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From: anne@digi-g.UUCP (Anne Chenette)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Good Usage Books
Message-ID: <208@digi-g.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Aug-84 17:20:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: digi-g.208
Posted: Thu Aug 23 17:20:02 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Aug-84 07:24:15 EDT
Organization: DigiGraphic Systems Corp., Mpls.  MN
Lines: 27

(Forgive me for any typos in this message - the postnews editor hates me)

     My favorite usage book for reading is "Modern English Usage" 
by Fowler.  It has kept me happy for many a quiet hour.  Lately, 
I've been reading "The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English 
Usage" by Theodore Bernstein (editor of the The New York Times).  
It's nicely written, but badly organized.  Its worst sin is that 
it has no index or table of contents; thus, it is useless as a 
reference book.  

     I've found that this is the case with most of the usage books 
I've looked at, and that most are the author's personal reflections 
on a random selection of words, phrases, and established usages, not 
a guide to correct writing.  The one exception I've found is a book 
entitiled "The Gregg Reference Manual" by William Sabin.  It is not 
a guide to shorthand, but rather the most logical guide to written 
English that I've seen.  It's easy to use if you want to look up a 
specific point of grammar or usage, as opposed to all the other 
books - even Strunk and White.  It's sitting on my desk (I'm a technical 
writer), and it's the one thing I would grab if there was a fire here.

     Has anyone else seen or used this gem of a reference book?
Has anyone found another reference manual similar to or better than 
this one?  If so, please let me know.

                                   Anne Chenette
                                   ihnp4!umn-cs!digi-g!anne