Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage [Hardcover]

William Morris (Author), Mary Morris (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 641 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 2 Reprint edition (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006181606X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061816062
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,182,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Synonyms & Antonyms

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Manual for Proper English, September 17, 2008

By 

M. Winters "Fawnskinman" (Fawnskin, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage (Hardcover)

This is the best book you can own for the proper use of English. I was first aquainted with this book in graduate school many years ago when a professor trashed a paper that I had written and used "due to". He told me that "due to" should only be used as a cause of death (e.g. he died from complications of Alzheimer's). Any other time you should use "because", "as a result of", etc. He showed me this book then and I bought it for reference. I have since bought it several times for gifts to friends who need to use the English language properly. A great reference book!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author critiques usage survey, April 30, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Bradenton, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage (Paperback)

Ain't, copacetic, happily, hopefully--if these make your skin creep you should check out the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. The authors have solicited opinions from a varied group of successful users of the USAmerican language, such as: Saul Bellow, Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure of knowledge and fun, September 6, 2001

By 

jazmaan (Santa Monica, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage (Hardcover)

I learned everything I know about grammar and usage from this book! It was a gift to me as a teenager and it guided me to A's throughout high school and college. Who would have thought a dictionary could actually be FUN to read? Well this one is because it poses a multitude of common problems in contemporary usage, e.g. "to split or not to split infinitives", and then lets a range of academics and humorists tackle them. The results are both enlightening and amusing.

Too bad its out of print.