Customer Reviews

The Oxford Style Manual

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What is not clear from the listing for this book in most of OUP's promotional materials is that THE OXFORD STYLE MANUAL is really TWO books in one: THE OXFORD GUIDE TO STYLE and THE OXFORD DICTIONARY FOR WRITERS AND EDITORS. Even at the combined length of just over 1,000 pages, THE MANUAL is a manageable reference work, no more cumbersome than a standard collegiate dictionary.

Although, as an American, I will continue to use the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE as my arbiter for editorial decisions, I find Oxford's manual an excellent way of distinguishing between British and American styles of English; Part II (the dictionary) is especially thorough in pointing out key differences. Also, beginning on page 244 in Part I is a list of about 500 everyday American words with their British equivalents (tick-tack-toe = noughts and crosses). Although it would be nice to have the same list in reverse (an American's undershirt is a "vest" in UK, and his vest is a "waistcoat", something that is not immediately clear from the way the list is put together), the list is short enough for anyone to read through and become familiar with. (The CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE has no equivalent list.)

In short, a good and thorough resource.

I am writing my first book and want to be able to talk to the publishers with confidence and reduce their work. I may even decide to publish my book myself. The Oxford Style Manual is the only authentic book that I could find that can teach me the basics like the pats of a book, how to create them, in what order they should appear, etc. It also teaches details like punctuatio and formatting.

Even if you are not an aspiring author but just a lover of books, this book is recommendable. It gives you the ability of assessing the quality of a book.

Highly recommended.

I bought the Concise Oxford English Dictionary because I needed a dictionary that gave British English spelling and usage. For anyone wondering what I mean by "British English," the OED gives spelling, grammar, and usage used by the people of England and the U.K. and those who need to follow those rules. I already have a copy of the whole OED in reduced form, and the OED is online, but it was much easier for me to look things up quickly in the Concise version (1,681 pages, plus introductory pages).

As a word hound, I also like the several center pages: "English Uncovered" answers various questions about the English language, such as, "How many words are there in English?" and "What is the commonest word?" (there are 100), and "How is English spelling changed?" The next section, "Fascinating Words," lists and defines a variety of words, from absquatulate to zopissa. "Collective Nouns" lists, of course, collective nouns along with their meanings--from a shrewdness of apes to a herd of wrens. The section, "Imitative Words," gives those words that, well, imitate sound: bang, clip-clop, pop, and zip, for example. In "Foreign Words and Phrases" one finds, as the header says, various foreign words and phrases that "the English language has assimilated." The "Guide to Good English" covers basic rules of British English grammar and punctuation, a useful tool for discovering the differences between American rules of punctuation and British.

Along with giving the origins of the words defined, the COED puts into grey boxes how various words have changed in usage. For example, the history of the modern word "trivial" is given in the grey box following its definition: "Trivial entered Middle English from Latin trivium 'a place where three roads meet,' from tri--three and via 'road, way.' A medieval trivium was an introductory course at a university involving the study of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. In the Middle Ages seven 'liberal arts' were recognized, of which the trivium contained the lower three and the quadrivium the upper four (the 'mathematical arts' of arthrimatic, geometry, astronomy, and music). This association with elementary subjects led trivial being used to mean 'of little value or importance' from the 16th century." Others may not find this sort of thing of interest, but I find little tidbits like this fascinating, as would others interested in brief discussions of how usage changes over time.

For anyone needing a reputable, reliable, solid British English dictionary, I highly recommend the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.