Bryson's Dictionary: for Writers and Editors

Bryson's Dictionary: for Writers and Editors

by Bill Bryson (Author)

Synopsis

What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? What's the new name for Calcutta? How do you spell supersede? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Is it hippy or hippie? These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, ever since his days as a rookie subeditor on "The Times" back in the 1970s: as they do to anyone who cares about the English language.Originally published as "The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors", Bryson's "Dictionary for Writers and Editors" has now been completely revised and updatedfor the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry - or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or who just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense, all in Bryson's own inimitably good humoured way.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 464
Edition: revised edition
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 10 Mar 2008

ISBN 10: 0385610440
ISBN 13: 9780385610445
Book Overview: A very personal reference tool from the desk of bestselling author Bill Bryson.

Media Reviews
One of the best guides to usage there is. I cannot imagine an English-speaking person [who] would not rejoice in [it]. --Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe A reference book with attitude. -- The Gazette (Montreal) A worthwhile addition to any writer's or editor's reference library. -- Los Angeles Times [Bryson is] a world-class grammar maven. -- Seattle Times From the Hardcover edition.
Author Bio
Bill Bryson's bestselling travel books include The Lost Continent, Neither Here nor There, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods and Down Under.His acclaimed book on popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and won the Aventis Prize for Science Books andthe Descartes Science Communication Prize.He has written on language in Mother Tongue, Made in America and Troublesome Words, and his latest bestsellers are Shakespeare (in the Eminent Lives series) and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.