Covers the issues in the choice and handling of words - will energise anyone with a writing job to do. Offers a checklist of words and phrases to be used with care - will save many a writer from committing embarrassing blunders by writing something unintended, misleading or downright foolish.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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The writer who wants to present his ideas clearly and with force by eschewing jargon and sticking to plain words should first read Gowers... --Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff, The Modern Researcher
--This text refers to the
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About the Author
Sir Ernest Gowers was born in 1880 and served in a number of illustrious occupations. He advised numerous commissions and committees on a wide variety of subjects from work conditions to the preservation of historic houses. Sidney Greenbaum was a Director of the Survey of English Usage and was the author of many books on grammar and linguistics. Janet Whitcut has worked on a number of prestgious dictionaries and is now a freelance writer with a special interest in langauge.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Though published decades ago,still relevant/useful,
This review is from: The Complete Plain Words (Hardcover)
This book was originally written for bureaucrats so that they might better communicate officialese. Yet it really goes further: it can be used, appreciated, by anyone wishing to improve or confirm their knowledge of written English. Gowers writes in compact, sometimes dryly humourous, style, as he corrects the often confused use of "which-that" and "who-whom", the employment or negligence of the subjunctive, and punctuation. It's an enjoyable,educative work relevant to today, with the English language changing and, perhaps, degrading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still Useful After All These Years,
By Glenn Gallagher "scholarly bureaucrat" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Complete Plain Words (Paperback)
The Complete Plain Words is an excellent resource for people who write as part of their occupation. Although written in 1948 for British civil servants, I believe it is still useful for just about anybody in government or business who must write the occasional report, memo, or e-mail.One thing that did surprise me a little from the book is just how wordy it is. Unfortunately, the author does not always follow his own advice to use the simple approach and to get to the point quickly. How much easier said than done. Here's some of his advice from his chapter "The Choice of Words": "Use no more words than are necessary to express your meaning, for if you use more you are likely to obscure it and to tire your reader. In particular do not use superfluous adjectives and adverbs and do not use roundabout phrases where single words would serve. Use familiar words rather than the far-fetched, if they express your meaning equally well; for the familiar are more likely to be readily understood. Use words with a precise meaning rather than those that are vague, for they will obviously serve better to make your meaning clear; and in particular prefer concrete words to the abstract, for they are more likely to have a precise meaning." The author Sir Ernest Gowers also realizes that language and the written form of it are subject to change, which is refreshing. As such, his advice is to write using the conventions of the day, but always to shun the experimental forms of slang, short-hand expressions, and plain lazy writing. Sir Gowers writes: "English is not static - neither in vocabulary nor in grammar, nor yet in that elusive quality called style. The fashion in prose alternates between the ornate and the plain, the periodic and the colloquial. Grammar and punctuation defy all the efforts of grammarians to force them into the mould of a permanent code of rules. Old words drop out and change their meanings; new words are admitted. What was stigmatized by the purists of one generation as a corruption of the language may a few generations later be accepted as an enrichment, and what was then common currency may have become a pompous archaism or acquired a new significance." Although this book will certainly not replace "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White as the preeminent writing guide, "The Complete Plain Words" is an excellent resource for all writers struggling to communicate in a clear, concise fashion.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Read for Bureaucrats,
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This review is from: The Complete Plain Words (Paperback)
This is how bureaucrats should answer questions in writing. It works.! It works! It works! And the author's bio is very interesting.
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