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Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
A witty, informative guide to writing "good English" from Random House's longtime copy chief and one of Twitter's leading enforcers of proper grammar--a twenty-first-century
Elements of Style
As authoritative as it is amusing, this book distills everything Benjamin Dreyer has learned from the hundreds of books he has copyedited, including works by Elizabeth Strout, E. L. Doctorow, and Frank Rich, into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best foot forward in writing prose. Dreyer offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation and grammar, including how to navigate the words he calls "the confusables," like tricky homophones; the myriad ways to use (and misuse) a comma; and how to recognize--though not necessarily do away with--the passive voice. (Hint: If you can plausibly add "by zombies" to the end of a sentence, it's passive.)
People are sharing their writing more than ever--on blogs, on Twitter--and this book lays out, clearly and comprehensibly, everything writers can do to keep readers focused on the real reason writers write: to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Chock-full of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts on the rules (and non-rules) of English, this book will prove invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people's prose, and--perhaps best of all--an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language.
As authoritative as it is amusing, this book distills everything Benjamin Dreyer has learned from the hundreds of books he has copyedited, including works by Elizabeth Strout, E. L. Doctorow, and Frank Rich, into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best foot forward in writing prose. Dreyer offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation and grammar, including how to navigate the words he calls "the confusables," like tricky homophones; the myriad ways to use (and misuse) a comma; and how to recognize--though not necessarily do away with--the passive voice. (Hint: If you can plausibly add "by zombies" to the end of a sentence, it's passive.)
People are sharing their writing more than ever--on blogs, on Twitter--and this book lays out, clearly and comprehensibly, everything writers can do to keep readers focused on the real reason writers write: to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Chock-full of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts on the rules (and non-rules) of English, this book will prove invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people's prose, and--perhaps best of all--an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language.
269 pages, Hardcover
First published January 29, 2019
3031 people are currently reading
19439 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Dreyer
2 books237 followersBenjamin Dreyer is vice president, executive managing editor, and copy chief at Random House. A graduate of Northwestern University, he lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,691 reviews
March 30, 2019
I just love this book. When I first heard Terry Gross interviewing Dreyer on NPR’s Fresh Air, I thought he was trying too hard to make amusing something that can be utterly stultifying. However, when I had the chance to listen to Dreyer reading the book, published by Penguin Random House Audio, I was entranced and delighted. How can this be, you ask. It is simply perverse and counterintuitive that reading a style book on writing would be amusing.
Dreyer’s delivery is dry, dry as a bone, so-o-o dry that I would be laughing aloud, missing his next entry, as he lined up all the stupid stuff we write—the adverbs, extra adjectives, and the ‘very unique’ emphasizers. I was amazed Dreyer could read this text aloud and make sense, filled as it is with examples he needs to capitalize or spell a certain way. I could follow it! And it was interesting. He rarely read from his footnotes, which are copious and useful and also funny, one good reason to get both the book and the audio.
One can even make the case that audio is an excellent format for this material, as rules run into one another and it is complicated and time-consuming to both separate the rules and look them up. Dreyer just gives it to us conversationally, in context, and without taking out the ruler.
Practically all of us are writers—indeed, publishers—now, whether we write blogs, notes to friends, or posts for social media. We need to take care our words communicate what we want them to say and not what we did not wish to say. We all must be copy editors as well, and we need Dreyer to tell us what we really mean.
Benjamin Dreyer has worn a lot of hats, all at the same company. He began as a freelance proofreader, moved to Copy Editor, then Production Editor, and finally Copy Chief at Random House, now one of the largest book publishers in the United States. In this B&N podcast interview, Dreyer describes the distinction between those jobs and how, after he moved into management, he had an opportunity to circle back and spend time highlighting discrepancies between good and bad writing. He’s awfully good at it, he’s funny, and he’s seen it all in his nearly thirty years in the business. I kept thinking how much there is to know about using language, even for native speakers, and how useful this material is to all of us. So I went and bought the hardcopy.
Dreyer admits to hating grammar, that is, he hates grammar jargon. Which is just fine because I usually just skip those parts. What the heck, I figure. If I haven’t learned it yet, what good will it do me? I am not a completist. I tried to follow his rules in this review so far as I recall them, having laughed through half of them and listened with half an ear when he hit on something I'd worried over in the past…my memories probing that sore place like a tongue in the socket of a lost tooth. How reassuring it is to me to know that the past tense of wreak is wreaked, something with which I have struggled.
There was a point on a long drive when I started laughing uncontrollably at the stuff he says. In this case it was
People who write for a living won’t want to miss this. Journalists, novelists, public speakers, politicians, business people who write reports, social media junkies: When he actually points out our common errors, we admit with chagrin it looks, and sounds, silly.
Dreyer’s delivery is dry, dry as a bone, so-o-o dry that I would be laughing aloud, missing his next entry, as he lined up all the stupid stuff we write—the adverbs, extra adjectives, and the ‘very unique’ emphasizers. I was amazed Dreyer could read this text aloud and make sense, filled as it is with examples he needs to capitalize or spell a certain way. I could follow it! And it was interesting. He rarely read from his footnotes, which are copious and useful and also funny, one good reason to get both the book and the audio.
One can even make the case that audio is an excellent format for this material, as rules run into one another and it is complicated and time-consuming to both separate the rules and look them up. Dreyer just gives it to us conversationally, in context, and without taking out the ruler.
Practically all of us are writers—indeed, publishers—now, whether we write blogs, notes to friends, or posts for social media. We need to take care our words communicate what we want them to say and not what we did not wish to say. We all must be copy editors as well, and we need Dreyer to tell us what we really mean.
Benjamin Dreyer has worn a lot of hats, all at the same company. He began as a freelance proofreader, moved to Copy Editor, then Production Editor, and finally Copy Chief at Random House, now one of the largest book publishers in the United States. In this B&N podcast interview, Dreyer describes the distinction between those jobs and how, after he moved into management, he had an opportunity to circle back and spend time highlighting discrepancies between good and bad writing. He’s awfully good at it, he’s funny, and he’s seen it all in his nearly thirty years in the business. I kept thinking how much there is to know about using language, even for native speakers, and how useful this material is to all of us. So I went and bought the hardcopy.
Dreyer admits to hating grammar, that is, he hates grammar jargon. Which is just fine because I usually just skip those parts. What the heck, I figure. If I haven’t learned it yet, what good will it do me? I am not a completist. I tried to follow his rules in this review so far as I recall them, having laughed through half of them and listened with half an ear when he hit on something I'd worried over in the past…my memories probing that sore place like a tongue in the socket of a lost tooth. How reassuring it is to me to know that the past tense of wreak is wreaked, something with which I have struggled.
There was a point on a long drive when I started laughing uncontrollably at the stuff he says. In this case it was
GRISLY/GRISTLY/GRIZZLY/GRIZZLEDIt’s okay if you didn’t laugh at that. I’m telling you, Dreyer’s wit is cumulative. If you have ever seen those old books by Richard Lederer, I recall one was called Anguished English, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Three generations of my family sat shouting and crying with laughter at the difficulty of writing well.
Gory crimes are grisly.
Tough meat is gristly.
Some bears are grizzly.
Mistaken references to “grizzly crimes” (unless committed by actual bears, in which case OK) are extremely popular, although good for a chuckle, and to be avoided strenuously.
“Grizzled” refers to hair streaked with gray—and by extension, it does make a decent synonym for “old.” It does not mean, as many people seem to think it does, either unkempt or rugged.
People who write for a living won’t want to miss this. Journalists, novelists, public speakers, politicians, business people who write reports, social media junkies: When he actually points out our common errors, we admit with chagrin it looks, and sounds, silly.
February 13, 2019
As a copy editor myself and a big fan of Benjamin Dreyer's Twitter presence, I was dying to get my hands on this book, and it did not disappoint. Not only is this book funny and fun to read, it's so, so helpful for anyone seeking to improve their writing or editing skills. I've been in this business for nearly 25 years and didn't think I'd actually learn anything new from Dreyer's English, but I was astonished to realize there were a few things I'd been doing wrong all this time. Maybe that doesn't sound too astonishing to you, but... I'm pretty good what at what I do. :) If Benjamin Dreyer can teach me a few things, it's safe to say we can all learn something from him, and he presents it all in a sensible, lucid, friendly, rarely dogmatic way.
I thought about deducting a star because I disagreed with Dreyer on a few things, and also because reading a book on language usage all the way through, as you'd read a novel, is bound to result in a few less-than-riveting moments. But ultimately I decided neither of those criticisms was particularly fair. An English-language reference book that's both enjoyable and legitimately helpful is a rare thing indeed. Let's all read it and reap the benefits of our improved ability to understand and communicate with one another.
I thought about deducting a star because I disagreed with Dreyer on a few things, and also because reading a book on language usage all the way through, as you'd read a novel, is bound to result in a few less-than-riveting moments. But ultimately I decided neither of those criticisms was particularly fair. An English-language reference book that's both enjoyable and legitimately helpful is a rare thing indeed. Let's all read it and reap the benefits of our improved ability to understand and communicate with one another.
March 28, 2025
One lunchtime I jumped in my car to pick up my reserved library book and while I was there, I checked the “New Releases” shelf. Well, I’m so glad I did as An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style - Dreyer’s English - by Benjamin Dreyer was a lot of fun, educational too! It was also great to go back to work and leave it on my desk and people would say, “Wow a book about English!” – in a Laboratory, it made me look brainy.
He starts by challenging the reader to go a week without saying:
• Very
• Rather
• Really
• Quite
• In fact
………………. I’d last 30 minutes. You?
But seriously, this was serious fun, seriously. Dreyer, who is a copy editor (I know what that is now), takes us through the things that he sees, needs to correct and things that bug him. He also highlights some international differences, particularly between British English and American English – that was a riot!!
The author covers prose, rules and ‘non-rules’, things to do and not to do, the treatment of numbers, grammar, punctuation, his ‘peeves’, confusables and so much more.
The boss’ office or the boss’s office? …….the author goes with the latter. You know, I used to, or may still, go with the former.
Who says it better – the Brits or the Americans? When I saw this chapter heading I knew it would be a laugh and IMPORTANT. The author says “I’m as guilty as the next chap of approaching British vocabulary as it amuses me….”. RIGHT GLOVES OFF BUDDY!!!!!!
Then we go through the whole jumper/sweater, petrol/gasoline thing……I love it. As a Pommy living in Australia I’ve had many a lively discussion arguing about how to say stuff – it’s brilliant!!! You can tell this guy loves it too. But imagine living in America, it would be so much fun. Picking them up on all of their errors! Hahahahaha :))
I started this book thinking I would learn stuff, become brainier if you like. My dream was to email people at work with spellbinding prose, unbelievable writing, memoranda with appropriate ambiguity like any good (and decent) public servant. But this wasn’t the case, because there is so much in this book– the author delivers his messages at gatling-gun pace, there is no way any ordinary punter can remember all of this.
But I can say this – it’s interesting, fun, and enlightening. Maybe buy a copy and keep it next to your dictionary.
4 Stars
He starts by challenging the reader to go a week without saying:
• Very
• Rather
• Really
• Quite
• In fact
………………. I’d last 30 minutes. You?
But seriously, this was serious fun, seriously. Dreyer, who is a copy editor (I know what that is now), takes us through the things that he sees, needs to correct and things that bug him. He also highlights some international differences, particularly between British English and American English – that was a riot!!
The author covers prose, rules and ‘non-rules’, things to do and not to do, the treatment of numbers, grammar, punctuation, his ‘peeves’, confusables and so much more.
The boss’ office or the boss’s office? …….the author goes with the latter. You know, I used to, or may still, go with the former.
Who says it better – the Brits or the Americans? When I saw this chapter heading I knew it would be a laugh and IMPORTANT. The author says “I’m as guilty as the next chap of approaching British vocabulary as it amuses me….”. RIGHT GLOVES OFF BUDDY!!!!!!
Then we go through the whole jumper/sweater, petrol/gasoline thing……I love it. As a Pommy living in Australia I’ve had many a lively discussion arguing about how to say stuff – it’s brilliant!!! You can tell this guy loves it too. But imagine living in America, it would be so much fun. Picking them up on all of their errors! Hahahahaha :))
I started this book thinking I would learn stuff, become brainier if you like. My dream was to email people at work with spellbinding prose, unbelievable writing, memoranda with appropriate ambiguity like any good (and decent) public servant. But this wasn’t the case, because there is so much in this book– the author delivers his messages at gatling-gun pace, there is no way any ordinary punter can remember all of this.
But I can say this – it’s interesting, fun, and enlightening. Maybe buy a copy and keep it next to your dictionary.
4 Stars
Read
January 29, 2021A joyously readable book, in which any editor will roll around like a cat in catnip. Highly entertaining, terrific use of footnotes for comedy effect, some great stories, and lots of helpful stuff (by God I will get callus right one day). Perhaps the most helpful point, repeated often, is that *he looks things up all the time*. The PRH copy chief doesn't remember what's right in some cases and is aware he doesn't, so he looks it up to get it right. That's a hint, authors, take it.
Also really appreciated: the acknowledgement of how much of this is personal prejudice or rules for no reason. Dreyer distinguishes very clearly between issues of meaning, issues of style, and shibboleths (which, as he notes, you might as well get 'right' just to avoid the abusive emails from the language police).
On which I will now say, my GOD he is so wrong about closing up hyphenated compounds. So wrong. "Summerenhancing" is not OK and nor is "limbdislocating". Do USians really jam these words together into this...aggregate? Who hurt you? (This is totally my own style prejudice at work, needless to say. But I had six books edited at PRH and the editors kept trying to smush my hyphenated compounds into these ungainly messes, and all I can say is I stetted the fuck out of it. ((Obviously, half the pleasure of this kind of book is in the 'so true, so very true!' and the other half is going, 'WTF IS THIS GUY ON?!')))
Anyone who uses English as a tool should enjoy this. Especially editors who need reminding that in the end, the author's voice should always come first. I greatly appreciated that there is a UK English edition (the one I read); I will note that in the e version the footnotes go awry for much of a chapter, which was annoying, and there are a few formatting glitches, but this kind of layout is a bitch to make work in e.
A real pleasure.
Also really appreciated: the acknowledgement of how much of this is personal prejudice or rules for no reason. Dreyer distinguishes very clearly between issues of meaning, issues of style, and shibboleths (which, as he notes, you might as well get 'right' just to avoid the abusive emails from the language police).
On which I will now say, my GOD he is so wrong about closing up hyphenated compounds. So wrong. "Summerenhancing" is not OK and nor is "limbdislocating". Do USians really jam these words together into this...aggregate? Who hurt you? (This is totally my own style prejudice at work, needless to say. But I had six books edited at PRH and the editors kept trying to smush my hyphenated compounds into these ungainly messes, and all I can say is I stetted the fuck out of it. ((Obviously, half the pleasure of this kind of book is in the 'so true, so very true!' and the other half is going, 'WTF IS THIS GUY ON?!')))
Anyone who uses English as a tool should enjoy this. Especially editors who need reminding that in the end, the author's voice should always come first. I greatly appreciated that there is a UK English edition (the one I read); I will note that in the e version the footnotes go awry for much of a chapter, which was annoying, and there are a few formatting glitches, but this kind of layout is a bitch to make work in e.
A real pleasure.
January 28, 2019
If you think I am not the kind of person to read a style guide, you are correct! I do not read them for fun or pleasure, and I try to avoid them even for professional growth. But I knew this one would be different as I've followed Dreyer on Twitter for several years (and he also follows me, full disclosure). I had enough of a hunch that it would be a true delight that I even read the AUDIOBOOK. Yes, that is correct. I read a style guide on audio. And I loved it.
The reason many of us hate style guides so much is that they always seem so invested in telling us everything we are doing wrong and never giving us a very good reason for it except that they said so. But Dreyer is a real person living in the real world and he is happy to give you reasons! Even better, he's happy to bend the rules or at least tell you which ones are worth breaking. If you are not a grammar person, this is such a breath of fresh air. I have honestly never heard anyone talk about style with this kind of realism or humor, I didn't actually think you could before now.
Dreyer is wry and funny and I probably laughed more in the first hour of this audiobook than I have ever laughed listening to any audiobook ever. I also learned things! It is not just a romp through the world of writing, style, and copyediting, it is actually useful!
I do plan to get an actual hard copy to consult in the future, it's so much more friendly than the other style guides (even though Dreyer encourages you to have a few others on hand, sorry I do not want those mean old broads in my bookshelves). The audio does lose a bit of its punch when you get to the listing of commonly mistaken words and other such miscellany, but I still happily came back to it time and time again (just for shorter stretches at the end).
I will happily add this to my list of Books Every Writer Should Own, aka Books You Should Gift Your Writer Friends.
The reason many of us hate style guides so much is that they always seem so invested in telling us everything we are doing wrong and never giving us a very good reason for it except that they said so. But Dreyer is a real person living in the real world and he is happy to give you reasons! Even better, he's happy to bend the rules or at least tell you which ones are worth breaking. If you are not a grammar person, this is such a breath of fresh air. I have honestly never heard anyone talk about style with this kind of realism or humor, I didn't actually think you could before now.
Dreyer is wry and funny and I probably laughed more in the first hour of this audiobook than I have ever laughed listening to any audiobook ever. I also learned things! It is not just a romp through the world of writing, style, and copyediting, it is actually useful!
I do plan to get an actual hard copy to consult in the future, it's so much more friendly than the other style guides (even though Dreyer encourages you to have a few others on hand, sorry I do not want those mean old broads in my bookshelves). The audio does lose a bit of its punch when you get to the listing of commonly mistaken words and other such miscellany, but I still happily came back to it time and time again (just for shorter stretches at the end).
I will happily add this to my list of Books Every Writer Should Own, aka Books You Should Gift Your Writer Friends.
November 25, 2019
Best book on the English language you are likely to ever read. You'll laugh as much as you learn. Don't skip the footnotes!
August 9, 2022
Does the world really need another book about how to write and punctuate English correctly? I was skeptical of that when I began Dreyer’s English but am happy to say that yes, the world definitely needs this. Benjamin Dreyer knows his stuff. He's editor-in-chief at Random House and in this book shows passion for the integrity of the language. I share this passion, and I respect the book and his dedication to accuracy and language standards.
Dreyer’s English doesn't compete with the editor's bible: The Chicago Manual of Style, and Dreyer didn't want it to. He limited his focus to those errors he sees most frequently, and he examined everything in the most engaging way. As an editor who’s also an avid reader of English-usage books, I’m familiar with most of what’s in these pages; however, what kept me returning to this book, what kept me from simply skimming, is his delivery. Dreyer’s tone is appealingly affable and considerate. He understood that most people feel insecure in their technical understanding of English, so to come across as snobby and judgmental will annoy readers and result in an instant tuning-out.
Dreyer did leave out some things I believe should have been in, but what he did cover he stated plainly, without a flippant, anything-goes attitude (as can be found in the highly irritating A World Without "Whom" ). Among other things, he focused on punctuation (with special attention given to something other punctuation books always fail to give special attention to: the semicolon); commonly misspelled words and homonyms (e.g., “lead” and “led”); commonly misused phrases (e.g., “by accident” incorrectly substituted with “on accident”); and usage errors (“lie” vs. “lay”). His experience working with prominent authors came in handy especially when he talked about pitfalls that keep writing from being correct and tight. And like any editor, he has his writing peeves and included those.
Readers allergic to grammar terms will be pleased to know that Dreyer used them only when absolutely necessary, and when he did, broke them down into an understandable explanation. To further help readers write correctly, he provided the (always interesting) origin stories of certain words where needed.
If I had to rank Dreyer’s English, I’d place it one rung above the classic The Elements of Style. Dreyer has the same reverence for English that that book has and covered many of the same points, but his book elaborates, and he frequently explained his reasoning behind this or that. Additionally, The Elements of Style is outdated in places now, while Dreyer’s English is very of-the-moment. He gave some attention to the shift away from gendered words (e.g., “comedienne” vs. “comedian”--why in the world do we do this?) and “they” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. I appreciate Dreyer’s openness in sharing how his rules-following self has had to get used to seeing and using “they” as a singular. My rules-following self is on the same journey, though at least making fast progress. Dreyer is also just funny, an unusual quality in books like these:
Dreyer’s English doesn't compete with the editor's bible: The Chicago Manual of Style, and Dreyer didn't want it to. He limited his focus to those errors he sees most frequently, and he examined everything in the most engaging way. As an editor who’s also an avid reader of English-usage books, I’m familiar with most of what’s in these pages; however, what kept me returning to this book, what kept me from simply skimming, is his delivery. Dreyer’s tone is appealingly affable and considerate. He understood that most people feel insecure in their technical understanding of English, so to come across as snobby and judgmental will annoy readers and result in an instant tuning-out.
Dreyer did leave out some things I believe should have been in, but what he did cover he stated plainly, without a flippant, anything-goes attitude (as can be found in the highly irritating A World Without "Whom" ). Among other things, he focused on punctuation (with special attention given to something other punctuation books always fail to give special attention to: the semicolon); commonly misspelled words and homonyms (e.g., “lead” and “led”); commonly misused phrases (e.g., “by accident” incorrectly substituted with “on accident”); and usage errors (“lie” vs. “lay”). His experience working with prominent authors came in handy especially when he talked about pitfalls that keep writing from being correct and tight. And like any editor, he has his writing peeves and included those.
Readers allergic to grammar terms will be pleased to know that Dreyer used them only when absolutely necessary, and when he did, broke them down into an understandable explanation. To further help readers write correctly, he provided the (always interesting) origin stories of certain words where needed.
If I had to rank Dreyer’s English, I’d place it one rung above the classic The Elements of Style. Dreyer has the same reverence for English that that book has and covered many of the same points, but his book elaborates, and he frequently explained his reasoning behind this or that. Additionally, The Elements of Style is outdated in places now, while Dreyer’s English is very of-the-moment. He gave some attention to the shift away from gendered words (e.g., “comedienne” vs. “comedian”--why in the world do we do this?) and “they” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. I appreciate Dreyer’s openness in sharing how his rules-following self has had to get used to seeing and using “they” as a singular. My rules-following self is on the same journey, though at least making fast progress. Dreyer is also just funny, an unusual quality in books like these:
There is a world of difference between turning in to a driveway, which is a natural thing to do with one’s car, and turning into a driveway, which is a Merlyn trick.I recommend this book to all. Other usage books may have an appeal limited to editors or grammar enthusiasts, but Dreyer’s English doesn’t. In the unlikely event that readers don’t understand all in the book, they still will get a tremendous amount out of it. This is the English-usage book for those who dislike English-usage books. It’s a fun read and one of my favorites of the year.
Read
August 2, 2019This book is quite unlikely: a laugh-out-loud guide to grammar. It's terrific. Don't skip the footnotes.
January 5, 2020
I see that lots of people were really impressed with this book. I wasn’t. Dreyer writes in a generally lively, humorous manner, but he is often verbose, and the clarity promised in the subtitle is sometimes lacking.* As well, he is at times noncommittal, declining to weigh in clearly on some of the thornier grammar and usage issues. An undue amount of time is spent on commonly misspelled proper nouns (pertaining to the rich and famous). Little more than padding.**
I liked this book far less than I thought I would. I appreciated some of Dreyer’s points, but I’m inclined to stick with the style guides I currently use. Dreyer’s work is also somewhat problematic for Canadians. We sometimes use British ways and other times American.
*In addition, there are lots of footnotes—sometimes long ones, very long ones. Why?
**Oh, and did I mention, he also likes to use lots of footnotes.
I liked this book far less than I thought I would. I appreciated some of Dreyer’s points, but I’m inclined to stick with the style guides I currently use. Dreyer’s work is also somewhat problematic for Canadians. We sometimes use British ways and other times American.
*In addition, there are lots of footnotes—sometimes long ones, very long ones. Why?
**Oh, and did I mention, he also likes to use lots of footnotes.
February 5, 2019
What if I told you that there’s a style guide written in such an effervescent, wry, witty, engaging voice, that you would want to read it on the beach? What if I told you that it was so expertly written, you can’t help but be a better writer for having read it?
Dear reader, you are in luck. This is that magical book. This deserves a place next to Strunk & White on every shelf.
Dear reader, you are in luck. This is that magical book. This deserves a place next to Strunk & White on every shelf.
January 8, 2020
Like a Will Shortz of non-puzzle-specific editing genius. Entertaining, erudite, and would love to hire him as my best friend if he should ever tire of the editing game someday.
September 27, 2019
A style guide isn’t necessarily a book to read straight through, yet it's easy to do so with a guidebook as entertaining as this one.
Dreyer provides reasons for his reasoning, and I now join him (and others) in using the series comma. He gives historical background at times, as with the history behind the lie/lay confusion, and he says the reader will not like it: He’s right.
Though I did read the book straight through, I used the index to jump ahead when I needed to reference something in particular, which is how I’ll be using the book from now on.
Dreyer provides reasons for his reasoning, and I now join him (and others) in using the series comma. He gives historical background at times, as with the history behind the lie/lay confusion, and he says the reader will not like it: He’s right.
Though I did read the book straight through, I used the index to jump ahead when I needed to reference something in particular, which is how I’ll be using the book from now on.
January 2, 2021
Benjamin Dreyer does a great job of avoiding boring the reader with grammatical rules and advice by being brash and ironic throughout. I found it to be entertaining reading and thought there was good advice tucked in between the jokes. Reading it in electronic format was not ideal because it is the kind of book you want on your writing shelf next to your dictionary and the ebook format does not easily lend itself to that.
March 9, 2020
This has got to be the most pleasurable book on English ever written.
February 5, 2019
Come for the text, but stay for the footnotes. This is a witty and informative guide to copy editing.
I might have thought that a copy editor would be hidebound, with a guide that tells you what is always right and what is always wrong. Dreyer is more open to what others might consider "wrong" (such as "liaise" as a verb), though he can still be very much peeved by "impact" used instead of "affect".
Grammar, punctuation, formatting, and word choice (did I mention that he's also a huge fan of the series comma?) are all covered in an amusing style. Any author who blithely throws in a wonderful teabagging joke won't be accused of producing a dry book. I'll end with a quote from his "Peeves and Crotchets" chapter:
INCENTIVIZE - The only thing worse than the ungodly "incentivize" is its satanic little sibling, "incent".
I might have thought that a copy editor would be hidebound, with a guide that tells you what is always right and what is always wrong. Dreyer is more open to what others might consider "wrong" (such as "liaise" as a verb), though he can still be very much peeved by "impact" used instead of "affect".
Grammar, punctuation, formatting, and word choice (did I mention that he's also a huge fan of the series comma?) are all covered in an amusing style. Any author who blithely throws in a wonderful teabagging joke won't be accused of producing a dry book. I'll end with a quote from his "Peeves and Crotchets" chapter:
INCENTIVIZE - The only thing worse than the ungodly "incentivize" is its satanic little sibling, "incent".
August 28, 2024
At times witty, annoying, useless, and indispensable. That is quite an accomplishment.
Who knew copy editing could be so very entertaining? It’s rare to find a reference book to be both helpful and amusing. Surprisingly readable!
Oddly amusing; however, I'm not alone is having been struck by the peculiar amusing weirdness of the fussy little book.
Who knew copy editing could be so very entertaining? It’s rare to find a reference book to be both helpful and amusing. Surprisingly readable!
Oddly amusing; however, I'm not alone is having been struck by the peculiar amusing weirdness of the fussy little book.
June 24, 2019
If you think that a list of “Confusables” or “Notes on Proper Noun” would be a boring thing to read, you’d be wrong:
“DAMMIT
It’s not ‘damnit,’ goddammit and damn it all to hell, and I wish people would knock it off already.”
or
“GUNS N’ ROSES
That the name of this band is not Guns ’n’ Roses is vexing, but so, I suppose, is being named Axl, much less Slash.”
“KEANU REEVES
Star of Bill & Ted comedies, Matrix uncomedies, and John Wick unintentional comedies.”
and my favourite:
“WOOKIEE
Everyone gets it wrong. It’s not ‘Wookie.’
Also on the subject of the world of Star Wars, ‘lightsaber’ is one word, ‘dark side’ is lowercased (oddly enough), and ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….’ ends with a period and three ellipsis points, even though it is a fragment and not a complete sentence, because that is how the Star Wars people like it. And if you challenge them on any of these points, they’ll cut your hand off. True story.”
“DAMMIT
It’s not ‘damnit,’ goddammit and damn it all to hell, and I wish people would knock it off already.”
or
“GUNS N’ ROSES
That the name of this band is not Guns ’n’ Roses is vexing, but so, I suppose, is being named Axl, much less Slash.”
“KEANU REEVES
Star of Bill & Ted comedies, Matrix uncomedies, and John Wick unintentional comedies.”
and my favourite:
“WOOKIEE
Everyone gets it wrong. It’s not ‘Wookie.’
Also on the subject of the world of Star Wars, ‘lightsaber’ is one word, ‘dark side’ is lowercased (oddly enough), and ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….’ ends with a period and three ellipsis points, even though it is a fragment and not a complete sentence, because that is how the Star Wars people like it. And if you challenge them on any of these points, they’ll cut your hand off. True story.”
August 25, 2019
This was the most fun I’ve ever had reading a style guide. Read by the author, it’s a charming mix of unpretentious and persnickety. I got the audiobook from my library and am seriously considering buying a hard copy for myself.
February 2, 2021
Simple, hilarious guide to common English usage and the very common mistakes that plague us. Or, to be more exact: the things that we think are totally right, but that long-suffering copyeditors (like Dreyer) hate to see. You've got your their/there/they're, your/you're and than/then. But you've also got Moby-Dick and Far From the Madding Crowd . . . or is it Far From The Madding Crowd? E. E. Cummings, or eecummings? Dreyer sets it all straight with wit and warmth.
January 1, 2022
Before reading my review, it’s only fair that you know a little something about me: I’m the type of person who early one morning (as in, 7:05 A.M. early) texted a copy editor friend asking whether to use “object” or “subject” in a sentence, and then debated the point for the remainder of an otherwise not unbusy day.¹ That is to say, my idea of fun is not everyone’s idea of fun; I perk up when I hear a discussion on language whereas most people run for the hills.
I am nevertheless trying to set aside my prejudices in favor of anything subtitled An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style and evenhandedly make the case that this is for a much broader audience than a book so labeled has any business being. Not so much because everyone makes writing mistakes or because everyone could stand a lesson on language usage—even though everyone does and everyone could—but more because it’s funny. Actually,² bitingly, laugh-out-loud funny,³ both in the body of the text as well as the countless examples Benjamin Dreyer trots out to make his points. That many of these examples come from pop culture is indicative of Dreyer’s wide appeal; a grammarian cannot be the curmudgeon his profession evokes nor his book the obscure read it threatens to be if the book recalls Star Trek and Elizabeth Taylor. Lest the nerds now feel threatened, let me hasten to add that perhaps my favorite argument of the entire work is the following: “I’ve been known to insist that the only thing one needs to say in defense of semicolons is that Shirley Jackson liked them.”⁴ Anyone who has shown the proper reverence for Shirley has more than proven his bona fides, in my book.
So, there’s something here for almost anyone⁵ with a modicum of writing chops. For the true gurus, you’ll probably learn nothing new, but you may add to your arsenal of cocktail chatter. For the amateur language geeks such as myself, you’ll get a pleasant refresher and learn a thing or two. And for those who write passably but without much awareness of the craft, your mind may just be blown.⁶ All of you will laugh. Everybody wins.⁷
¹ If you’re curious about where I landed, you can find the sentence in my review of The Silence of the Girls.
² I’m cognizant of Dreyer’s admonition against “actually” and am deliberately flouting it. I’d like to believe that, in this case, he would forgive me.
³ Case in point: “Should I ever be touring the Moon, you can be certain that my first order of business will be to take a Sharpie to the plaque that refers to humanity’s arrival there in ‘JULY 1969, A. D.’” Or, “The NSA may be reading your emails and texts, but I’m not. If you prefer ‘Hi John’ to ‘Hi, John,’ you go right ahead.”
⁴ Runner up: “Whatever you want to call [the Oxford comma]: Use it. I don’t want to belabor the point; neither am I willing to negotiate it. Only godless savages eschew the series comma.”
⁵ Apropos of nothing, and only because I’m so happy about it, I’ll share an unexpected treasure seemingly written for me: Before hangovers were ”hangovers” (in 1894), Americans referred to this morning-after affliction as a “katzenjammer.” I’ve been intrigued by this word ever since it left the mouth of a lusciously articulate Michael Fassbender in Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece of dialogue, Inglourious Basterds. What a delight to run across it here.
⁶ I hate to out myself as an educational elitist, but in this case, I’m afraid it’s only fair: This book is not for the truly atrocious writers among us. Although Dreyer includes the appropriate caveats when he endorses the likes of passive voice and sentence fragments, his nuanced arguments would give such writers (false) license to employ provocative constructions with abandon, in prose that is not only painfully ugly but also unintelligible. What they need instead is to go back to elementary school—an elementary school that cares about syntax and grammar, which I’m horrified to say went out of vogue for several years—and learn the basics: Every sentence you are likely to write screams for a verb, the verb must agree with its subject, and the written word outside of tweets and texts, actually is, seriously, different than, um, the spoken word, and for good reason.
⁷ My parting footnote-cum-postscript: Dreyer notes that all writers have proclivities. One of mine is to semiconsciously emulate the writing style I’ve just read. If my (over)use of footnotes bothers you, blame Dreyer and his (over)use of them. Or just embrace them, and read his book.
It’s been fun, at least for me. Over and out.
I am nevertheless trying to set aside my prejudices in favor of anything subtitled An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style and evenhandedly make the case that this is for a much broader audience than a book so labeled has any business being. Not so much because everyone makes writing mistakes or because everyone could stand a lesson on language usage—even though everyone does and everyone could—but more because it’s funny. Actually,² bitingly, laugh-out-loud funny,³ both in the body of the text as well as the countless examples Benjamin Dreyer trots out to make his points. That many of these examples come from pop culture is indicative of Dreyer’s wide appeal; a grammarian cannot be the curmudgeon his profession evokes nor his book the obscure read it threatens to be if the book recalls Star Trek and Elizabeth Taylor. Lest the nerds now feel threatened, let me hasten to add that perhaps my favorite argument of the entire work is the following: “I’ve been known to insist that the only thing one needs to say in defense of semicolons is that Shirley Jackson liked them.”⁴ Anyone who has shown the proper reverence for Shirley has more than proven his bona fides, in my book.
So, there’s something here for almost anyone⁵ with a modicum of writing chops. For the true gurus, you’ll probably learn nothing new, but you may add to your arsenal of cocktail chatter. For the amateur language geeks such as myself, you’ll get a pleasant refresher and learn a thing or two. And for those who write passably but without much awareness of the craft, your mind may just be blown.⁶ All of you will laugh. Everybody wins.⁷
¹ If you’re curious about where I landed, you can find the sentence in my review of The Silence of the Girls.
² I’m cognizant of Dreyer’s admonition against “actually” and am deliberately flouting it. I’d like to believe that, in this case, he would forgive me.
³ Case in point: “Should I ever be touring the Moon, you can be certain that my first order of business will be to take a Sharpie to the plaque that refers to humanity’s arrival there in ‘JULY 1969, A. D.’” Or, “The NSA may be reading your emails and texts, but I’m not. If you prefer ‘Hi John’ to ‘Hi, John,’ you go right ahead.”
⁴ Runner up: “Whatever you want to call [the Oxford comma]: Use it. I don’t want to belabor the point; neither am I willing to negotiate it. Only godless savages eschew the series comma.”
⁵ Apropos of nothing, and only because I’m so happy about it, I’ll share an unexpected treasure seemingly written for me: Before hangovers were ”hangovers” (in 1894), Americans referred to this morning-after affliction as a “katzenjammer.” I’ve been intrigued by this word ever since it left the mouth of a lusciously articulate Michael Fassbender in Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece of dialogue, Inglourious Basterds. What a delight to run across it here.
⁶ I hate to out myself as an educational elitist, but in this case, I’m afraid it’s only fair: This book is not for the truly atrocious writers among us. Although Dreyer includes the appropriate caveats when he endorses the likes of passive voice and sentence fragments, his nuanced arguments would give such writers (false) license to employ provocative constructions with abandon, in prose that is not only painfully ugly but also unintelligible. What they need instead is to go back to elementary school—an elementary school that cares about syntax and grammar, which I’m horrified to say went out of vogue for several years—and learn the basics: Every sentence you are likely to write screams for a verb, the verb must agree with its subject, and the written word outside of tweets and texts, actually is, seriously, different than, um, the spoken word, and for good reason.
⁷ My parting footnote-cum-postscript: Dreyer notes that all writers have proclivities. One of mine is to semiconsciously emulate the writing style I’ve just read. If my (over)use of footnotes bothers you, blame Dreyer and his (over)use of them. Or just embrace them, and read his book.
It’s been fun, at least for me. Over and out.
August 31, 2019
This is the first book on grammar and style I've ever read cover to cover, as it was informative and highly entertaining. I found myself laughing over Dreyer's snarky wit and his keen look at today's language "rules" had me taking notes. His writing style, use of footnotes, and humor reminded me of Mary Roach's books and I believe Bill Bryson fans will also enjoy.
Everyone who does any writing (even if it's nothing but an annual holiday letter) should have a copy by their computer as there is too much content to absorb in one reading. About the only things I remember are "sic" isn't short for "spelling is correct" and "assless" in "assless chaps" is redundant.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for the advance reading copy.
Everyone who does any writing (even if it's nothing but an annual holiday letter) should have a copy by their computer as there is too much content to absorb in one reading. About the only things I remember are "sic" isn't short for "spelling is correct" and "assless" in "assless chaps" is redundant.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for the advance reading copy.
March 19, 2020
"Only godless savages eschew the series comma."
"Before we get to what you do use apostrophes for, let's recount what you don't use them for.
Step back, I'm about to hit the CAPS LOCK key.
DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO USE AN APOSTROPHE TO PLURALIZE A WORD.
'NOT EVER' AS IN 'NEVER.'
You may reapproach."
"Lately one encounters people referring to any full-length book, even a work of nonfiction, as a novel. That has to stop."
"...Two Words Where One Will Do...
free gift...
join together...
kneel down...
last of all...
lesbian woman Come on, folks. Think."
I think that should be a sufficient sample to let you decide if this is the book for you....
"Before we get to what you do use apostrophes for, let's recount what you don't use them for.
Step back, I'm about to hit the CAPS LOCK key.
DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO USE AN APOSTROPHE TO PLURALIZE A WORD.
'NOT EVER' AS IN 'NEVER.'
You may reapproach."
"Lately one encounters people referring to any full-length book, even a work of nonfiction, as a novel. That has to stop."
"...Two Words Where One Will Do...
free gift...
join together...
kneel down...
last of all...
lesbian woman Come on, folks. Think."
I think that should be a sufficient sample to let you decide if this is the book for you....
March 29, 2019
Delightful witty fun. (Delightful, witty fun.) (Delightful—witty—fun.) (Delightful; witty fun.)
March 29, 2020
Here is, in no particular order, a list of peeves:
1. Writing “re” without a colon - this is re: the many times I spotted that, and I twitched every time.
2. Writing okay as “OK” consistently in caps: jarring.
3. Capitalizing any word after a colon, whether it does or does not begin an independent clause, makes me want to take a red pen to the page. (Side note: I had a teacher who had a policy never to use red pen. She felt it was too aggressive.)
4. I didn’t much like the organization of this book. There are lots of lists with overlapping information, and while a wink-wink-nudge-nudge tone might be amusing, I don’t think it excuses repetition.
5. I appreciate allowing an author’s voice space to breathe, and yet it is still wrong to ever split an infinitive.*
6. Some of the history details are fascinating. I loved the background on dashes - now I know, for example, that my inherent dislike of the em dash (aside from its being too wide, how I appreciate that confirmation) comes from all those years of Enid Blyton novels and the British tendency toward en dashes with spaces. Whew. At least it comes from somewhere. Em dashes, by the way, are too wide, and thus convey too large a space.
7. Also, “The Brits often set periods or commas outside closing quote marks.” Once again, my origin story! (Not here, I suppose. But mostly.)
8. People are who, always and forever. I will accept a group of people as that. Never people themselves. “A person that” makes me itch for that overly aggressive red pen.
9. I viscerally dislike ellipses in the MLA style, with spaces between them ( . . . )
ALL HAIL:
1. The semicolon!
2. The Oxford comma! (Yes, I did read this book. Yes, I know Dreyer calls it the series comma and dislikes exclamation marks. Tough.)
3. I enjoyed (really) (ahahaha) every casual instance of in-text examples of the topic under discussion.
4. Possibly the greatest footnote in the history of English literature, and remember that I read the Bartimaeus books (and still know how to spell it correctly; it’s only bureaucracy and oeuvre and words with day-to-day relevance that trip me up):
5. ALL HAIL x1000: deriding the dangling modifier! DERIDE AWAY. Then consign it to the trash heap.
6. I could read an entire book on trimmables.
*This joke is brought to you courtesy of my fifth-grade grammar class. I still resent never learning how to diagram a sentence.
PS: Is Random House the American publisher of the Sayers novels? If so, now I know to address my copies, with all errors highlighted (once I finally get around to it), to Dreyer’s attention. Those typos are a sacrilege.
1. Writing “re” without a colon - this is re: the many times I spotted that, and I twitched every time.
2. Writing okay as “OK” consistently in caps: jarring.
3. Capitalizing any word after a colon, whether it does or does not begin an independent clause, makes me want to take a red pen to the page. (Side note: I had a teacher who had a policy never to use red pen. She felt it was too aggressive.)
4. I didn’t much like the organization of this book. There are lots of lists with overlapping information, and while a wink-wink-nudge-nudge tone might be amusing, I don’t think it excuses repetition.
5. I appreciate allowing an author’s voice space to breathe, and yet it is still wrong to ever split an infinitive.*
6. Some of the history details are fascinating. I loved the background on dashes - now I know, for example, that my inherent dislike of the em dash (aside from its being too wide, how I appreciate that confirmation) comes from all those years of Enid Blyton novels and the British tendency toward en dashes with spaces. Whew. At least it comes from somewhere. Em dashes, by the way, are too wide, and thus convey too large a space.
7. Also, “The Brits often set periods or commas outside closing quote marks.” Once again, my origin story! (Not here, I suppose. But mostly.)
8. People are who, always and forever. I will accept a group of people as that. Never people themselves. “A person that” makes me itch for that overly aggressive red pen.
9. I viscerally dislike ellipses in the MLA style, with spaces between them ( . . . )
ALL HAIL:
1. The semicolon!
2. The Oxford comma! (Yes, I did read this book. Yes, I know Dreyer calls it the series comma and dislikes exclamation marks. Tough.)
3. I enjoyed (really) (ahahaha) every casual instance of in-text examples of the topic under discussion.
4. Possibly the greatest footnote in the history of English literature, and remember that I read the Bartimaeus books (and still know how to spell it correctly; it’s only bureaucracy and oeuvre and words with day-to-day relevance that trip me up):
...I always refer to capital-N Nazis, whether they’re of Hitler’s party or simply homegrown aspirants... if we’re to be friends, you and I, please don’t ever call me or anyone else a “grammar Nazi,” a term that manages to be both direly insulting and offensively trivializing.
5. ALL HAIL x1000: deriding the dangling modifier! DERIDE AWAY. Then consign it to the trash heap.
6. I could read an entire book on trimmables.
*This joke is brought to you courtesy of my fifth-grade grammar class. I still resent never learning how to diagram a sentence.
PS: Is Random House the American publisher of the Sayers novels? If so, now I know to address my copies, with all errors highlighted (once I finally get around to it), to Dreyer’s attention. Those typos are a sacrilege.
November 2, 2018
I love books about books (Kory Stamper's Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries was one of my favorite books of 2017) and books about writing, so it's no surprise that when I saw the description for this book, I was incredibly excited to read it. A reference book by one of Twitter's leading language gurus? Right up my alley.
This is a handy little guide to writing that would make the perfect gift for any copy editor, grammarian, lover of language, or anybody who really just wants to improve their writing. It covers tips on punctuation (just how important IS the Oxford/series comma?), common spelling mistakes to avoid, and lessons on simplifying and tightening up your writing to improve the readability and flow of your prose. It's also sprinkled with some of Dryer's observations on the English language and prose; I particularly enjoyed the second chapter, on "Rules and Nonrules", where Dryer discusses how the English language, logically, makes very little sense: "The English language...developed without codification, sucking up new constructions and vocabulary every time some foreigner set foot on the British Isles...and continues to evolve anarchically"- what a perfect description of it!
This was also just SO funny to read. I generally try to make a practice of highlighting sentences/phrases that I find hilarious/witty when I'm reading, so that when I come back to a book I can have a good chuckle at my favorite tidbits. Dryer's brand of wit is wonderful (reminds me a little bit of Oscar Wilde's) and so I found myself highlighting huge chunks of the first chapter of this ARC, because so much of it made me laugh out loud.
Also: I live and breathe pop culture, so I very much enjoyed how pop culture savvy the examples in this book were :).
(Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!)
This is a handy little guide to writing that would make the perfect gift for any copy editor, grammarian, lover of language, or anybody who really just wants to improve their writing. It covers tips on punctuation (just how important IS the Oxford/series comma?), common spelling mistakes to avoid, and lessons on simplifying and tightening up your writing to improve the readability and flow of your prose. It's also sprinkled with some of Dryer's observations on the English language and prose; I particularly enjoyed the second chapter, on "Rules and Nonrules", where Dryer discusses how the English language, logically, makes very little sense: "The English language...developed without codification, sucking up new constructions and vocabulary every time some foreigner set foot on the British Isles...and continues to evolve anarchically"- what a perfect description of it!
This was also just SO funny to read. I generally try to make a practice of highlighting sentences/phrases that I find hilarious/witty when I'm reading, so that when I come back to a book I can have a good chuckle at my favorite tidbits. Dryer's brand of wit is wonderful (reminds me a little bit of Oscar Wilde's) and so I found myself highlighting huge chunks of the first chapter of this ARC, because so much of it made me laugh out loud.
Also: I live and breathe pop culture, so I very much enjoyed how pop culture savvy the examples in this book were :).
(Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!)
July 11, 2019
This seemed promising. It disappointed. Everything in here is better gotten from a combination of a style manual (say, CMS) and a usage manual (say, Fowler's), along with occasional visits to the Urban Dictionary. All this offers beyond those is:
1) Endless tedious political attacks on the author's political opponents, which aside from being tiresome, ensure the book will date quickly.
2) Endless silly and distracting asides in a desperate attempt to be quirky and humorous.
3) Huge amounts of footnotes that add nothing, but which are in tiny text hard to read, with even smaller footnote call-outs in the text.
And to top it all off, the author, who claims to desire clarity above all, for ideological reasons endorses the unclear singular "they." Then he rams home the stupidity by saying that we should use any pronoun a person wants for himself. Or herself.
Like I say, this book is worthless.
1) Endless tedious political attacks on the author's political opponents, which aside from being tiresome, ensure the book will date quickly.
2) Endless silly and distracting asides in a desperate attempt to be quirky and humorous.
3) Huge amounts of footnotes that add nothing, but which are in tiny text hard to read, with even smaller footnote call-outs in the text.
And to top it all off, the author, who claims to desire clarity above all, for ideological reasons endorses the unclear singular "they." Then he rams home the stupidity by saying that we should use any pronoun a person wants for himself. Or herself.
Like I say, this book is worthless.
May 21, 2021
Benjamin Dreyer’s Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style is strangely compelling and ridiculously interesting. It’s a marvel of good-humored dos and don’ts for written English. Read it slowly, a few pages or a chapter at a time, separated by days or even weeks between chapters. (Mindful of my local’s pending snatch-back of my e-copy, unfortunately I did not follow my own advice.) Worthy of a purchasing splurge so that you can refer to it when needed.
November 20, 2022
The first two chapters were excellent — a bit like “Confessions of a Comma Queen,” only with the proportions flipped: about 3/4th grammar and 1/4 personal.
Yet by Chapter three, when Dreyer started what could have been interesting supplements to Strunk and White, he populates his examples with texts such as “I 100 percent made [this] up out of thin air and didn’t find on, say, Twitter”. Dryer takes particular glee correcting the tweets of America’s 45th President, not recognizing 1) unlike most politicians, Trump does his own Tweets; he does not assign them to his staff; 2) Trump dictates his tweets, which accounts for odd honynims and Capitalizations; 3) Twitter is not meant to be a grammatically correct media—only a personal and/or effective one; and 4) Donald Trump has been more effective with ungrammatical tweets than the Mainstream Media.
It is the fourth point, I suspect, that sends Dwyer into such a boiling rage that finishing this book became tedious. So I didn’t.
I’ll put it on my office shelf, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
March 21 Addition
The commenter was correct; my spelling stunk. It always has.
But this book reminded me of what could have been a five-star book: “A Splendid Exchange,” by William Bernstein. As you’ll see in my review, in a book mostly centered on 15th and 16th Century events, Bernstein compares ancient evil-doers with members of the George W. Bush Cabinet. It’s a distracting academic trope, not just because it interjects out-of-date irrelevancies, but because it presumes perfect agreement with political principles.
That’s not what I want in a grammar, or economics, book.
Yet by Chapter three, when Dreyer started what could have been interesting supplements to Strunk and White, he populates his examples with texts such as “I 100 percent made [this] up out of thin air and didn’t find on, say, Twitter”. Dryer takes particular glee correcting the tweets of America’s 45th President, not recognizing 1) unlike most politicians, Trump does his own Tweets; he does not assign them to his staff; 2) Trump dictates his tweets, which accounts for odd honynims and Capitalizations; 3) Twitter is not meant to be a grammatically correct media—only a personal and/or effective one; and 4) Donald Trump has been more effective with ungrammatical tweets than the Mainstream Media.
It is the fourth point, I suspect, that sends Dwyer into such a boiling rage that finishing this book became tedious. So I didn’t.
I’ll put it on my office shelf, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
March 21 Addition
The commenter was correct; my spelling stunk. It always has.
But this book reminded me of what could have been a five-star book: “A Splendid Exchange,” by William Bernstein. As you’ll see in my review, in a book mostly centered on 15th and 16th Century events, Bernstein compares ancient evil-doers with members of the George W. Bush Cabinet. It’s a distracting academic trope, not just because it interjects out-of-date irrelevancies, but because it presumes perfect agreement with political principles.
That’s not what I want in a grammar, or economics, book.
March 6, 2019
Quick quiz: How many of the following rules do you follow when you write?
Never begin a sentence with "and" or "but."
Never split an infinitive.Never end a sentence with a preposition.
Contractions aren't allowed in formal writing.
The passive voice is to be avoided.
Sentence fragments are bad.
A person must be a "who," not a "that."
"None" is singular and, dammit, only singular.
"Whether" must never be accompanied by "or not."
Never introduce a list with "like."
If you learned English many years ago, as I did, chances are you heed at least some of these ten rules. It took me decades of reading and writing to unlearn them (and I still have trouble with Numbers 2, 5, and 8). So, if you really want to know how to write clear English, I strongly recommend you read Benjamin Dreyer's superb new book, Dreyer's English, and take his rebuttal of all these rules to heart. The man makes sense.
A funny, commonsense guide to how to write clear English
In Dreyer's English, the top copyeditor at Random House will take you on a journey through such topics as "67 Assorted Things to Do (and Not to Do) with Punctuation" and "A Little Grammar Is a Dangerous Thing." Yes, I know this stuff can be boring. But take my word for it: Dreyer makes it fun.
At times, Dreyer is dogmatic (as he is well entitled to be, in my opinion): "Only godless savages eschew the series comma," he writes. "No sentence has ever been harmed by a series comma, and many a sentence has been improved by one." (Amen.) And the book is funny, sometimes very funny.
So, what's wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition?
For instance, Dreyer relates "The Celebrated Ending-a-Sentence-with-a-Preposition-Story." It goes like this in a conversation between a Southern Gal and a Frosty Matron sitting together at a posh dinner party:
"Southern Gal, amiably, to Frosty Matron: So where y'all from?
"Frosty Matron, no doubt giving Southern Gal a once-over through a lorgnette: I'm from a place where people don't end their sentences with prepositions."
Southern Gal, sweetly, after a moment's consideration: OK. So where y'all from, bitch?"
One chapter that's worth the price of the book
Nearly every recommendation Dreyer makes in this book is worth following. But one chapter stands out; it's worth the price of the book. That's Chapter 12, titled "The Trimmables." It consists of a long list of phrases that include "Two Words Where One Will Do." Dreyer calls it "a collection of easily disposed of redundancies." It includes such gems as the following:
"absolutely essential," because if it's essential isn't that enough?;
"cameo appearance," which is redundant;
"crisis situation," since when is a crisis not a situation?;
"earlier in time," as though an event could be earlier in something other than time;
"few in number," which is obviously redundant;
"free gift" (duh!);
"future plans," which surely must be plans made in the present; and
"gather together," because how else would people gather?
Well, you get the point. There are lots of these in Dreyer's English. And I'll bet that, like me, you haven't realized every one of these was redundant. Or, as Dreyer puts it, trimmable.
This book reflects many of my own peeves and concerns
Nearly thirty years ago I wrote a book called How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters. (That book is now in its third edition with the title How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals. Because nonprofits now use email and the Web as well as letters to raise money.) My favorite chapter, then and now, is one called "You're Writing for Results—Not for a Pulitzer Prize." When I glanced back at that chapter while reading Dreyer's English, I was amused to discover that a fair amount of what I'd written reflects many of the same peeves and concerns in Dreyer's book. But please understand: I'm not accusing the man of plagiarizing. (The chances he would ever have come across my book seem vanishingly small.) Instead, as a writer and editor myself, I simply want to emphasize how strongly I agree with Dreyer's approach to the language.
About the author
"Benjamin Dreyer sees language the way an epicure sees food. And he sees sloppiness everywhere he looks." So goes the subhead in a profile of the author by Sarah Lyall in the New York Times (February 1, 2019). He's been working since the 1990s, first as a proofreader, then a copyeditor, and finally in his current job at Random House. He's now what Lyall describes as the publisher's "style-arbiter-of-last-resort over several hundred original titles a year." Dreyer is a vice-president, executive managing editor, and copy chief at the company. He's active on Twitter, where he explains how to write clear English to tens of thousands of followers.
Never begin a sentence with "and" or "but."
Never split an infinitive.Never end a sentence with a preposition.
Contractions aren't allowed in formal writing.
The passive voice is to be avoided.
Sentence fragments are bad.
A person must be a "who," not a "that."
"None" is singular and, dammit, only singular.
"Whether" must never be accompanied by "or not."
Never introduce a list with "like."
If you learned English many years ago, as I did, chances are you heed at least some of these ten rules. It took me decades of reading and writing to unlearn them (and I still have trouble with Numbers 2, 5, and 8). So, if you really want to know how to write clear English, I strongly recommend you read Benjamin Dreyer's superb new book, Dreyer's English, and take his rebuttal of all these rules to heart. The man makes sense.
A funny, commonsense guide to how to write clear English
In Dreyer's English, the top copyeditor at Random House will take you on a journey through such topics as "67 Assorted Things to Do (and Not to Do) with Punctuation" and "A Little Grammar Is a Dangerous Thing." Yes, I know this stuff can be boring. But take my word for it: Dreyer makes it fun.
At times, Dreyer is dogmatic (as he is well entitled to be, in my opinion): "Only godless savages eschew the series comma," he writes. "No sentence has ever been harmed by a series comma, and many a sentence has been improved by one." (Amen.) And the book is funny, sometimes very funny.
So, what's wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition?
For instance, Dreyer relates "The Celebrated Ending-a-Sentence-with-a-Preposition-Story." It goes like this in a conversation between a Southern Gal and a Frosty Matron sitting together at a posh dinner party:
"Southern Gal, amiably, to Frosty Matron: So where y'all from?
"Frosty Matron, no doubt giving Southern Gal a once-over through a lorgnette: I'm from a place where people don't end their sentences with prepositions."
Southern Gal, sweetly, after a moment's consideration: OK. So where y'all from, bitch?"
One chapter that's worth the price of the book
Nearly every recommendation Dreyer makes in this book is worth following. But one chapter stands out; it's worth the price of the book. That's Chapter 12, titled "The Trimmables." It consists of a long list of phrases that include "Two Words Where One Will Do." Dreyer calls it "a collection of easily disposed of redundancies." It includes such gems as the following:
"absolutely essential," because if it's essential isn't that enough?;
"cameo appearance," which is redundant;
"crisis situation," since when is a crisis not a situation?;
"earlier in time," as though an event could be earlier in something other than time;
"few in number," which is obviously redundant;
"free gift" (duh!);
"future plans," which surely must be plans made in the present; and
"gather together," because how else would people gather?
Well, you get the point. There are lots of these in Dreyer's English. And I'll bet that, like me, you haven't realized every one of these was redundant. Or, as Dreyer puts it, trimmable.
This book reflects many of my own peeves and concerns
Nearly thirty years ago I wrote a book called How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters. (That book is now in its third edition with the title How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals. Because nonprofits now use email and the Web as well as letters to raise money.) My favorite chapter, then and now, is one called "You're Writing for Results—Not for a Pulitzer Prize." When I glanced back at that chapter while reading Dreyer's English, I was amused to discover that a fair amount of what I'd written reflects many of the same peeves and concerns in Dreyer's book. But please understand: I'm not accusing the man of plagiarizing. (The chances he would ever have come across my book seem vanishingly small.) Instead, as a writer and editor myself, I simply want to emphasize how strongly I agree with Dreyer's approach to the language.
About the author
"Benjamin Dreyer sees language the way an epicure sees food. And he sees sloppiness everywhere he looks." So goes the subhead in a profile of the author by Sarah Lyall in the New York Times (February 1, 2019). He's been working since the 1990s, first as a proofreader, then a copyeditor, and finally in his current job at Random House. He's now what Lyall describes as the publisher's "style-arbiter-of-last-resort over several hundred original titles a year." Dreyer is a vice-president, executive managing editor, and copy chief at the company. He's active on Twitter, where he explains how to write clear English to tens of thousands of followers.
June 16, 2023
Too bloated to be more than a little helpful. What is helpful could have been contained in 100 pages and the rest is filler: commentary on various English trivia, unimportant political bromides, and whatever else the author seems to have had on hand to give this thing more body, all carried out with an unoriginal and wearisome impertinence. That the author has 8 pages of acknowledgements for a relatively-short, easily-forgettable book points to the idea that the primary objective here was to have written a book (8 pages? Come, man: You didn't write Ben-Hur!)
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