{"id":1930,"date":"2015-05-12T21:57:37","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T03:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:59:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:59:02","slug":"a-twenty-first-century-usage-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/a-twenty-first-century-usage-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Twenty-first Century Usage Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryson\u2019s Dictionary of Troublesome Words<\/em> by best-selling writer-editor Bill Bryson offers serious scholarship with a smooth, light touch. It\u2019s a hard book to stop reading once you\u2019ve opened it.<\/p>\n

We have a lot of other reference books in our offices, but the most recent of those came out in 1983. That was way back in the dawn of the personal-computer age. Much has changed since then, including the language. Bryson\u2019s book is addressed and attuned to the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n

Our 1966 edition of Wilson Follett\u2019s Dictionary of Modern American Usage<\/em> spends 22 pages on the proper uses of shall<\/em> and will<\/em>, including the difference between sentences like I shall see him<\/em> and I will see him<\/em>, a difference that would be news to most everyone walking around in 2015. How refreshing, then, to find Bryson\u2019s shall, will<\/strong> entry is less than a page long, concluding with \u201cthe distinctions are no longer all that important anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book has 222 pages devoted to problematic words and phrases, plus a breezy introduction, an appendix on punctuation, a glossary to explain or review the basic parts of speech, and a list of suggested reading. The appendix, though a bit sketchy, includes an especially good discussion of commas. The glossary is handy, but also sketchy. For instance, verbs <\/em>are \u201cwords that have tense,\u201d but tense<\/em> is not defined.<\/p>\n

Among the spelling snags (dormouse<\/em>, not doormouse<\/em>;\u00a0stratagem<\/em>, not strategem<\/em>), fine distinctions (liable<\/em>,\u00a0likely<\/em>, apt<\/em>, and prone <\/em>are not interchangeable), and debunked superstitions (split infinitives are not wrong), several entries contain brief science, geography, and history lessons\u2014things you never knew or knew you wanted to know: London\u2019s Big Ben is not the clock, just the hour bell. Victorian sticklers wanted laughable <\/em>changed to laugh-at-able<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bryson\u2019s first priority is the reader: \u201cReaders should never be required to retrace their steps, however short the journey.\u201d That could be the book\u2019s mission statement. Writers will appreciate the author\u2019s comprehensive collation of hazards and snares. How is blatant<\/em> different from flagrant<\/em>? Did you know that\u00a0equally as <\/em>is always wrong? Why say \u201cthe vast majority of\u201d when you mean most<\/em>?<\/p>\n

One of Bryson\u2019s many strengths is his sensitivity to ungainly wording (the fact that<\/em> is best avoided;\u00a0precautionary measure <\/em>can usually be shortened to\u00a0precaution<\/em>). And he has amassed an astonishing array of redundancies. Bryson keeps them coming every couple of pages. Most look perfectly respectable until you think about them: admit to<\/em>, brief respite<\/em>,\u00a0completely surrounded<\/em>, future plans<\/em>, join together<\/em>,\u00a0minute detail<\/em>, old adage<\/em>, personal friend<\/em>, self-confessed,<\/em> think to oneself<\/em>, visit personally<\/em>, weather conditions<\/em>, and so on.<\/p>\n

Bryson\u2019s Dictionary of Troublesome Words<\/em> respects traditional teachings yet acknowledges the inevitability of change. Check it out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Correct any of the following sentences that need fixing. These sentences illustrate principles discussed in Bryson\u2019s Dictionary of Troublesome Words<\/em>. Answers are below.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. No sooner had he thought about her when she appeared before him.<\/li>\n
  2. He did not feel he had received the kudos that were his due.<\/li>\n
  3. I was one of over three hundred people that attended the sold-out event.<\/li>\n
  4. Joe got his arm broken in the altercation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. No sooner had he thought about her than<\/em> she appeared before him.<\/li>\n
    2. He did not feel he had received the kudos that was<\/em> his due. (Bryson: \u201cKudos<\/em>, a Greek word meaning fame or glory, is singular.\u201d)<\/li>\n
    3. I was one of over three hundred people that attended the sold-out event. CORRECT<\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Joe got his arm broken in the fight<\/em>. (Bryson: \u201cNo one suffers physical injury in an altercation.\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Bryson\u2019s Dictionary of Troublesome Words by best-selling writer-editor Bill Bryson offers serious scholarship with a smooth, light touch. It\u2019s a hard book to stop reading once you\u2019ve opened it. We have a lot of other reference books in our offices, but the most recent of those came out in 1983. That was way back in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10,12,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commas","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-singular-vs-plural"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}