Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hello all,

Just wondering if someone can recommend a good book or two on grammar, punctuation, etc?

I am particularly interested in concise, easy to understand, practical books...

Any ideas?

Marc

For the basics, Strunk and White will serve many purposes. The Vest Pocket Writer's Guide is a little more in-depth and handy at 3 by 5 by 1/2 inches. The Little Brown Handbook is a thorough and well-organized manual of prescriptive grammar standards for routine composition writing. Words Into Type is a relatively straightforward style manual useful for all writers and some publishers. The Chicago Manual of Style is the gold standard for many prose publishers. It's a big orange brick of a doorstop though.

I LOVE: THE EVERYDAY WRITER by Andrea Lunsford.

I have a wonderful older edition that has an especially great binding––way strong, wide (roomy), plastic spiral binding––and tabs and is designed so you can refer around the book easily.
I'm not sure what the newer edition binding is like, (because I've only seen pictures of it on Amazon) but I plan to add the newer edition––with the exercises included––to my library in the future.
And the MLA section is needed reference for me professionally.

bcomet

Hmmm...grammar....maybe I should pay attention to this thread ;-) I could use a litte more info in this department.

~JD

I second the Strunk and White Elements of Style.

kristi wrote:I second the Strunk and White Elements of Style.

Me too - and it's Steven King's favourite. King's 'On Writing' is worth a look, too, although the last half is autobiography. Very interesting, though.

Another vote for Strunk and White. Because of this book, I am one of the only people I know who knows how to use a semi-colon correctly! Similarly apostrophes for plurals, etc. It's an excellent book.

And if you get the anniversary edition, it looks really pretty on your bookshelf - I love mine! :)

Thanks everyone!

I just ordered my anniversary edition of Strunk and White online. I am looking forward to its arrival.

Happy writing (and perfect grammar),
Marc

Elements of Style is a great place to start, but for a more in-depth and thoughtful look at the effects grammar can have on meaning (and simply the best possible way to way to construct sentences), take a look at Martha Kolln's Rhetorical Grammar. It is a textbook commonly used in graduate writing programs, and it's a must for anyone serious about getting the most from his/her prose. I can't recommend it highly enough, and all editions aside from the most recent are quite cheap on Amazon.