The Penguin dictionary of American English usage and style : a readable reference book, illuminating thousands of traps that snare writers and speakers

Features more than one thousand primary entries, along with more than two thousand examples of questionable style and the misuse of language, providing valuable lessons for students, writers, and speakers. This book is a guide to good usage of English, the American variety, for everyone who is interested in our language and who wants to use it clearly and precisely. This book combines the virtues of unusual readability and the easy accessibility that come from being cast in A to Z form. Drawing on some two thousand true examples of misusage or questionable usage, it spotlights the traps that writers and speakers can fall into. And clearly, in plain language, it tells the proper usage and explains the principles involved. Many common questions of word usage, grammar, and punctuation are answered here.--[book jacket].