The best-selling guide to English usage. This new, expanded eighth edition of the best-selling guide to style is based on The Economist's own house style manual, and is an invaluable companion for everyone who wants to communicate with the clarity, style and precision for which The Economist is renowned. As the introduction says, 'clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought.' THE STYLE GUIDE gives general advice on writing, points out common errors and cliches, offers guidance on consistent use of punctuation, abbreviations and capital letters, and contains an exhaustive range of reference material - covering everything from accountancy ratios and stock market indices to laws of nature and science. Some of the numerous useful rules and common mistakes pointed out in the guide include: * Which informs, that defines. This is the house that Jack built. But This house, which Jack built, is now falling down. * Discreet means circumspect or prudent; discrete means separate or distinct.Remember that "Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are" (Oscar Wilde). * Fortuitous means accidental, not fortunate or well-timed.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Ripple
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a great publication and should be on the shelf of anyone who writes for a living. IMHO it is not as good as the sporadic FT Style Guide, but that seems to come and go out of print very quickly. This is a worthy alternative.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Mitch
Format:Hardcover
I own 2 editions of this book, the first from 1986.
The later version has more reference material than the first but I was a tad disappointed by the lower quality paper used in this version.
That said, this is a great book for anyone who has to write reports or essays and clarifies many grammatical problems, something to which I am emminently prone.
You will also find this to be a valuable general reference book!
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Snavvy
Format:Hardcover
Unfortunately, the Economist Style guide adopts some conventions that make language less precise, not more so.
For example, it discourages the use of commas in sentences that contain a series of items (a practice that introduces ambiguity into such sentences).
It exhorts
"Do not put a comma before and at the end of a sequence of items unless one of the items includes another and. Thus The doctor suggested an aspirin, half a grapefruit and a cup of broth. But he ordered scrambled eggs, whisky and soda, and a selection from the trolley."
This practice introduces ambiguity as to whether the last two items of a series are actually a group item (as is normally indicated by the conjunction "and") or to whether they are two independent items in the series. Punctuation is meant to reduce ambiguity; this practice espoused by the Economist serves to increase ambiguity.
In short, it panders to language laziness and cultural conventions even when those conventions degrade linguistic precision. This lessens its worth as a style guide.
For example, it discourages the use of commas in sentences that contain a series of items (a practice that introduces ambiguity into such sentences).
It exhorts
"Do not put a comma before and at the end of a sequence of items unless one of the items includes another and. Thus The doctor suggested an aspirin, half a grapefruit and a cup of broth. But he ordered scrambled eggs, whisky and soda, and a selection from the trolley."
This practice introduces ambiguity as to whether the last two items of a series are actually a group item (as is normally indicated by the conjunction "and") or to whether they are two independent items in the series. Punctuation is meant to reduce ambiguity; this practice espoused by the Economist serves to increase ambiguity.
In short, it panders to language laziness and cultural conventions even when those conventions degrade linguistic precision. This lessens its worth as a style guide.
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