Covers basic grammar, punctuation, spelling, and idiomatic phrases of American English.

Part of the latest five-book release in the essential resource library from Oxford University Press and The Berkeley Publishing Group, this abridgment of the "Dictionary of Modern American Usage" offers a comprehensive, alphabetically arranged guide to the usage problems that commonly confront writers today. Contains over 2,000 quotations from published sources showing how language is used.

Painstakingly researched with copious citations from books, newspapers, and news magazines, this new edition has become the classic reference work praised by professional copy editors.

"This book revises, brings up to date, and consolidates [the author's] two earlier ones: A dictionary of usage and style and American usage." Bibliography: p. 433. Includes index.

Features more than one thousand primary entries, along with more than two thousand examples of questionable style and the misuse of language, providing valuable lessons for students, writers, and speakers.

In an age of linguistic uncertainty, this book gives surefooted guidance on the direct, precise, and robust use of the English language. And although the book is scholarly, it is leavened with a dry wit. It is at once entertaining and educational.

Survey of English usage, grammar, and style offering guidance on almost any writing problem imaginable.