Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them: Fourth Edition [Paperback]

Harry Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0064610446 | ISBN-13: 978-0064610445 | Edition: 4 Sub

An excellent guide to improving diction, punctuation, spelling, word usage, sentence structure, and grammar that uses extensive exercises and examples.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harry Shaw is well known as an editor, writer, lecturer, and teacher. For a number of years he was director of the Workshops in Composition at New York University and teacher of classes in advanced writing at Columbia, at both of which institutions he has done graduate work. He has worked with large groups of writers in the Washington Square Writing Center at NYU and has been a lecturer in writers' conferences at Indiana University and the University of Utah and lecturer in, and director of, the Writers' Conference in the Rocky Mountains sponsored by the University of Colorado. In 1969, Mr. Shaw was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Davidson College, his alma mater.

He has been managing editor and editorial director of Look, editor at Harper and Brothers, senior editor and vice-president Of E. P Dutton and Co., editor-in-chief of Henry Holt & Co., and director of publications for Barnes & Noble, Inc.; and also an editor at W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. He has contributed widely to many popular and scholarly national magazines and is the author or co-author of a number of books in the fields of English composition and literature, among them Punctuate It Right! and Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Collins; 4 Sub edition (August 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064610446
• ISBN-13: 978-0064610445
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for students, writers, executives...EVERYONE!, May 30, 2006

By 

Marion E. Gold "Book Author & Editorial Writer" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them: Fourth Edition (Paperback)

How often do you need a quick answer to a simple grammatical question? Just when should you (or would you) place (or put) a hyphen between (or inbetween) words?

Is it "its" or "it's?" "Shall I?" or "Will I?" Is your handwriting "legible" or "readable?" Do you "lend" money or "loan" money? Is your perfume "sensual" or "sensuous?" Did your last job interview go "nowhere" or "no place?"

A great copyeditor is a writer's best friend - and I have one sitting on my desk! His name is Harry Shaw.

"Errors in English" has a dictionary-like section that quickly provides the answers to questions like: Is Susan a "person" or an "individual?" Is that chewing gum sample "free" or "gratis?"

Shaw's book provides quick tips on correct sentence structure, word usage, spelling and punctuation. He even helps tackle the difference between the passive and the active, and so much more.... (Reviewed by: Marion E. Gold, Author of "Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOU," and "Top Cops: Profiles of Women in Command." Marion is a past president of the Illinois Woman's Press Association)

4.0 out of 5 stars Decades of service to writers, April 2, 2011

By 

Valerie Bonham Moon (Not in the Alps, unfortunately) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them: Fourth Edition (Paperback)

Harry Shaw's _Errors in English_ has helped me correct my favorite errors (commas) for over twenty-five years. That the book weathered multiple military moves and was never dumped to shave a pound off the weight of even overseas household goods shipments, testifies to its usefulness. In leafing through it for an overall sense of the contents, I see crayon marks made by one of my children (the most recognizable symbol appears to be an orange upside-down 'e'). This tells me the volume did not spend its life safely wedged between other books on a high shelf; I kept it within reach.

The book is not only a reliable reference, but (for those interested in such things) is browsably entertaining on word choice, sentence structure, punctuation and a dictionary of terms. Did you know the origins for synonyms of cliché, trite and hackneyed, are the Latin "tritus" (past participle of terere) meaning "to rub, to wear out;" and the poor, worn-out horses -- presumably of the Hackney breed -- who pulled London taxis in the days before the internal combustion engine took on the job of hauling us around? Cliché itself derives from the French "clicher," "to stereotype."

No, the reader is not whipped along by Jason Bourne, but for a reliable read when the writer wants to fix the English on his page, Mr. Shaw comes through.