Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words

A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

Bill Bryson

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English

Doubleday & Co Inc.
15 October 2004

Teaching of a specific subject

One of the English language's most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward

precise, mistake-free grammar.

As usual Bill Bryson says it best- ""English is a dazzlingly

idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully

at odds with logic and common sense. This is a language where 'cleave' can mean to

cut in half or to hold two halves together; where the simple word 'set' has 126 different

meanings as a verb, 58 as a noun, and 10 as a participial adjective; where if you

can run fast you are moving swiftly, but if you are stuck fast you are not moving

at all;

and

where 'colonel,' 'freight,' 'once,' and 'ache' are strikingly at odds

with their spellings."" As a copy editor for the London Times in the early 1980s,

Bill Bryson felt keenly the lack of an easy-to-consult, authoritative guide to avoiding

the traps and snares in English, and so he brashly suggested to a publisher that

he should write one. Surprisingly, the proposition was accepted, and for ""a sum of

money carefully gauged not to cause embarrassment or feelings of overworth,"" he proceeded

to write that book-his first, inaugurating his stellar career.

Now, a decade and

a half later, revised, updated, and thoroughly (but not overly) Americanized, it

has become Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, more than ever an essential

guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. With some

one thousand entries, from ""a, an"" to ""zoom,"" that feature real-world examples of

questionable usage from an international array of publications, and with a helpful

glossary and guide to pronunciation, this precise, prescriptive, and-because it is

written by Bill Bryson-often witty book belongs on the desk of every person who cares

enough about the language not to maul or misuse or distort it.

By: Bill Bryson
Imprint: Doubleday & Co Inc.
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 202mm, Width: 134mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 196g
ISBN: 9780767910439
ISBN 10: 0767910435
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 15 October 2004
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union's highest literary award). He was chancellor of Durham University, England's third oldest university, from 2005 to 2011, and is an honorary fellow of Britain's Royal Society.

Reviews for Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

A worthwhile addition to any writer's or editor's reference library. --Los Angeles Times [Bryson is] a world-class grammar maven. --Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times A usage book with a nice sense of differentiation. --William Safire, New York Times Magazine Bryson's erudition is evident and refreshing . . . a straightforward, concise, utilitarian guide. --Publishers Weekly