Support Us
 
Search
MENUMENU
  • Nonfiction
        • Art
          • Architecture
          • Art History
          • Design & Illustration
          • Fashion & Style
          • Modern and Contemporary Art
          • Photography
        • Business
          • How to Invest
          • Leadership
          • Marketing
        • Economics
          • Behavioural Economics
          • Development Economics
          • Economic History
          • Finance
          • Financial Crisis
          • Globalization Books
          • World Economies
        • Environment
          • Climate Change
          • Environmental Ethics
        • Food & Cooking
          • The Best Cookbooks
          • Food & History of Food
          • Wine & Drinks
        • Health & Lifestyle
          • Death & Dying
          • Education
          • Family & Relationships
          • Happiness
          • Sex & Sexuality
        • History Books
          • American History
          • Ancient History (up to 500)
          • Modern History (1800-1945)
          • History of Science
          • Historical Figures
          • Military History
        • Language
          • Grammar & Punctuation
          • Learning Languages
          • Linguistics
        • Law
        • Literary Nonfiction
          • Biography
          • Essays
          • Memoir
          • Artists' Biographies
          • Travel
          • True Crime
        • Music & Drama
          • Classical Music & Opera
          • Film & Cinema
          • Music
          • Theatre
        • Nature
          • Dinosaurs & the Prehistoric World
          • The Earth
          • Plants, Trees & Flowers
        • Philosophy
          • Ancient Philosophy
          • Ethics & Moral Philosophy
          • Great Philosophers
          • Social & Political Philosophy
        • Politics & Society
          • War
          • Feminism
          • Foreign Policy & International Relations
          • Human Rights
          • Terrorism
        • Psychology
          • Mental Health
          • Neuroscience
          • Psychoanalysis
          • Psychology Research
          • Self Help
        • Religion
          • Best Atheist Books
          • Buddhism
          • Christian
          • Islamic
          • Jewish
          • Religious History
        • Science
          • Astronomy
          • Biology
          • Geoscience
          • Maths & Statistics
          • Moon Landing
          • Popular Science
          • Physics
        • Sports, Games & Hobbies
          • Football (Soccer)
          • Gardening
          • Hobbies
          • Sport & Sporting Culture
        • Technology
          • Artificial Intelligence
          • Computing
          • Digital Age
          • History of Technology
          • Internet
  • Fiction & Literature
        • Classic English Literature
        • American Literature
        • World Literature
        • Literary Criticism
        • Literary Figures
        • Classical Studies
        • Contemporary Fiction
          • NEW Fiction
        • Poetry
        • Memoir
        • Comics & Graphic Novels
        • Fairy Tales & Mythology
        • Historical Fiction
        • Horror
        • Humour
        • Crime Novels
        • Science Fiction
        • Short Stories
        • Romance
        • Thrillers
        • Mystery
        • Fantasy
  • World
        • Africa
          • Egypt
          • Ghana
          • Nigeria
          • Rwanda
          • South Africa
          • Zimbabwe
        • Americas
          • Latin America
            • Argentina
            • Brazil
            • Chile
            • Cuba
            • Mexico
          • United States
          • Canada
        • Arctic & Antarctica
        • Asia
          • Afghanistan
          • Burma
          • China
          • India
          • Japan
          • Korea
          • Pakistan
          • Bangladesh
          • Sri Lanka
          • Singapore
          • Vietnam
        • Australia
        • Europe
          • Belgium
          • Britain
          • France
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
          • Spain
        • Middle East
          • Iran
          • Iraq
          • Israel
          • Syria
          • Turkey
          • Yemen
        • Russia & FSU
          • Azerbaijan
          • Georgia
          • Russia
          • Ukraine
  • Kids
        • Best New Kids' Books
        • Prizewinning Kids' Books
        • High School Teachers Recommend Books by Subject
        • Best Audiobooks for Kids
        • Novels & Novelists
        • Books for Teens and Young Adults
        • Ages 9-12
        • Ages 6-8
        • Ages 3-5
        • Kids Recommend Books for Kids
        • Economics
        • Environment
        • Family
        • Mental Health
        • Science
  • Best Books of 2020
        • Politics
        • Biography
        • Memoirs and Autobiography
        • Cookbooks
        • Business
        • Philosophy
        • Fiction
          • Crime Fiction
          • Science Fiction
          • Historical Fiction
          • Romance
          • Mysteries
          • Thrillers
        • Nonfiction
        • Art
        • Economics
        • History
        • Science
        • Self Help
        • Audiobooks
        • Poetry
        • Kids' Books
        • Kids' Science
  • New Books
  • Audiobooks
    • Actors Read Great Books
    • Best Audiobooks for Kids
    • Books Narrated by Their Authors
    • Best Audiobook Thrillers
    • Best History Audiobooks
  • Book Awards
    • Booker Prize
    • Baillie Gifford Prize
    • Royal Society
    • Wolfson Prize
    • Walter Scott Prize
    • Arthur C Clarke Prize
    • Audie Awards
    • Nobel Prize
  • Experts

Language » Grammar & Punctuation

Most Recommended Books

Garner's Modern English Usage by Bryan A. Garner

“Bryan Garner is considered a traditional prescriptivist in the so-called Usage Wars. But he is the best of the bunch. While he is unafraid of condemning a usage as ‘wrong’, every entry in his book has a 5-point scale, which allows him to be more subtle than that: ‘mostly wrong’ or ‘nearly acceptable’. Second, he uses a deep well of citations to buttress his claims. Third, the latest edition makes use of the vast data from Google Books, so he can find out whether a usage is growing or receding, common or rare. That has even, in a small few instances, changed his rulings from previous editions. (Never trust a person who won’t change their mind no matter what the evidence.) As a relatively conservative volume, this is the book you turn to for advice that will help you avoid annoying the most hardened sticklers. But Garner has no truck with fake rules like the prohibition of split infinitives.”

Lane Greene, Journalist

Read more

Browse book recommendations:

Language

  • Evolution of Language
  • Grammar & Punctuation
  • Learning Languages
  • Linguistics

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

  • Read
    Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach - Shorter Oxford English Dictionary by Oxford University Press

    1

    Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
    by Oxford University Press

  • Read
    Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach - Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage by Merriam-Webster

    2

    Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage
    by Merriam-Webster

  • Read
    Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach - American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

    3

    American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

  • Read
    Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach - Garner's Modern English Usage by Bryan A. Garner

    4

    Garner's Modern English Usage
    by Bryan A. Garner

  • Read
    Grammar Books That Prove What They Preach - The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

    5

    The Sense of Style
    by Steven Pinker

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.

    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary, recommended by Peter Gilliver

  • Read
    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary - Caught in the Web of Words: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary by K. M. Elisabeth Murray

    1

    Caught in the Web of Words: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary
    by K. M. Elisabeth Murray

  • Read
    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary - The Collected Papers of Henry Bradley by Robert Bridges

    2

    The Collected Papers of Henry Bradley
    by Robert Bridges

  • Read
    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary - The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

    3

    The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Oxford English Dictionary
    by Simon Winchester

  • Read
    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary - The Study of Language in England, 1780-1860 by Hans Aarsleff

    4

    The Study of Language in England, 1780-1860
    by Hans Aarsleff

  • Read
    The best books on The Oxford English Dictionary - The Scholar's Daughter by Beatrice Harraden

    5

    The Scholar's Daughter
    by Beatrice Harraden

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.

    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books, recommended by Mark Nichol

  • Read
    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books - Garner's Modern English Usage by Bryan A. Garner

    1

    Garner's Modern English Usage
    by Bryan A. Garner

  • Read
    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books - Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary by Merriam-Webster

    2

    Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
    by Merriam-Webster

  • Read
    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books - Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style by Arthur Plotnik

    3

    Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style
    by Arthur Plotnik

  • Read
    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books - The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Straus

    4

    The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
    by Jane Straus

  • Read
    The Best Grammar and Punctuation Books - The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn

    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

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.

    The best books on Slang, recommended by Jonathon Green

  • Read
    The best books on Slang - A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words by John Camden Hotten

    1

    A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words
    by John Camden Hotten

  • Read
    The best books on Slang - Slang To-day and Yesterday by Eric Partridge

    2

    Slang To-day and Yesterday
    by Eric Partridge

  • Read
    The best books on Slang - A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries by Julie Coleman

    3

    A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries
    by Julie Coleman

  • Read
    The best books on Slang - The Corner by David Simon and Edward Burns

    4

    The Corner
    by David Simon and Edward Burns

  • Read
    The best books on Slang - The F-Word by Jesse Sheidlower

    5

    The F-Word
    by Jesse Sheidlower

The best books on Slang, recommended by Jonathon Green

It’s dirty, grubby and doubting. And us at our most real. The lexicographer takes us inside the world of “rough, truthful language” from rhyming slang and cant to the streets of Baltimore and an etymology of the f-word

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

Newsletter Contact us Privacy Policy Terms of Service

© Five Books 2021