Review by Choice Review
Writers, copy editors, and students seeking advice or explanations of the conventions of standard literary English will find definitive, clearly expressed rulings in The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. As the author of a dozen guides on language and writing, as well as the "Grammar and Usage" chapter of the current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, law professor Garner (Southern Methodist Univ.) offers unmatched expertise. The book's 558-item table of contents (plus exhaustive indexes) makes it easy for readers to locate relevant sections. An introductory essay encapsulates the history of the field, and each section's opening concisely explains its history, theory, and utility. Sections define and explain parts of speech, syntax, word formation, usage, and punctuation in an energetic and readable way, advising on day-to-day writing dilemmas and venturing into overviews of morphology, transformational grammar, and diagramming sentences. The usage section offers evidence of language change over time using n-gram word counts created with Google Ngram Viewer. Included as well as is a standout section on bias-free language and a useful listing of prepositional idioms. Punctuation guidance separates out uses and misuses, drawing example uses from a diverse group of mostly 20th-century writers. Summing Up: Essential. All libraries. All levels. --Priscilla Finley, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
