This entertaining and informative handbook deals with hundreds of difficult or misunderstood words-pairs and groups of words which are troublesome, misused, or abused. Drawing on a lifetime love affair with words, teacher, scholar, and professional communicator Robert Oliver Shipman explains their difficulty or confused use in clear, concise prose, identifies their parts of speech, defines their meanings, and illustrates their correct use through witty and humorous examples. A Pun My Word shows that words can be used with both the preciseness of a surgeon and the wittiness of a jester. A Writer's Digest Book Club Selection.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This prescriptive, somewhat old-fashioned handbook on usage emphasizes correct word choice ( compose / comprise / con sist /include , decimate / demolish / destroy , ob scenity / profanity / vulgarity ) and warns against confusion ( mendacity / mendicity , loath / loathe, tortuous / torturous ) . However, hair / heir , voyageur / voyeur, immu nity / impunity hardly need clearing up. Some entries are not well explained (the difference between journey and voyage , for example), and some rely too much on a knowledge of grammar (clauses, case, verbals), although a glossary of terms helps. Using characters such as Luke Warm, Ava Rice, and Tab Lloyd, this book is fun, if a bit sexist, but it is not complete enough to be a good reference.
- Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Sure to be a word-lover's delight, Shipman's contribution to popular lexicology is a book-length variation upon that curiously gratifying chapter of Strunk and White's infamous ^RElements of Style, Misused Words and Expressions^I. (Booklist )
Shipman has an easy way of explaining word usage. (Donald F. Brod )
^RA Pun My Word^I, a simple and practical word guide to English, is the way to review-and have some fun along the way....'Now I understand,' you'll say, reading the clever, tongue-in-cheek examples. You'll recognize words and expressions you've used interchangeably-and wrongly! (Writer's Digest Book Club Bulletin )
...a superb guide to the intricacies of the language....provides clear distinctions between and among confusing words but does so in a light and often humorous manner. Such a book is especially useful to journalism students, and even practicing journalists... (John C. Merrill )
...a sophisticated yet practical guide to the many common confusions of English usage, leavened with uncommon wit.... (Joan Konner )
^RA Pun My Word^I educates with humor and charm.... (Jane F. Earley )
This reference should be on the desks of journalists, students, and all of us who remain concerned with the nuances of language. (James R. Boylan )
...useful for writers who want a quick, conservative, ready-reference source to help them choose the right word from confusables of various kinds. (American Reference Books Annual )
The book consists of hundreds of clear explanations of the most troubling of English uses and misuses....explanations aren't easily found in dictionaries without looking up at least two words and then combing through multiple definitions. ^RA Pun My Word^I makes quick work of such forays into accuracy. (Quill and Scroll )
Shipman has an easy way of explaining word usage. (Donald F. Brod )
^RA Pun My Word^I, a simple and practical word guide to English, is the way to review-and have some fun along the way....'Now I understand,' you'll say, reading the clever, tongue-in-cheek examples. You'll recognize words and expressions you've used interchangeably-and wrongly! (Writer's Digest Book Club Bulletin )
...a superb guide to the intricacies of the language....provides clear distinctions between and among confusing words but does so in a light and often humorous manner. Such a book is especially useful to journalism students, and even practicing journalists... (John C. Merrill )
...a sophisticated yet practical guide to the many common confusions of English usage, leavened with uncommon wit.... (Joan Konner )
^RA Pun My Word^I educates with humor and charm.... (Jane F. Earley )
This reference should be on the desks of journalists, students, and all of us who remain concerned with the nuances of language. (James R. Boylan )
...useful for writers who want a quick, conservative, ready-reference source to help them choose the right word from confusables of various kinds. (American Reference Books Annual )
The book consists of hundreds of clear explanations of the most troubling of English uses and misuses....explanations aren't easily found in dictionaries without looking up at least two words and then combing through multiple definitions. ^RA Pun My Word^I makes quick work of such forays into accuracy. (Quill and Scroll )
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