Garner's Modern American Usage

Some have pointed to the first two editions of Fowler, and they are apt comparisons. I do have a copy of the most recent Fowler done by Burchfield. Some dislike that edition. I find it useful with caveats, however, I like this book much more. And I use it more, which is the real test isn't it.

I think this is a superb book for students and for anyone who cares about what they write. I am glad it is on my home office shelf and you also put one in easy reach.


New edition of Garner's Modern American Usage due out in 2008   March 1, 2006
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I agree with all the reviewers that Garner's Modern American Usage is one of the best (if not THE best) books on Usage. I recently attended Brian Garner's writing seminar (also excellent!) and he told me that he will have a new edition of this book in 2008. I'm thinking of waiting until then to purchase it.


Terrific   March 8, 2006
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

For years I have relied upon and loved Fowler's Modern English Usage. I think Garner is a terrific successor to Fowler. He expands upon what Fowler offers and puts more of an American spin on his entries. I particularly like his expanded entries on pronounciation, phrasal adjectives, and hypercorrection. I think this volume is very useful for those who taking writing seriously.


A new master of best usage   August 10, 2004
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Okay, I admit it: I'm one of those people who reads for pleasure fat tomes like _Fowler's Modern English Usage_, Follett's _Modern American Usage_, and Bernstein's _Dos, Don'ts and Maybes of English Usage_. But I've been a freelance copyeditor for a couple of decades, so I'm entitled. I fell in love with Garner's _Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ when it appeared in 1998, and the present volume is mostly a (renamed) complete revision and updating of that. He also wrote the standard "Grammar and Usage" chapter for the 15th edition of _The Chicago Manual of Style_, and a number of books on legal style and writing, so he's certainly qualified. Perhaps more important, his own writing style is crystal-clear, conveying exactly what the reader needs to know in making writing choices. (I met him once in Dallas, and I have to say he speaks as clearly and judiciously as he writes.) Some of the entries are very timely ("Ground Zero"), while some of the mis-usage problems he identifies have been around for some time and probably aren't going away soon ("cohort" and "decimate"). Some, I didn't realize *were* problems, like the plural (or not) of "gyros" and the proper designation for residents of Hawaii, but having read the entries, I shall remember them in future. And for some issues, Garner calls out the big guns, such as the struggle to make people use apostrophes properly. (Apostrophizing a plural should be a felony, especially when it appears on a public sign or in a newspaper!) There are very few gaps in the coverage, so up-to-date is he. Though I did note that in the discussion of the ellipsis, attention is given only to its use to indicate an omission in a quotation -- not to the equally valid use to indicate a pause in narrative or dialogue, . . . which, after all, is probably its principal nonacademic usage. But any serious writer or editor will want a copy of this volume on his Ready Reference shelf.


best of its kind   August 13, 2004
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

I teach business writing at a major PR firm, and this is the text I give to all my students. I refer to it myself at least once a week. The book's highest purpose, however, is to settle bets with other writers and editors. If Garner says it, that's the gospel.