Modern American Usage: A Guide

by Wilson Follett, Erik Wensberg (Editor)

A classic since its first edition in 1966, Modern American Usage has been called a book that “every literate American ought to read.” Now fully revised and brought up-to-date, this one-volume course in good writing brims with helpful answers—large and small—for readers who want to use English clearly, naturally, and correctly.

Alphabetical for easy consulting (and full of cross-references), the book carries the reader to the entry that explains a troublesome word or phrase—and shows how to use or avoid it. Every page offers natural ways to avoid saying or writing the vague, the long-winded, the needlessly technical, and the hopelessly stale. With verve and eloquence, Erik Wensberg spears the empty words that clog clear thought—“impact,” “frustrated,” “basically,” and many more—and offers us good English words that are definite and have more life.

Offering standards by which to judge language now and in the future, Modern American Usage takes account of a generation of changes in American idiom and of attempts to reform the use of pronouns, titles, and phrases to fit shifting ideals of social justice. All this it does with easy learning and with sympathy alike for the experienced writer and for those who come new to American English.

Genres: Reference, Writing, Nonfiction, Language

360 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1966

Reviews

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is likely a newer edition out now. This is the book I pick up when I am wondering exactly what certain expressions mean and in what context they can be used. When I read the explanations I often find myself wondering "who decides this??" It is very useful, especially when you want to understand the subtle differences between similar expressions.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A better and more exhaustive style guide than Strunk & White.

[David Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading if only for the article on the word “utilize.”

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[F]atalism about language cannot be the philosophy of those who care about language; it is the illogical philosophy of their opponents. Surely the notion that, because usage is ultimately what everybody does to words, nobody can or should do anything about them is self-contradictory. Somebody, by definition, does something; and this something is best done by those with convictions and a stake in the outcome, whether the stake of private pleasure or of professional duty does not matter. Resistance always begins with individuals.”