Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words

A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

Paperback, 256 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 2004 by Broadway.

ISBN:
978-0-7679-1043-9
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OCLC Number:
48256093

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One of the English language's most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.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 …

20 editions

Subjects

  • Vocabulary
  • Reference
  • Vocabulary Development
  • Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Language
  • Usage
  • Dictionaries - Synonyms/Antonyms
  • Language Arts & Disciplines / Vocabulary
  • Dictionaries - General
  • Dictionaries
  • English language