Merriam-Webster's Standard American Style Manual stands alone. It is the first style manual to record the styling conventions most often followed by working writers and editors rather than the preferences of one publisher or organization. This invaluable reference, marked by straightforward prose and a clear format, provides the most common and acceptable solutions to the basic questions about writing.

Revised edition of Webster's standard American style manual, 1985.

With clear guidance for effective professional business writing, this reference presents a wealth of practical advice and easy-to-follow examples on every aspect of business and office communications. The disk includes 50 sample letters for immediate use, a punctuation guide with fast answers about grammar, and an address helper with special titles, designations, and abbreviations.

English is a blend of passion and logic, except in spelling, which has nothing to do with either. Language is a set of conventions, some of them sensible, and some accidental. Usage is not so much a question of what is right or wrong as of what is or is not accepted. Accepted by whom? By the experts and the committees, and the advisers and the authorities, the stylists, and the grammarists, bless them, who write dictionaries, style guides, textbooks, handbooks, and grammar books in seventy-five volumes. They set limits; decide who has wiggle room and where. Academic writing operates in solitary confinement. Technical writing is medium-security; business writing a work-release effort. Next to them, creative writing is a resort. The only writing manual most writers will ever want -- or need!

Ben Yagoda's How to Not Write Bad illustrates how we can all write better, more clearly, and for a wider readership. He offers advice on what he calls "not-writing-badly," which consists of the ability, first, to craft sentences that are correct in terms of spelling, diction (word choice), punctuation, and grammar, and that also display clarity, precision, and grace. Then he focuses on crafting whole paragraphs—with attention to cadence, consistency of tone, sentence transitions, and paragraph length. In a fun, comprehensive guide, Yagoda lays out the simple steps we can all take to make our writing more effective, more interesting—and just plain better.