6 References of Interest to Writers

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6.1 Style Guides

The Chicago Manual of Style. 14th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN 0-226-10389-7, hardcover, 921 pp., $40.00.

One of the most comprehensive style guides available. With the 14th edition, the editors at the University of Chicago press got down off their high horse. Most sections have been rewritten and are much clearer than in previous editions. Many sections have been expanded, especially the sections on documentation (citing references): there are now two separate chapters, one for the author-date method, and another for the notes and bibliography method. As always, Chicago has several excellent primers on manuscript preparation, editing, and printing.

-- Terry L Jeffress

6.2 Grammar and Usage

Bierce, Ambrose. Write It Write: A Little Blacklise of Literary Faults. Toluca Lake, California: Terripam, 1986. ISBN 0-9617270-0-4, hardcover, 74 pp., $12.95.

A short, dictionary-style guide to word usage that reminds readers to carefully consider the meaning of the words one uses and to choose the precise meaning one wants. Although this might have been a good guide to follow at the end of the 19th Century, today this guide does little more than illustrate that the English language really does evolve. For example, Bierce labels the use of pants as vulgar and recommends trousers at the acceptable alternative.

I would not recommend this book to any looking for a modern usage guide. In fact, I don't see a good reason to recommend Write it Write, except to linguists studying changes in English.

-- Terry L Jeffress

Fowler, Henry Watson. Modern English Usage. 2nd Revised ed. Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-192-81389-7, trade paperback, 725 pp., $12.95.

You either love this one or you hate it. A period piece, written by an Englishman immediately after the Great War.

Maggio, Rosalie. The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language. Oryx Press, 1991. ISBN 0-89774-653-8, trade paperback, 304 pp., $29.75.

Looks like a good starting place for decisions about some issues in language.

Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing (For Writers, Editors, and Speakers). 2nd ed. HarperCollins, 1988. ISBN 0-06-181602-7, softcover.

Offers both general guidelines and many helpful examples.

Strunk and White (and Osgood). The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Allyn & Bacon, 1999. ISBN 0-205-30902-X, paperback, 85 pp., $6.95.

The classic that can change your life. Not a general reference manual.

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