The Handbook of Good English by Edward D. Johnson

When a baby just learns a language, he talks byunderstanding of the problems of a struggling
putting words one after the other without thinkingwriter or a copy editor. In the beginning of the
about style, usage, expression, or grammar.'Grammar' section, he explains why he added the
Sometimes, the novice writer does the sameglossary/index. "It is often difficult for those who
thing, too.do not know the name of the error they may be
Yet, good writing and a good command of thecommitting to find the discussion of that error in a
English language deserves much better than that.reference book. I have done my best to reduce
The good news is this can be learned from booksthis difficulty by careful listings in the Glossary
such as The Handbook of Good English .Index, but the reader may have to do some
True, many texts on the subject have made it toskimming of the rules and their discussions. To
print after Strunk and White's The Elements ofhelp the skimming eye, I have subdivided the
Style, but most books on the market satisfy alonger discussions, and when possible I have
writer's needs only partially; others are too heavybegun paragraphs with examples of specific
or too thick to keep on the desk or to carryconstructions that may match the reader's
around in an overnight bag. Some offerproblem."
complicated answers, and others do not keep upEdward D. Johnson, the author of this book, was
with the changes in usage and language.born in 1935. After graduating from Exeter and
First published as The Washington Square PressHarvard, he worked as a book editor. His books
Handbook of Good English, The Handbook ofare: The Handbook of Good English; Francis Bacon
Good English offers everything other books do,of St. Albans; The first folio of Shake-speare,
as well as keeping up with the changes in usageFrancis Bacon's maze- Being a demonstration of
and expression. Hailed as the copy editor's rightthe sixth line word cipher in the first folio of the
hand, it gives clear answers with examples to the"Shakespeare" plays; Shakespeare Illusion;
trickiest problems.Shakespearian Acrostics- A Demonstration Of
The book is divided into four major parts:The Marginal Words In The First Folio Of Mr.
GrammarWilliam Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories And
PunctuationTragedies; The fictitious Shakespeare exposed;
How to Style Written English: MiscellaneousThe Shakespeare quiz- Or 100 questions for the
MechanicsStratfordians to answer; Francis Bacon versus
Beyond the Sentence: Diction and Composition.Lord Macaulay; Don Adriana's letter; Francis
At the end, it offers a 131 page Glossary/IndexBacon's cypher signatures; The mystery of the
for quick reference of the material in the abovefirst folio of the "Shakespeare" plays;
sections.Bacon-Shakespeare coincidences; Are you
The book is highly informative, practical, easilyinterested in "Shakespeare"?; A short history of
readable and understandable, and quitethe Stratford "Shakespeare" monument;
comprehensive. The author covers all potentialShake-spears sonnets.
combinations and problems in grammar and usage.The Handbook of Good English is in paperback and
Even though allowing exceptions to archaic rules432 pages with ISBN-10: 0671707973and ISBN-13:
and being much more tolerant than uptight978-0671707972.
grammarians, the author points out to good solidThis book needs to be read from cover to cover,
rules. In addition to these rules, he shows the waydigested well, and then kept on the writer's desk
to a more expressive style and persuasive formfor quick reference. As a must-have book, it will
of writing.definitely improve any novice or slightly
The author must have gained an in-depthexperienced writer's performance.