Language Arts Books

If you're very image-oriented, you won't like this. But to read it is absolute fun. I should have chosen something with less text and more images as a gift for my young nephews, but now their Dad is reading it for them and they're enjoying it very much. That Nicolas is something!

My French teacher gave me one of the "Petit Nicholas" then I'm so hooked to it. "The GREATEST book ever!" is all I can describe. You'll find Goscinny + Sempe are made for each other and createsd such a GREAT & SUCESSFUL Nicolas series. Just so so so so so...... much fun reading it! Smiles from bottom of heart!

This is the second Petit Nicolas book I've read. I love him. I think the book is at a 5th or 6th grade level in French. I love them because I don't need a dictionary to read it and the stories are cute and entertaining. Also, I've memorized this statement, "Je me suis mis a pleurer...", because if he's disappointed, he always begins crying! No wonder his mom and dad sent him to summer camp this summer.

This book is by far the best book in the "Le Petit Nicolas" series. It humorously captures all of the little (and big) things that make travelling with children such a tiring and hilarious adventure. The funniest chapter is called "La Plage, c'est chouette" and I have never laughed so hard as when I read the chapter. The vocab wasn't too tricky and I would recommend this book to anyone learning French or anyone who knows French. C'est tres interessant, et moi, je l'aime. Et je pense que vous allez aimer "Les vacances du Petit Nicolas"! Achetez-le aujourd'hui! Buy it today!

If you know some French, even just a little bit, then you should not miss this book! The stories are from the perspective of a mischievious young French boy, and his observations and ideas will make you roll with laughter. The stories themselves are excellent, but in my opinion it is the way they are told that makes the book a real gem of comedy. The Petit Nicolas books are helpful for those learning or brushing up on French. I'd say that anyone who has completed a French class in high school or college should have enough knowledge of the language to appreciate this book. If you're one of those like me who has forgotten a lot of French, then I recommend reading it with a French dictionary handy...it is worth the effort! Recommended highly for those who like to laugh and have at least a basic reading knowledge of French.

I have purchased this book and the others in the series because of the timeless teaching tool that it is. I wish schools would go back to this book. I myself learned from these books because I was in a private school and I remembered this fact in the attempts to find a good teaching tool for my own son.

The next best thing is Abeka books if you can get your hands on them. My grandmother taught 3 year olds for years and she would start children every year with the tools in this book. I am so glad I found them in stock at Amazon. Every parent should buy them for their children. There is no better textbook available and the method is tried and true.

I was first introduced to these astounding books by accident. While browsing through the campus bookstore I noticed this wonderful book and purchased it for my newborn son's later use. When he turned three I started reading to him from this book and in a very short time he was beginning to pick up the pronounciation, and could follow the story lines. This was sixteen years ago. My son is now in college, doing quite well, and using a partial scholarsip he recieved for achademic excellence. Throughout his school career he was lauded for his outstanding reading ability. His ability can be traced directly back to McGuffy. I strongly recommend this book and the others in this set to any parent who wants to take part in opening the world of reading to their children.

I work in a public high school where many of the middle school students enter freshman year incapable of reading a simple sentence!! This is the legacy of whole language, untested reading theories, radical education ideas, and an environment that is more concerned (out of necessity because no one is disciplining) with behavior problems than with actually educating students. After trying out a number of materials provided by the school district which didn't do the job, I have been secretly using these readers with good success. What they don't know won't hurt them (the district) and will help the students (who are finally learning to read at age 15 and 16!).
Think about it: when these readers were used, we had one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Now (with all of the crazy reading approaches out there) we have one of the lowest in the Western world.
Some complain that these readers are not "multi-cultural" enough. Excuse me? Since when are the fables of Aesop, nursery rhymes, and classic poetry considered bad for our children? I have found that my students thoroughly enjoy these and I have yet to hear my students complain that they are boring or "mono-cultural". It is always the nuts in the school system who ruin everything.

My dad taught me to read with this book when I was six. He took this step when he found out that the public schools were not getting the job done. As a result of McGuffey's Reader and that early intervention, I was reading 3-4 grades ahead of my school mates all through school. A really splendid resource for anyone concerned with their child's education.

My dad taught me to read using this book well before I ever started school. By the time I did get to Kindergarten I was already reading and writing and was always several skill levels ahead of my classmates. My reading comprehension was also very advanced. Now that I am expecting my own child I hope that by using this book he/she will have the same early appreciation for school and learning and reading that I did!

I have purchased this book and the others in the series because of the timeless teaching tool that it is. I wish schools would go back to this book. I myself learned from these books because I was in a private school and I remembered this fact in the attempts to find a good teaching tool for my own son.

The next best thing is Abeka books if you can get your hands on them. My grandmother taught 3 year olds for years and she would start children every year with the tools in this book. I am so glad I found them in stock at Amazon. Every parent should buy them for their children. There is no better textbook available and the method is tried and true.

Last fall, we borrowed the Hooked on Phonics from a neighbor, and saw limited results with my 5 yr old son. BUT, I thought, some progress is better than none, so I begged my mother to buy Hooked on Phonics for Christmas. She didn't. I thought she was just being cheap by giving him a McGuffey Primer, but I have seen my son FLY through the lessons. He is reading with comprehension and retaining the words better than I ever could have imagined. Hooked on Phonics was just too colorful, included too much media (little books, big books, stickers, CDRoms, videotapes, etc.) and was, I don't know, just so HECTIC feeling. With these readers, we sit together on the couch, my son is able to go at his own pace, and have a real sense of accomplishment in just a 5-10 minute lesson. And he has an interest in reading *outside* of the lessons, also, which he didn't have before. I ENCOURAGE YOU to purchase this reader, as well as the entire set, since when you have one, you'll want them all.

BTW- *My son* asked Grandma for the next McGuffey reader for his birthday. Pretty cool, huh?

I bought this book for my 6 year old who is having some trouble learning to read. I love the book for its simplicity. The first couple of pages show the alphabet letters with the uppercase letters on one page and the lowercase letters on the other. My son has really enjoyed using those two pages to learn letter recognition. Then come the reading pages, and each page gets progressively more difficult as you go along. The black and white illustrations are simple and enjoyable but not distracting. Each page has a short lesson with letters and short words shown at the top of the page and sentences using the letters and words down below. My son has enjoyed trying to find the letters/short words from above in the sentences below. The earlier lessons use simple words such as cat and rat, but the lessons do get more complex as you continue along. I have enjoyed teaching my son some new vocabulary words with this book also as some of the older words are used such as lad instead of boy and nag instead of horse. The book is small and easy for a child to hold. This book is well worth the small investment, and I look forward to moving on to the other McGuffy's Readers as my son progresses.

Originally Attracted to the McGuffey readers for the novelty of it, I bought the Primer shortly after my first child was born. I read it myself, thought the pedagogy sound--particularly the writers' decision to avoid allowing children to use pictures to "guess" the words--and I came to appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the short lessons. While I use many other beginning reader books to help teach my five-year-old daughter to read, we have been working through the McGuffey Primer and loving it, primarily because the lessons are short enough to keep my daughter's attention and to allow her to feel at the end of each lesson that she has accomplished something.

I particularly appreciate the "Reviews" that come after each set of four or five lessons. No pictures means that the child must entirely depend on her/his memory of the words from previous lessons and on phonetics in order to make her/his way through the review.

One slight drawback would be that for some of the lessons, the story line is not clear enough to catch the child's attention. On some occassions, my daughter reads all the words, but she fails to comprehend the lesson's meaning. This is rare, but more modern readers do a better job of making their stories engaging enough that the child forgets how "hard" it is to read, and instead races through the book to find out what happens.

Nonetheless, I think that parents who are serious about teaching their children to read and who understand the value of supplementing their child's school curriculum, will appreciate the Primer and subsequent titles in the McGuffey series. At the same time, they will expose themselves and their children to a bit of Americana!

My father started me out on these books at the age of 4 years old. I managed to be one of the top students all throughout elementary and junior high...(I rebelled a bit in high school) Either way I was always 2-3 years ahead in my reading and writing abilities. I highly suggest these books to ANY parent who wishes to enrich the education of their children.

The Merriam-Webster's dictionary of allusion has far more information than the Oxford Dictionary of Allusion. In addition, the allusions are more contempory than the Oxford. Over a week's time I read the dictionary from cover to cover. I came away with a week's entertainment, a better understanding of some phrases, and understanding of some phrases I had totally misunderstood for years. A fine book, I wish I had bought a hard cover edition.

Open Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions to any page and you're bound to learn a thing or two..or three...or more. You'll also smile at the journey that brought you to new insights. The authors have done a masterful job of illuminating the language with scholarship and wit. So much brighter, lighter, enlightening and fun than most reference books--but no less useful.

This is like a shorter, more accessible, and American version of Brewer's Dictionary, which this book does cite as a reference. Other differences are that this provides a pronunciation guide for certain words and that contextual examples are drawn mostly from periodicals pre-1999.

It includes allusions to poems ("snows of yesteryear" and "waste its sweetness on the desert air"), the Bible ("Sodom and Gomorrah"), 20th century novels ("Peyton Place" and the "Snopes family" in Faulkner's works), Latin usage ("ex cathedra") and TV ("Eddie Haskell" and "Ozzie and Harriet").

There are explanations of such terms as Daliesque, scorched earth, ignorant armies (forces blindly fighting with each other with no understanding of whom they are fighting or why), gnomes of Zurich, Walpurgis Night, zero-sum game, Mobius strip, Peter Principle, Heimlich maneuver, and non-denial denial.

Reading it, I also learned that the NSA was known as the "puzzle palace."

I am addicted to this amazing little book. If you are at all a fan of language, or if, as many have mentioned, you simply wish to be entertained, this is your book. As would perhaps be expected, its authors are quite erudite themselves, and the journalists and writers that they quote are also top notch. This is my #1 read and I take it everywhere!!! Great for improving one's cultural literacy.

I own this book and have given copies away to family and friends. Most people who pick this book up and open it to almost any page will learn something, be reminded of something they forgot, or maybe get straightened out on a misconception they had. Rarely will they put it down without having enjoyed the experience.

Holy smokes! If this had been my grammar book back in junior high, or whenever it was that the tedium of rules overcame my innate joy of learning, I'd have probably learned all this stuff. Learned it and spared countless teachers, professors and bosses along the way the trouble stumbling over my confusion of punctuation and mixed tenses.

Want to tune up your grammar and have a good time doing so? Buy the book!

Mr. Spina covers every aspect of grammar in the book, and it's actually understandable!

Not only do I no longer make silly grammatical errors, but my writing style has tremendously improved. Being a college student, I have to be able to write good essays. So far in my college career, I have never gotten under and 'A' on my essays, and all my teachers think they are wonderful.

To be honest, everything I know about writing essays came from THIS book.

P.S. It's a fun read. Not even slightly boring. I didn't really understand how interesting mountain men were until I read this!


If you want to learn about grammar from A to Z or just want to improve your writing, I highly recommend this easy read over any other grammar book!

Crittur:

Reading this grammar book is like tapdancing with your sweetie at the rendezvous. Who ever heard of a grammar book written by a mountain man? No one. Those are supposed to be penned by bespectacled spinsters. But not this one. It's a hoot! The grammar is muscular, too.

This book is delightful! Mr. Spina weaves his story with lessons in grammar that is original and enjoyable. I never knew the study of grammar could be so much fun. I highly recommend it.

Gary Spina has succeeded in producing a grammar book comparable to the best-selling "Eats Shoots and Leaves" tainted by a mountain man's flare. His book is a laugh-out-loud way to master the rules of grammar. It is a truly painless way (except for the stitch in one's side caused by laughing) to learn. If you're one of many clueless people who can't tell an expletive from an appositive, this book is for you. As well as introducing you to the life of a mountain man, this book will help to keep you from embarassingly dangling your participles in public. It's the most fun you'll have with the English language, and it will even fit in your briefcase. Mary Louise Helwig-Rodriguez

As one involved in this struggle over the last 25 years I agree this book is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to learn about the struggles related to accessibility. Congressman Edward J. Markey, Ranking Democrat, House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, stated, "Telecommunications technology can enable and ennoble the lives of millions, but only if our laws animate such technologies with human values to ensure universal access and inclusion. Karen Pelz Strauss, a tireless ally in expanding disability access to new technologies, presents a wonderful history about the inexorable march of innovation and the ongoing struggles to bring its wonders to all sectors of society." Former FCC Chairman William Kenard noted, "The lessons revealed in the pages of this book offer a compelling roadmap to those who are willing to take up this challenge in the decades to come." I am glad the author took the time to capture the struggle so others can learn.

This is a must read for anyone who is interested in access including regulators, advocates, educators, audiologists and parents. The book provides the fundamental underpinnings of a regulatory framework that drives regulation today. Ms. Peltz Strauss' insight into the battles and personalities that shaped FCC regulation make the book an incredible tool for those trying to adapt existing regulation to today's and future technological advances in access. These issues should not be forgotten or assumed to be resolved. This book provides a compelling picture of the challenges and the realization that FCC regulation is required for people with hearing loss to receive the functional equivalence of what everyone else takes for granted.

If you have ever considered the struggles of hearing-impaired people in securing access to basic telecommunications, you owe it to yourself to read this book. In fact, if you're just looking for a good story about the hard work of decent Americans who fought against all odds to improve the quality of life for millions of people, you will enjoy reading "A New Civil Right." Though it features a fast-paced narrative, it doubles as an instruction manual that begs to be studied by disability lawyers, activists and students alike. It contains principles for practical change and countless lessons in grassroots political activism that only a dynamic career in the field could confer.

As the hearing son of deaf parents, I am moved by the series of seemingly implausible victories that unfold in these pages on behalf of a population that was, for decades, shut out of American telecommunications. Were it not for the pioneering work of advocates --whose stories are capably told in this book-- my own parents would not be able to enjoy many of the benefits of modern technology that now enable them to communicate naturally with others from a distance. This is a work that every Deaf American, and every ally of Deaf America, should add to their bookshelf.

Not since Harry Lang wrote "A Phone of Our Own" has such a pioneering, authoratative account of telecommunications access for the deaf been presented to the public. With passion, humility, and an abiding respect for the Deaf community, this extraordinary work draws on the historical insight of Lang's story --without duplicating it-- to present one of the most compelling portraits of progress ever told in American history.

This book has a chapter titled, "David and Goliath." But, in fact on every page of this exciting book amazing successes and improbable achievements are detailed. Strauss shares the struggles of deaf and hard of hearing people to gain telecommunications access with such drama and clarity, making
"A New Civil Right" a fascinating book to read.

This book provides a comprehensive account of how laws were created to provide better telecommunications access for people with hearing loss. The author played an active role in the efforts to achieve this access, so the reporting is both authoritative and enjoyable--it is interspersed with personal and other stories that took place along the way. The many battles that the deaf and hard of hearing communities had to fight in order to win these rights are quite amazing, and the ultimate success is encouraging and very relevant to other efforts to gain civil rights. I would think anyone involved in communications, civil or disability rights, or grass roots advocacy would find this both enjoyable and valuable.

I stumbled across this book on an island in Washington State where Ms. Orr now lives. Like others, the title of the book both caught my eye and turned me off a the same time. However, after picking it up and leafing through, I could see that the book is much more than the title. It's an inspiration. I'm currently writing a book as a process of learning to become a good writer; with Ms. Orr's 50 secrets, I feel like I have a private instructor with me right next to my laptop. When I hit a wall, I pick up the book, read for a while, then hurry back to tear down my wall. For those who are developing their craft, I would encourage you to add this book to your writer's library.

"No More Rejections" helps fiction writers improve every aspect of their writing: from character development and plot to the important marketing tasks an author must do. Orr, a literary agent, peppers her advice with anecdotes about her own writing experiences, which guarantees you'll learn something new on every page.

Lovely writing, well-organized, great sense of humor. A five-star guide for writers.

Helen Gallagher, author: Release Your Writing: Book Publishing, Your Way

As a freelance editor and writer I read a lot of books on writing, and this is one of the better ones. I read it with a pen and notebook handy and I learned a lot of very practical tips. Alice Orr is an award winning romance/suspense writer, has owned her own literary agenty for 20 years, and teaches seminars on writing and publishing. She knows her business, and it shows in this tightly written, very helpful book. It's one I will refer back to over and over. The reader will not only find chapters on crafts, but she also includes lessons on marketing, tips and techinques, and how to decide if an idea is salable. She includes examples of writing that doesn't work and explains why. Strongly recommended.

First things first--you should know up front that this book is aimed at writers of novel-length commercial fiction. If you write thrillers, mysteries, romances, or other genre work, this is the perfect book for you. If you don't, it will still hold a lot of value, but some of the more sweeping statements won't ring as true. The title of the book sounds gimmicky, but the book itself isn't. I thought from the title that this would be one of those books that would promise you publication if only you followed these simple rules, but it doesn't.

Author Alice Orr is also a long-time editor, so she knows what editors look for. Her "secrets" run the gamut from ideas, to beginnings, characters (both primary and secondary), drama, middles, writing style, endings, and even submissions and self-promotion.

Many of these ideas won't be new to writers who've been around a while. We know we need strong protagonists, dramatic beginnings, and so on. However, Orr does more than just give us a rule to follow. She backs up those rules with directions, examples, exercises, questions to ask ourselves, and more. She takes abstract concepts and turns them into concrete practices. She tells us how far editors want us to take our dramatic beginnings and strong characters, as well as how far they *don't* want us to take them.

In short, any writer of commercial fiction who is unsatisfied with her acceptance rate will probably find something of value in here. Regardless, Orr's witty style makes this a fun book to read!

Despite the attempt at seducing the reader with the rather typical commercial title, this book is clearly written and provides good ideas in a well reasoned and developed format.it's already much common sense but every so often it's good to review the basics. The only disagreement I have with the major tenets of the author focuses on character. She seems to maintain the cliched idea that the protagonist of a "commercial" novel or "popular" novel should be positive, likable, and one with whom we can identify. The spate of novels these days without such a protagonist is legion. Still, it's better than the more highly touted The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. In addition, like many books on writing, this one provides writing exercises. Happily, they are interesting and impractical and actually seem to have potential to improve a work in progress. This cannot be said for many so-called creative writing guides,even those that purport to encourage "literary" writing.

I loved the collection of pieces in this book.

I used this in a literature class and felt that it was a good companion
to learning literature.

I needed this for my english class, but i'm planning on keeping it. it really has some great stories, poems, and plays in there. so i would suggest it because in the long run you'll save more money with this book than buying a whole bunch of books for different stories.

This book is a nice book for class. But it took over a week to get to me so I would order your book before class starts.

I absolutely love to read, and this is one of the textbooks I will never return for cash back. I'm going to keep it forever because it has so many good stories and poems in it! My goal is to make my own library for myself in my home and this is a great Literature book to add. If you like classic stories and a wide variety of reading material, I highly recommend keeping this if you ever have to buy it for class.

great book I am using it for EG13 also known as Intro to Lit. great class if you purchase the book please read "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Han ( i think thats her name) great short story i cried anyways enjoy the book!

Get this book if language interests you. I'm studying linguistics, and had to buy this book, but I'm genuinely facinated by every aspect of this topic. It is very well put together, and an intriguing read. I'll have this book long after the term is over ;)

I must say that this book is genuinely exciting. In this case, you may judge the book by the cover (I think the cover's pretty nifty, anyway).

I guess you have to be into this sort of thing (linguistics) to pick up this book in the first place, but once you do, don't be afraid to read it straight through. You won't be disappointed. You learn so many interesting tidbits (and they actually have come in handy a few times). I also suggest THE MOTHER TONGUE, by Bill Bryson (come on, it's fun, even if some of the content is questionable). Together with this book you'll be a language whiz.

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE isn't only for geeks, mind you. There's a helpful index at the back and if you want to learn more about a word or a particular age in our language's history, it's no trouble.

A la fin, this book is worth however much money it costs. It's really, really super.

Every aspect of the English languageis presented clearly and delightfully. Why does "ea" have three different pronunciations in "dream," "thread," and "great"? How did the Danish conquest of Engliand affect words like "sky" and "egg"? What words did the Roman Latin leave in English? Pyles writes great English himself.

"sklon'yat'... vo vs'ekh pad'ezhakh" -- "to decline (someone) in all the cases", so the Russian idiom goes. To discuss someone at length. Few speakers of modern English would make much sense of that idiom. Yet English was once nearly as inflected as Russian, having in common five of that language's six noun cases: the Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative, and Instrumental, each with corresponding pronominal and adjectival declension. Old English nouns had gender, too, and not just masculine and feminine as in the "Romance" (Italic) Languages, but, like Russian, the neuter as well. English verbs once required more complex conjugation, and the subjunctive was used far more extensively than today. Old English structurally resembled modern European languages, and until comparatively recently, even had formal and informal second-person address. The reason for these similarities? Six modern language groups all descended from a common ancestor, Indo-European. They include Indo-Iranian (Farsi, Hindi, Romani), Balto-Slavic (Lithuanian, Russian, Polish), Celtic (Gaelic, Cornish, Welsh), Italic (French, Spanish, Roumanian), Germanic (German, Icelandic, Norwegian), and Hellenic (Greek). English is a sub-group of the Germanic branch. This book is a fascinating technical study of how English developed and changed over the centuries and was influenced by various languages and regional dialects. From Chaucer to Shakespeare to Melville to present, you'll see how English has become simplified yet enriched. Learn the reasons for the varying pronunciations of our vowel combinations and consonant clusters that drive ESL students nuts! This is a scholarly study. But you don't have to be a linguist to enjoy the text. Even the most etymologically "challenged" will easily see some distinctive similarities between Old and modern English and other Indo-European languages. BTW, that Russian idiom? We English speakers would discuss someone "every which way".

Like Josh, I had to buy this book for the History of English course in the Linguistics dept at Portland State University. My instructor was Prof. Jennifer Mittelstaedt in 2006. Also like Josh, I know this "textbook" is a keeper that will stay in my home library as a professional resource, long after I graduate. Beautifully designed with pretty cover and crisp font/layout. (Expensive, but a nice book that gives pleasure to read & hold.) Organized into easily digestible and somewhat independent sections; the many verb-class & declension tables are clearly explained. Easy to pick-and-choose which chapters to assign, if time constrained. Fascinating historical linguistics & splendid etymologies, presented with surprising humor. The writers' "voice"(s) exude a warm, mature amusement at the vicissitudes of human history - and there is certainly an abundance of vicissitude in the history of the English language! Covers morphology, semantics, syntax, and phonology of OE, ME, EModE & PDE periods. Highly recommended!

Ani Hurwitz, NYC PR pro and another grammar brat, recommended this book with glee in her voice. Professional writers enjoy having a few of these things around, for instant rulings on commonly encountered knots such as "which vs. that." Bryan Garner's American usage rule book is an uncommon delight. It does its basic job with panache, but there's so much added linguistic pleasure between these covers. When you find yourself (as I did) reading random entries for their wit, precision, and style, you have a winner. A distinguished, modern addition to your "how should I properly put this?" reference shelf. Excellent casual reading material for the guest bathroom, too.

If you're ever afraid that you've mistaken "it's" and "its," or if the sight of everyone reading "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" makes you terrified to write a note, you'll want a copy of this book on your desk. Although a good usage manual depends on the reader having some sense of style (enough to look up uncertain techniques or phrases), too many treat you either like a child or an English teacher, scolding you or explaining their advice in impenetrable jargon. (Many such books don't seem to have taken their own advice about simplicity and clarity.) "The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage" is the exception, a book about language that's well-written and inviting, one that doesn't make you feel like you're back in your grandmother's parlor having every sentence corrected. As one of the other reviewers notes, the range of sources and examples is phenomenal--one way you can double-check your phrasing is to see if you'd want to sound like the writers in Garner's citations. But I'm even more impressed with the simple organization and headings. I sometimes have trouble finding advice in a writer's reference because I can't recall the technical term for what I'm trying to do, but entries in Garner's book are easy to find and richly cross-referenced. Most important, Garner's ear for English is impeccable, and you'll want it listening (as it were) over your shoulder. He acknowledges long-held rules but--where applicable--demonstrates their obsolescence; he also recognizes new usages and gives fair warning of the connotations you risk if you use them before they've become standard.

Concise, clear, well-developed, and engrossing entries show Bryan A. Garner employs the annotations he presents in The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. Not only is this abridged version of Garner's Modern American Usage fun and interesting to read (and shorter than the original, obviously), it covers the fundamental (all 360 pages worth) details of American English that anyone truly serious about the language should pay attention to.

Garner writes in the preface, "Although there are good, clarifying forces at work on the language, there are also bad, obscuring forces. And these bad forces tend to work most perniciously on people who are heedless of their language. It's hard to know such a thing, but this segment of society may well be on the rise.
"This book could never reach those people."

This dictionary makes one aware of those bad, obscuring forces and their effects. But it also effectively explains those misconceptions, misused forms, mispronunciations, needless variants, useless words, and, in many cases, how the "mistakes" evolved. Garner also gives longer essay entries confronting usage and style questions based on topic rather than word.

The over 2,000 quotations from publications (usually newspapers and books), serving as both good and bad examples, paint the objects of Garner's entries into a vibrant mural embodying effective American English. This visualization, combined with Garner's strewn-about humor, takes dry topics and makes them flow more easily for the average reader.

I find myself constantly going back and looking up things in this dictionary, because while few are going to remember everything in it, there's at least the chance of remembering there is a question on the word or subject. If you want answers, keeping The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style handy will likely help you find what you're looking for. (And yes, "Perfectly natural-sounding sentences end with prepositions, particularly when a verb with a preposition-particle appears at the end.")

I have found this not only to be very useful, but also it is ver readable. This book consists of enteries of common style, grammar, and word choice mistakes. It's ver easy to find what you are looking for because the enteries are in alphabetical order.

The enteries are quite fascinating to read. For example, is "data" plural or singular? What's the difference between "flaunt" and "flout"? Can you end a sentence with a preposition? Is the plural for octopus "octopi" or "octopuses?" The list goes on and on. This book is not dry at all. If you have any interest in language and writing, this is a necessity to have.

Fowler's guide is too British. Merriam-Webster's guide is much too descriptive and seeks the low ground too often. Garner strikes just the right balance between descriptive (what most people actually say in common practice) and prescriptive (what good usage should be). The result is that his guidance is high toned without being stuffy. He also gives excellent counsel on proper pronunciation of words that confuse many. This is also fun to read!