This book discusses current problems in English usage in an attempt to explain
the effects that particular expressions are likely to have on readers of serious
prose. The Guide covers the entire range of usage issues: traditional bugbears, emerging
controversies, confused words, distinctions of meaning, differences between scientific
and lay usage, words with controversial pronunciations, conventions of punctuation
and style, and more.
The Guide examines the canons of traditional usage in light of the practice and
attitudes of distinguished contemporary writers. Notions of beauty and decorum
change over time, and the Guide shows how particular expressions are used in prestigious
publications and how accomplished writers respond to these expressions in
context. At the same time, the Guide looks back at the distinguished literary tradition
of English for inspiring models, citing examples from exemplary writers to demonstrate
effective usage and to clarify semantic distinctions among words. Citations of
contemporary usage take their place against this background.
Many notes in this book also examine usage problems under the lens of linguistic
and historical analysis. A number of tenets of traditional grammar were formulated
in the 18th and 19th centuries by people who had little understanding of how
language works and who saw Latin as the proper model for English grammar. The
rationales for their directives often make little sense today, and writers confronted
with making decisions about the correct form of words, grammatical agreement,
parts of speech, and extensions of meaning should consider how the modern study
of language can help them write more clearly and communicate more effectively.
Many controversial usages can sometimes be justified by analogy with other words
and grammatical constructions, that is, controversial usages sometimes function in
much the same way as words and constructions that have been accepted as standard
for many years. Arguments like these require some explanation of how words actually
work, and linguistic analysis comes into play here.
Many other controversies reflect the conflict between ongoing language change
and the conventions of publishing. English today, regardless of where it is spoken,
sounds and looks different from the way it did even a hundred years ago. New words
are constantly being created, and existing words are sometimes used in new and
unexpected ways. Certain longstanding expressions, for reasons no one understands,
fall out of use. Words with similar sounds or spellings get confused. The grammar of
English has changed as well, slowly but relentlessly. People now use certain grammatical
constructions (such as progressive tenses and attributive nouns) far more
frequently than they did just two hundred years ago. Like words, some grammatical
constructions simply drop out of the language, while others rise to take their place.
Publishing conventions, by contrast, are meant to be uniform and unchanging
in the interest of clarity and decorum in expression. Today, writers take standardized
spelling for granted, but English readers and writers of the past were accustomed to
wide variations in spelling. The notion of “correct” spelling was unthought of. In
contemporary publishing it is virtually impossible to write without using or being
forced to use standardized spelling, and deviations from this practice are viewed
either as errors or as deliberate breaks in convention. Similarly, the use of standard
or traditional rules of punctuation and grammar are meant to make communication
easier across a variety of communities and subjects and to enable a piece of writing
to take its place as a serious contribution to the exchange of ideas in an open society.
Ignoring these rules entails certain risks and has unavoidable consequences.
In some ways, the task of writing today is more complicated than it was in the
past. Since the potential audience for most public discourse is so varied nowadays
and encompasses a complex and dynamic society instead of a relatively small group
of the educated and privileged, it is important for writers to be aware of the social
sensitivities of readers (whether they share them or not) and to understand the hazards
involved in dealing with gender in language and in discussing social groups. This
book devotes many notes to words in these areas.
