"Un libro de estilo no es una gramatica ni un diccionario para el publico en general, sino simplemente un codigo interno de la Redaccion. Su proposito consiste en unificar sistemas y formas expresivas, con el fin de dar personalidad al propio medio y facilitar la tarea de los lectores. El libro de estilo de El Pais, fruto de la experiencia de 38 anos de trabajo, se compone de dos partes: en la primera se exponen los principios eticos del periodico y las normas de redaccion, tanto en lo que se refiere a sistemas de trabajo como a la preparacion y presentacion de originales. La segunda esta compuesta basicamente por un diccionario de palabras y otro de siglas. Ambos incluyen las expresiones que el periodico escoge para si, sin que ello signifique descalificar las demas para el uso general o particular. Se pretende por tanto regular un estilo concreto dentro de los posibles, no de dictar normas para todos los hablantes del espanol. Y estas decisiones adoptadas mediante autorregulacion se ofrecen al publico como compromiso de EL PAIS con sus lectores. Se trata de un codigo muy autoexigente, tanto en los principios eticos como en el intento de emplear una escritura correcta y precisa, con el maximo respeto al idioma espanol. Esta edicion, por otra parte, se adapta por primera vez de manera integral a la nueva era de Internet, con normas concretas para la edicion de los textos en elpais.com que incluyen reglas sobre el manejo de videos, las noticias multimedia, los comentarios de los lectores y, logicamente, los problemas eticos que se derivan de las nuevas tecnologias. Asimismo, se determina ahora con mayor rigor la distincion de generos periodisticos como garantia para el lector, de modo que la informacion, la interpretacion, el analisis y los articulos de opinion queden claramente diferenciados"--Pagina 4 de la cubierta.

(abridged and revised) This reference grammar offers intermediate and advanced students a reason ably comprehensive guide to the morphology and syntax of educated speech and plain prose in Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentieth century. Spanish is the main, usually the sole official language of twenty-one countries,} and it is set fair to overtake English by the year 2000 in numbers 2 of native speakers. This vast geographical and political diversity ensures that Spanish is a good deal less unified than French, German or even English, the latter more or less internationally standardized according to either American or British norms. Until the 1960s, the criteria of internationally correct Spanish were dictated by the Real Academia Espanola, but the prestige of this institution has now sunk so low that its most solemn decrees are hardly taken seriously - witness the fate of the spelling reforms listed in the Nuevas normas de prosodia y ortograjia, which were supposed to come into force in all Spanish-speaking countries in 1959 and, nearly forty years later, are still selectively ignored by publishers and literate persons everywhere. The fact is that in Spanish 'correctness' is nowadays decided, as it is in all living languages, by the consensus of native speakers; but consensus about linguistic usage is obviously difficult to achieve between more than twenty independent, widely scattered and sometimes mutually hostile countries. Peninsular Spanish is itself in flux.

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish is widely recognised as the standard English-language reference grammar of Spanish. It provides teachers and students of Spanish with a comprehensive, accessible and jargon-free guide to the forms and structures of the Spanish currently used in Spain and Latin America. This new edition has been carefully revised and updated, and its explanations have been checked against the findings of the Royal Spanish Academy's Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española and other new works in the field. Many new Peninsular and Latin American examples have been included, the English text has been thoroughly revised and in many places expanded or clarified. A glossary of grammatical terms has also been included. As a result this new version of 'B & B' should now be invaluable to an even wider readership ranging from intermediate to advanced students of Spanish. A Workbook is available for use with A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, 4th edition; Practising Spanish Grammar by Christopher J Pountain and Teresa de Carlos. ISBN 0340 66223 9

Writers and editors of Spanish have long needed an authoritative guide to written language usage, similar to The MLA Style Manual and The Chicago Manual of Style. And here it is! This reference guide provides comprehensive information on how the Spanish language is copyedited for publication. The book covers these major areas: Language basics: capitalization, word division, spelling, and punctuation. Language conventions: abbreviations, professional and personal titles, names of organizations, and nationalities. Bibliographic format, particularly how Spanish differs from English. Spanish language forms of classical authors' names. Literary and grammatical terminology. Linguistic terminology. Biblical names and allusions. A dictionary of grammatical doubts, including usage, grammatical constructions of particular words and phrases, verbal irregularities, and gender variations.