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The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage : The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative Newspaper | 
| Authors: Allan M. Siegal, William G. Connolly
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $11.53
You Save: $5.42 (32%)
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 77691
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised and expanded, paperback edition c1999
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 081296389X
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.027
EAN: 9780812963892
Publication Date: January 2, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
"A foolish consistency," Emerson insisted, "is the hobgoblin of little minds." That may well be, but editors have enough reasons to reject your work; don't let sloppy inconsistencies be one of them. The New York Times Manual of Style & Usage was written for the paper's editors and writers, but it is a fine, up-to-date resource for anyone's use. Our language is ever-mutating, and a guide such as this will ensure that you understand the impact your words might have before they reach print. Should you use Native Americans or American Indians? Debark or disembark? Did you know that thermos is no longer a trademark, but that Popsicle and Dumpster are? Writing, when you get down to it, is nothing more than the careful choosing of words. This style book will ensure that you don't choose carat when you mean karat, jury-rigged when you want jerry-built, chow chow when chowchow is called for, or V-8 when you could have had a V8. A naysayer may bridle against the strictures of such a rule book, but the authors believe "the rules should encourage thinking, not discourage it." Plus, "a rule," they say, "can shield against untidiness in detail that might make readers doubt large facts." We'd call the book "user-friendly," but that, we've learned, can be downright "reader-tiresome." --Jane Steinberg
Product Description
Is the deejay a wannabe?
Or does the D.J. just want to be?
When is heaven capitalized?
Do you stand in line or on line?
For anyone who writes—short stories or business plans, book reports or news articles—knotty choices of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and meaning lurk in every line: Lay or lie? Who or whom? None is or none are? Is Touch-Tone a trademark? How about Day-Glo? It’s enough to send you in search of a Martini. (Or is that a martini?) Now everyone can find answers to these and thousands of other questions in the handy alphabetical guide used by the writers and editors of the world’s most authoritative newspaper.
The guidelines to hyphenation, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are crisp and compact, created for instant reference in the rush of daily deadlines. This revised and expanded edition is updated with solutions to the tantalizing problems that plague writers in the new century:
* How to express the equality of the sexes without using self-conscious devices like “he or she.”
* How to choose thoughtfully between African-American and black; Hispanic and Latino; American Indian and Native American.
* How to translate the vocabulary of e-mail and cyberspace and cope with the eccentricities of Internet company names and website addresses.
With wry wit, the authors, who have more than seventy-five years of combined newsroom experience at the New York Times, have created an essential and entertaining reference tool.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Clear, fun, informative December 22, 1999
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
This book is structured as an A-Z reference guide, but I'm about halfway through reading it front to back as if it were a novel. I've already come across dozens of rules of usage that I would never have discovered on my own. They include the types of things you would never pick up from ordinary conversation or casual writing, since almost no one consistently uses them correctly. Do you know the difference between "masterful" and "masterly"? Neither did I. Do you treat the words "enormity" and "enormousness" as if they were synonyms? You shouldn't. Take a peak for yourself at this treasure trove of little known nuances of vocabulary, usage, and correct abbreviation. And it's actually fun to read.
A Great Manual -- but not for tired eyes! January 8, 2002
31 out of 32 found this review helpful
This excellent manual shows some of the care and thought that went into Fowler's, Modern English Usage first published in an Oxford University edition of the 1920's. Newer writers have filled the need to update old Fowler and "Americanize" the examples without markedly changing the rules of our language. In this respect, the present authors Siegal and Connelly have done a great job of updating everything that crossed their desks. It was revealing to see, for example, the use of MIRV in two conflicting applications. Also, the small caps font for related entries is very useful.
Yet, I am frustrated; the glossy cover conceals an unfortunate economy in its production. The paper reminds me of pulp novel stock and the binding of these 369 pages which will be well-thumbed, is likely to fall apart if the pages are opened for the book to rest flat on a table. The print size is fairly small, but most important, the print is weak, the paper greyish -- a hard combination to live with. If you have any vision problem, you will need to read this with a strong light.
The thoughtfully presented Foreword (yes, this book has a Foreword well worth reading) with its well-chosen examples of style is excellent -- on any kind of paper!It's difficult, if not impossible, to produce an error-free text, even after more than one edition, but when it's more than a spelling or language error, it's worthy of mention: Entries for both Fahrenheit and Celsius should give conversions to each other, but the Fahrenheit does not convert to Celsius; you'll have to reverse the math yourself.
If you are going to use this as a frequent reference, opt for the hard-cover edition.
A Potential 5 Stars -- But Somewhat Lacking July 22, 2000
25 out of 33 found this review helpful
Not often does a newspaper of The Times' eminence publish its in-house style and usage guide. (Writers of 1976 last saw an edition of this book.) This guide gives students, teachers and professionals the tools to write well. I have found many usage notes that I did not previously know. I found that this book borders on being a tad too politically correct. It doesn't reach the point of crossing this border, but it does come close. It insists that people call cripples a people who have lost the use of their legs. Also, this book could have included a few more grammar terms that the average person would not know. There are too many terms that the average educated person knows, like when to use "a/an." What the book could have summed up in two sentences encompassed almost a page. Conversely, what should have taken up a page, the book treated in a few sentences. Further, it seems like the book purposely omitted esoteric newspaper terms that would be found in the in-house edition found at The Times' headquarters at 229 West 43rd. I'd really like to have read about the various font sizes and columns and the like. But the authors decided for me that I was apt not to be interested in reading about that arcanca. Otherwise, this book is an enjoyable read. BUY IT, STUDY IT! (You should also buy Stunk's and White's The Elements of Style, also available for purchase here on Amazon.com)
 Don't buy this. August 18, 2004
22 out of 53 found this review helpful
This is a book which will tell you that using "data" as a plural is "stilted and deservedly obscure". This book essentially surveys the current mis-use of language and writes it down for all to follow. I expect they would have to issue a new version every year to keep up with the drift, which I suppose would be a good money-maker for the publisher.
Superb - for fiction writers, too! January 13, 2004
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
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Easy to navigate, has the answers to the questions you want, and you can find them instantly. I use this far more often than the Chicago Manual of Style or Strunk and White. It's small, well-organized, and has it all (most of it all, anyway).I write fiction, and this guide works wonderfully anyway; I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a fiction writer. Sometimes--but only rarely--entries don't apply to fiction writing, or the rules differ. The manual is organized alphabetically, not just by subject, but the entire book is alphabetical. This makes it *so* much easier to find what I'm looking for than the other reference guides.
E.g.: Do titles of books go in quotes? Look up "book" and the answer is there. If the answer isn't there, this manual anticipates what you may be looking for and tells you: for titles, see "title." If you look up the word, "quote," it will tell you how to use quotation marks (not 2nd grade information, but every permutation of those gnawing things you just aren't quite sure about when writing a professional cover letter or a story). And again, it can anticipate what was left out of the "quote" entry and send you elsewhere. It's a keyword book, organized alphabetically, beginning to end. It *is* the glossary, in a sense, but the glossary doesn't send you to a wordy, where's-what-I-want chapter; the info is succintly at hand. No need to spend any amount of time searching for your question, or answer; it's there for you, as is the reason for the usage. I'd call this the opposite of the Chicago Manual of Style, where time spent searching for where they may have chosen to put my question is an exercise in frustration. This is a great reference guide for any writer's desk, and within my reach at all times.
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