary, recommended by Peter Gilliver
The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary, recommended by Peter Gilliver
It's a dictionary that seeks to document any word that exists—or ever existed—in the English language and track its evolution over time. Lexicographer Peter Gilliver chooses books to help understand the enormous undertaking that is the Oxford English Dictionary.
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Garner's Modern English Usage
by Bryan A. Garner -
2
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
by Merriam-Webster -
3
Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style
by Arthur Plotnik -
4
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
by Jane Straus -
5
The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications
by Amy Einsohn
The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books, recommended by Mark Nichol
The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books, recommended by Mark Nichol
In the age of the internet, we are all writers. Correct grammar and punctuation are key to making a good impression. Grammar geek Mark Nichol, a writer at Daily Writing Tips, picks five of the best grammar and punctuation books, and tells us why bad grammar leads to anarchy.
