Right, Wrong, And Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage Right, Wrong, And Risky

by Mark Davidson

For anyone challenged by the changes and controversies in the world's most widely used Standard American English.Right, Wrong, and Risky provides simple, direct answers to questions about word choice, spelling, grammar, and punctuation—in straightforward alphabetical order. The answers are supported by thousands of up-to-date published usage examples. And the reader is told not just that particular usages are right or wrong, but why.In addition, Right, Wrong, and Risky warns the reader about risky words like cleave and suspicious, and the many risky situations in which usage authorities disagree about what is and is not acceptable in Standard American English. For every such quandary, this book provides a risk-free solution.Browsers will learn why we tell stage performers to break a leg, why it's not really an insult to call someone a philistine or even a Neanderthal, and why it's wise never to use the word fortuitous or say the word forte aloud.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Writing

570 pages, Unknown Binding

First published December 12, 2005

Reviews

[BookBec · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start with the positives, there is some useful information here. I liked Davidson's advice on when to use "all" versus "all of," and his description of the differences between "although" and "though," for example. I quit reading after the E's, so there may be additional information of value on these pages, but I ran out of patience with this book.

Why did I run out of patience? Some explanations are excessively long and wordy, while others are more "cutesy" than informative. Some entries seem unnecessary -- do we really need to be told to use "espresso" rather than "expresso" or "Americans" rather than "United Statesians"? The cross-referencing can be inconsistent and sometimes just plain wrong. On page 89, "as good or better than is not good" directs you to see "than comparisons need to be complete" ... so you flip way back to page 507, where the entry's entire content is "See 'as and than comparisons need to be complete'" ... which brings you back to page 88. Information on "dais, lectern, or podium?" is listed only under "dais," not "lectern" or "podium." And several times an entry sparked my curiosity about a related word, but when I'd go looking, there'd be no information on the subject of my search.

My advice: Check this out from the library and spend some time with it to see if it works for you. I'm glad to have learned that it wasn't the book for me, and my $30 can purchase something else.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Right, Wrong, and Risky" is a delicious mishmash of grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, spelling and journalism-style questions that are answered in witty fashion.
How much do I love this book? My first tattoo echoes the copy editing symbols on the cover. Really.
This book got me through my first copy editing job in 2008, and is still an old friend. I'd recommend it for college freshmen, editors, and anyone else unafraid to let their pedantic freak flag fly.

[Gianetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good resource for writers. Though, there have been occassions when I could not find what I was looking for.

[RUSA CODES · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was selected as an Outstanding Reference Source for 2007. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...

[Erin Brenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A down-to-earth usage guide for professionals and general audiences. Check out my review on Copyediting.com: http://www.copyediting.com/right-wron...