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A review by sarahareinhard
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
5.0
I don’t limit my fun reading to summer, but there is something about sitting on the porch during these long hours of daylight and reading something delightful.
The book that delighted me was from the library, but I’ll be buying my own copy: Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer.
I would have enjoyed this book immensely before I started working with copy editors and grammar sticklers, but now? Now, I can appreciate it in a whole new way.
Dreyer peppers experience, snark, and humor in with common-sense rules about punctuation, word use, and style. He reminds readers to look some things up every. Single. Time. (But, I can’t help but respond, isn’t that why we have copy editors? 😉)
Why slog through a list of 67 things, as found in chapter 3? Because of the belly laughs from such all-caps exhortations as this: “DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO USE AN APOSTROPHE TO PLURALIZE A WORD.
“‘NOT EVER” AS IN ‘NEVER.’”
For those who can’t help but facepalm every time we see such an error, this book is for you.
Why yes, you could read this book to learn something. There’s much to learn, and whole chapters devoted to straightening out confusing words, phrases, and punctuations.
I carted the book around with me, read it in snippets when I had odd moments (and in long stretches when I could), and laughed out loud. It was as much fun to read the footnotes as it was to quiz myself on what I’d forgotten, the misdeeds I’d committed recently, and the things I’d never really known.
Highly, highly recommended, especially if you’re ever going to find yourself thanking a copy editor for the important (and not-so-invisible) work they do to make your writing readable.
The book that delighted me was from the library, but I’ll be buying my own copy: Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer.
I would have enjoyed this book immensely before I started working with copy editors and grammar sticklers, but now? Now, I can appreciate it in a whole new way.
Dreyer peppers experience, snark, and humor in with common-sense rules about punctuation, word use, and style. He reminds readers to look some things up every. Single. Time. (But, I can’t help but respond, isn’t that why we have copy editors? 😉)
Why slog through a list of 67 things, as found in chapter 3? Because of the belly laughs from such all-caps exhortations as this: “DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO USE AN APOSTROPHE TO PLURALIZE A WORD.
“‘NOT EVER” AS IN ‘NEVER.’”
For those who can’t help but facepalm every time we see such an error, this book is for you.
Why yes, you could read this book to learn something. There’s much to learn, and whole chapters devoted to straightening out confusing words, phrases, and punctuations.
I carted the book around with me, read it in snippets when I had odd moments (and in long stretches when I could), and laughed out loud. It was as much fun to read the footnotes as it was to quiz myself on what I’d forgotten, the misdeeds I’d committed recently, and the things I’d never really known.
Highly, highly recommended, especially if you’re ever going to find yourself thanking a copy editor for the important (and not-so-invisible) work they do to make your writing readable.