Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Grammar/style guides

One of my online students feels she's lacking in the basics and asked me which books I recommended she read.

Here's my short list:

Elements of Style by Strunk and White

Spunk & Bite by Art Plotnik, a great follow-up to Elements

Woe is I
and Words Fail Me by Patricia O'Connor

And if you're interested in writing fiction, Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway and Ron Carlson's Ron Carlson Writes a Story would make for a great beginning.

What are your recommendations?

6 comments:

Jim Murdoch said...

I still fall back on my Collins COBUILD English Grammar. What I like about it is that it lives up the blurb on the cover. It uses real English examples to illustrate the points it is making. After each section there are as many as a half-dozen examples of what they are saying and they usually make more sense than the paragraphs they follow.

Dwight's Writing Manifesto said...

I love the Grammargirl podcasts.

avb said...

The AP (Associated Press) Style Book. It's my bible.

Nicholas Borelli said...

I would also recommend "The Chicago Manual of Style." I find it comprehensive and invaluable.

Best and Merry Christmas, Barbara.

Nick

AmericanCat said...

I tell all my students to read, read, read and just pay close attention to the wording. Some of it just sinks in without formally learning all the rules. Also, I agree with Dwight-grammar girl is a lot of fun and she also has a website which is helpful.

AmyC said...

Elements of Style is my favorite, but Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a great one too.

http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038/ref=pd_sim_b_img_12