Customer Reviews

Garner's Modern American Usage

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I am now a three-edition aficionado of Bryan A. Garner's Modern American Usage (MAU).

I purchased the first edition at the South Tower of the World
Trade Center in 1998.

Then, under more sober circumstances, I purchased the second edition in 2003.

Finally, last week, I became the happy owner of the new Modern American
Usage, Third Edition (MAU 3, for short).

The pleasures from MAU 3 are substantial, with only a few minor
reservations.

First, the major pleasures:

* As with the first two editions, almost every page of MAU 3 brings me
a new wealth of useful reminders and eye-opening information. For
example, readers cannot imagine how pleased I was to learn in MAU 3 about
"Contronyms" (e.g., the two opposed meanings of "scan"), which must
take their place alongside my discovery of "Mondegreens" in MAU 2. One
of my favorite mondegreens, encountered firsthand, is "I led the
pigeons to the flag," an odd mishearing of "I pledge allegiance to the
flag." (I politely told the young "pigeons" reciter about his error,
but he said he liked his version better than the traditional one. It is
certainly funnier.)

* By making MAU 3 taller and wider in format than MAUs 1 and 2, the author
has been able to retain the previous prefaces and essay ("Making Peace
in the Language Wars") while adding a new preface and an essay (funkily
titled "The Ongoing Struggles of Garlic-Hangers," inspired for once by
the otherwise annoying linguist John McWhorter). More important, this
expansive format has allowed Mr. Garner to pack addditional nuggets of
information into his reference book, especially the section called
"Glossary of Grammatical, Rhetorical, and Other Language-Related
Terms." This section, in slightly smaller type, is a miracle of
informative compression, whether focusing on the "schwa" or the "ergative
verb" or "auxesis" or "multiple sentence forms" or "polysyndeton" or almost
anything else. It is a treasure trove of the mainstream and the
esoteric.

* The innovative, five-stage Language-Change Index in MAU 3, far from
being a gimmick, gives readers a true sense of where certain
controversial usages rank along a continuum. With this ranking, readers
gain a perspective on verbal change, from the highly rejectable status
at Stage 1 (e.g., the double negative "unrelentlessly") to the grudging
acceptance at Stage 5 (e.g., "finalize," a jargonic favorite of former
President Eisenhower). Among other things, this Index at Stage 5 is
Mr. Garner's stouthearted attempt to end dead-horse beating. (By the way, his
"Key to the Language-Change Index" is certain to induce the smiles and
laughs of approval in other readers that it did for me. Who says a
language authority's continuum has to be dull?)

* The engaging new essay in MAU 3, "The Ongoing Struggles of
Garlic-Hangers," recognizes that defeatist teachers and hypocritical
linguists are dragging English usage faster than ever into confusion
and decay. No wonder the conciliatory tone that suffused Mr. Garner's essay in
MAU 2, "Making Peace in the Language Wars," has disappeared. After all,
only one descriptive linguist (Peter Tiersma) "conditionally" accepted
the author's strategy for a truce. So Mr. Garner obviously decided a more
confrontational approach was necesssary. Much to his credit, though,
his essay still maintains a characteristic clarity and civility. Above
all, he doesn't flinch from taking on and politely vanquishing linguist John
McWhorter, the quintessential representative of the anything-goes
crowd. Mr. Garner's new aggressive attitude feels right, yet I still worry.
For, at the end of the essay, even as he says he is not "melancholy"
over this declining state of affairs, he seems more embattled than he was in 2003.

More than ever, we must remember, as Wilson Follett's Modern American Usage urges us,
"to maintain the continuity of speech that makes the thought of our
ancestors easily understood, to conquer Babel every day against the
illiterate and the heedless, and to resist the pernicious and lulling
dogma that in language -- contrary to what obtains in all other human
affairs -- whatever is is right and doing nothing is for the best."

In short, Mr. Garner's fine book is more than a usage guide, it is the standard
bearer of a knightly quest. I guess that might make me one of his
Sancho Panzas.

That's what he gets for carrying on the Fowler, Bernstein, and Follett
tradition.

Now for the minor reservations:

* Let's begin with MAU 3's dust cover. There on the left flap, in the
first paragraph, the second sentence begins, "Brimming with brief,
erudite, and even witty entries on troublesome words and phases ...." I
saw the "phases" for "phrases," and my heart fell. Because I know MAU 3
itself is fastidiously edited and proofread, but first-time browsers
would not. Again one finds that a book shouldn't be judged by its dust
cover. Also, remembering Mr. Garner's excellent entry on Sesquipedality, I
question whether the use of "corpora" (see left flap, third paragraph,
line 10) is a bit highfalutin for the fairly simple-and-direct book
description.

* Moving inside MAU 3, I find that the author carefully and correctly gives the
figurative meaning of "delineate" as "to represent in words; to
describe." Then he faults those who wrongly believe that "delineate" also
means "differentiate," placing such a misuse at Stage 1 on his
Language Change Index and consigning it for the time being to
rejection and outer darkness. So far, I agree. But later, in his
estimable entry on Standard English, he writes "the delineation between
Standard English and dialect has to do with grammar, vocabulary,
spelling, and punctuation ...." By using "delineation between" instead
of "differentiation between," Mr. Garner has fallen into a dreaded slipshod
extension and entered Stage 1's Rejection Land.

* Disappointment also reigned when I noticed, in MAU 3, there are not many
illustrative quotations dated after 2003 (the year MAU 2 was
published). To me, MAU 3 was an ideal opportunity to present a
substantial number of new, post-2003 quotes to complement or replace
earlier ones.

* In Mr. Garner's Timeline of Books on Usage, I was surprised to see that Mark
Halpern's Language and Human Nature, though quoted in the MAU 3 essay, "The
Ongoing Struggles of Garlic-Hangers," was not entered in the Timeline
under 2009, the year given for its publication. I assume that
threatening deadlines resulted in that omission. I would also like to
suggest for inclusion Jenny McMorris's biography of Henry Watson
Fowler, The Warden of English, published by Oxford University Press in
2001. It's the only full-length biography on Fowler that I know of (not
"of which I know"). Among other delightful little details in this book,
one reads that "The Times, heading its obituary [of Fowler] 'A
Lexicographical Genius,' declared that Henry 'had a crispness, a
facility, and unexpectedness which have not been equalled.' "

* And, from my "Not Really Garner's Fault Department," I present one last
cavil: the taller and wider MAU 3 does not fit into my (formerly)
handy-dandy, zippered, green book carrier.

Modern American Usage, in its third edition, is now approaching perfection. And though it may never get there, authorial attention to such trifling reservations as mine may help move its fourth edition a bit closer. After all, a noble and daring quest such as Mr. Garner's -- to promote ideal clarity, elegance, and effectiveness in communication -- deserves to reach this loftiest of goals.

The first part of this review discusses this book in general, and the second part discusses certain changes in the 3rd Edition. So feel free to skip to the second section if you're familiar with prior editions.

Garner has done it again with this revised edition of Garner's Modern American Usage. I've used this book for several years and it has been an invaluable resource for me in my writing-intensive occupation. In fact, I doubt seriously that I've written anything substantial in the past several years without turning to this book at least once. Often, I'm pretty confident about proper usage, but turn to this book anyway for entertainment (it rarely disappoints). I usually find myself enthusiastically agreeing with Mr. Garner, and rejoicing that this source is available to settle usage disputes. For those new to this book, most of the entries address proper usage of specific words or short phrases. There are also essay entries that address grammar, style, and other issues. The essays cover a broad range of topics. For example, there is an entry on "punctuation" and another on "jargon." And any usage guide that has a essage called "Airlinese" (discussing gems such as "deplane") gets my vote.

I only recall disagreeing with Garner on minor points, such as whether to avoid the word "hopefully" altogether. I think it is a useful word and, hopefully, any stigma attached will dissipate with use (see what I did there?).

I would simply not do without this book, a style manual (such as the Chicago Manual), and a good dictionary.

ON THIS EDITION:
There are five changes I'll note for this edition: (1) ranking of word usage/acceptance (1-5); (2) asterisks next to poor words; (3) new binding; (4) more entries; (5) revisions to prior entries.

The most interesting addition is the 1-5 scale for the acceptance of words in usage. Controversial or problematic words are ranked from 1 (unacceptable) to 5 (proper), interestingly combining prescriptive and descriptive concepts. All told, so far I find it an interesting tool, but probably not world-changing. The entries, as they have in the past, describe appropriate usage in a way that is more detailed and nuanced than a scale could hope to be. In some circumstances, I see how this might clarify some issues.

The next change that I noticed was the use of a "*" preceding words that shouldn't be used (or non-words). For example, a passage might read "although *irregardless has been used for decades, it should be shunned." (irregardless would also be in italics, like all terms under a given entry heading). I understand the reason for this, but I find it far more annoying that useful. I suppose I'll get used to it eventually, but my eye is trained to associate a footnote with an asterisk (even if I'm not used to seeing it before a word). This isn't a deal-breaker, of course; I just find it distracting. Others may like it.

The other notable changes are pretty self-explanatory. Of course the new edition contains more entries (substantially more, in fact), and other entries are revised. I happen to like the new binding and layout. The paper seems a bit thinner, the text smaller, and the book a little taller, which results in a thinner book with more content than the previous edition.

In sum, I recommend this book to anyone who writes, copy-edits, or who is passionate about the English language.

I have no complaints with the content, but if they're going to charge nearly $25 for the Kindle edition, they could put a little more effort into it. The bulk of the book is all one "chapter", so if you want to look something up under "W", you have to hit "next page" for a half hour. They didn't bother to hyperlink the indexes, but rather just copied them literally from the print editions with the page numbers (which are useless on a Kindle). OUP ought to be ashamed of themselves.

This is Bryan Garner's third edition of his already classic Modern American Usage, and it has an enhancement that makes it his best yet. He rates usages by stages to inform the user how widespread each has become. Thus, if you are wondering whether "factoid" in the sense of "an interesting bit of trivia" is so widely used as to be accepted as standard, he will let you know. Purists, of course, would quibble, because adding "oid" to a word "generally denotes a resemblance to something but not the thing itself." I wouldn't consider sitting before a keyboard ready to write for school or a living without this reference within easy reach. My entire department turns to it as the final word on punctuation, pronunciation, grammar, and a fascinating exploration into the derivation of the words and phrases we use to communicate.

I'm now on my Third Edition of Garner's incredibly useful guide to the English language as used by Americans, and I have to say that this book has a great characteristic: when you need it to settle a dispute about a particular form of usage, you can gently point someone else to GMAU and note that Mr. Garner takes account of the fact that language evolves. Because he does, and because you can show examples in GMAU in which he acknowledges that once-unacceptable language is now accepted, your statement "But not THAT expression--at least not YET!" has a chance of being heard by the other person. It's really hard to tell someone else that his or her grammar or usage is just not good enough for medium-formal writing without sounding like a grammar snob. But you've got Garner on your side--and he's not a snob.

And this book is a positive pleasure to read. You can't say that about a lot of great reference books. Bryan Garner is a rare wit in addition to a rare intellect.

Sometimes, when I'm dealing with a particularly tone-deaf editor (why do they take jobs in the press, anyway?), I just anonymously mail them a copy of GMAU. Oops, now my secret is out!

I consult this book almost daily, confident that I will find clear, wise, and intelligent entries as I write essays, fiction, or tomorrow morning's lecture. It is the best book on American usage ever produced and, for those of us who love language, it is also fun and instructive to leaf through. I recommend it highly.

Never get tired of learning. This book goes a long way in that department, at least related to using American English.

There are many times that I've written an email at work and wondered if I had written it the proper way. When I got home, I checked this book (now I can check on my Kindle, too!).

It's interesting to see the wide range of citations used. It helps to have current usage in a variety of settings. It also encourages reading the sources that are cited.

The binding is good, the print quality is good, the paper quality is good.

The only problem I have is with the Kindle version -- it can be hard to find what you're looking for. For example, the other night I was looking for "among" and "amongst". I had to search since there wasn't an effective table of contents. Well, searching for "among" turned up many false positive that I had to weed through the selections and had to re-search several times. Maybe someday that will be improved.

You won't find answers to every single doubt you have, but when there is an article on your problem you are unlikely to come away still ignorant.
Those who, like myself, first encountered Garner back last century with the Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage will be pleased to see that he has become less prescriptive about everyday issues (it is now hard to find, for example, the intolerant approach to the "that/which" distinction, on which, back in the old days, Mr. Garner would have had Bill Bryson in the dock for his sloppy usage in that respect, along with Prof. David Crystal, world-renowned UK linguist). So, feel no fear about buying it. It's coverage is very full, and it won't bite you too severely any more!

This is a highly readable and, yet, erudite book. Written as a reference, it is so entertaining it keeps you reading even after you've already found what you were looking up. Includes Garner's humorous and descriptive codes on how well- or not-accepted changes of usage are for words in flux. Differentiates between the rank and horrible, and the strictly correct and snooty, and everything in between. If you like using words, you'll love this boook. (Not to mention that the Amazon price is an excellent one.)

Now in a significantly expanded and thoroughly up-dated third edition, "Garner's Modern American Usage" continues to hold title to being a superb guide to the effective use of the English language in contemporary society. Of special note is the inclusion of a language-change index based on grammarian, lexicographer, and editor Bryan A. Garner's original research, along with contributions drawn from a panel of more than 120 commentators helping to assess and update the text for virtually every entry. Of special note are the newly added entries relevant to the various elements of the internet and other electronic advances. This 942-page compendium is an essential and strongly recommended addition to every academic and community library English Language Studies reference collection, and an invaluable resource for both aspiring writers and professional authors as well.