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Subject:Re: Best Books? From:"Cepek, Marta" <marta -at- M3ISYSTEMS -dot- QC -dot- CA> Date:Tue, 30 May 1995 15:25:00 -0400
Hi Steve!
>I recently bought a copy of Fowler's English Usage, so I'm sure I'll be
> consulting that as well.
Maybe once or twice, but you won't often!!! As a long-time owner of this
gem, I think you'll find it something you browse in moments of contemplation
rather than something you would consult about a burning grammatical/usage
issue. Not only is FEU rather out of date usage-wise (even with Gowers'
revisions), but Fowler himself was an eccentric curmudgeon. Check out the
entry on "Sturdy Indefensibles", for example. I doubt that's one you'd
*think* to look up unless you knew it was there. A lot of other
oddly-categorized tidbits in there for the finding, but it's definately
something for the lover of the English language. But as a comprehensive
usage reference (particularly in the tech-writing field), I doubt it!
