Customer Reviews

Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, and Outmoded Rules of English Usage

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I second the other reviewers in their praise for Bernstein's usage and style advice. I think that purchasers should be warned about production errors, though.

This book was originally published in 1971 by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. The paperback version currently in print comes from Centro Books and bears the date 2006. The 2006 edition contains quite a few typos, about one every ten pages. I can't believe that the 1971 edition was that sloppily edited. I suspect that the new publisher scanned a copy of the old book into its computer, and then was a bit careless about checking the accuracy of the scan. For example, in a two-column list of absolute participles, the left-hand column has "beginn" and the right-hand column next to it has "ingowing". They should have said "beginning" and "owing".

These typos don't usually interfere with understanding the material. They're just an ongoing annoyance in a book that ought to manifest the highest standards of correctness.

One by one, Bernstein goes through the rules given to many people "in Eighth Grade" and demolishes them: "Never split an nfinitive," "Never end a sentence with a preposition," and so on. He also lists a great many words and phrases and disucsses their points of usage. His categories are "Witchcraft in Words," "Syntax Scarecrows," "Imps of Idioms," and "Spooks of Style." He discusses each case with both light humour precision of meaning.

Theodore M. Bernstein not only reviews shibboleths of English usage but also includes a response from his fictional Grade 8 teacher, Miss Thistlebottom, writing more in sorrow than in anger.

The encyclopedic "The Careful Writer" is my favourite of Bernstein's books, but this one is certainly worth reading.

In Mrs. Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins, the author explores common misconceptions people have about English grammar rules. The title is a metaphor for all the English teachers who have taught their students that it is wrong to split an infinitive or end a sentence with a preposition. The author explores such myths in detail and explains how they came to be as well as why they are incorrect. The book is well-written, witty and informative.

I've been a fan of Miss Thistlebottom (and Mr. Bernstein) since 1972. I've given this book as a gift a half-dozen times over the years. I still reach for it every so often to settle a usage question. It is both invaluable, irrepressibly witty, and seemingly ageless. Before writing this review, I went back into the well-thumbed pages of this book to make sure it had not been left in the wake of the three and a half decades since it was written. It stands as relevant as ever. A must-have for anyone who relishes the English language and takes joy in its quirks.

I've taught freshman composition in colleges and universities from Arizona to the Bronx for over 20 years, and this book is so much fun compared to the usual stuff you have to choose from. Bernstein was practically a comedian compared to the stiffs who write usage books these days -- eats shoots and leaves notwithstanding.

I recommend this book as a resource in any writing classroom -- it answers the kinds of questions students actually ask about language use. They don't want to know about freewriting and the rhetorical situation. They want to know how to use the language properly and they'd like to learn it from a writer who uses humor -- is this too much to ask? Bernstein didn't think so in 1971.