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"Abandon hopefully all ye who enter here."
"Word has somehow got around that the split infinitive is always wrong. That is a piece with the outworn notion that it is always wrong to strike a lady."
~ James Thurber
You can make a secure donation at PayPal to help support the cost of maintaining this site
"Grammar is a piano I play by ear."
~ Joan Didion
"Changing the world one apostrophe at a time."
~ Gary D. Shapiro
"English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment, and education — sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across a street."
~ E.B. White
"Everything bows to success, even grammar."
~ Victor Hugo
Quick Links
E-mail Pat
About Pat McNees (host)
DYING: A Book of Comfort
Alec Baldwin: Writers' Strike is Studios' Fault (AlterNet)
Science fiction writers support Writers Guild strike
Top 100 Classic Websites (PC Magazine)
Top 100 Undiscovered Sites (PC Magazine)
101 Best Websites for Writers (Writer's Digest, 2006)
Writer's Guild hot list
Freelancer's Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need (Codswallop)
wikiHow (the how-to manual anyone can write or edit)
Word tips and workarounds (PDF file)
Speculations advisory about PDF files
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
"No thanks, Mr. Nabokov," David Oshinsky's story on Knopf's rejection files
Why Are Women's Magazines So Much Dumber Than Men's? (Faking Good Breeding blogspot)
All the News That Seemed Unfit to Print, by Peter Carlson, Washington Post (a delightful account of the life and demise of the Weekly World News)
Writers on Writing archives (New York Times Book Review series), registration required but free
Resources for Writers (Midwest Book Review's long list of links)
Writers on Writing (the New York Times series)
Ask a reporter (NY Times reporters discuss their beats)
Internet Public Library (for when you can't find the info somewhere else)
Daylife (top news stories, up to the minute)
Front pages of newspapers from around the world (Newseum)
MediaPost(home of MediaDailyDigest)
Video Sift (finds the good YouTube links)
Liz Dubelman's VidLit "Craziest" (a must-watch for Scrabble fans--allow 8 minutes). See more examples under Marketing and Promotion
Vidlits (check out these well-told video tales, trailers for the print crowd)
Writers FM (radio by writers, for writers -- fascinating interviews!)
This American Life (great storytelling on public radio)
Watch C-SPAN2's Book tv online, weekends, or get their schedule (and much more)
Sarah's page of bargains
Great medical websites
National Do Not Call Registry (to get telemarketers to stop calling your landlines and cell phones)
Saying no to junk faxes (Baltimore Sun)
To reach a person on customer service calls
BugMeNot(bypass compulsory registration)
Saying Yes to Mess (Penelope Green, NYT, 12-21-06)
Sidebar: The Secret Order of Disorder (NY Times)
A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman
Post Secrets
Obscure Store and Reading Room
Strange News
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
The Meaning of American Pie (Don McLean's music and lyrics)
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BASIC STYLE GUIDES
To begin with, the comma: If you are writing for magazines and newspapers, you will not use the serial comma (so it will be "apples, oranges and bananas") but if you are writing for books you will (hence "apples,oranges, and bananas"). What's the best source for this kind of information on style & usage? Here are some of the staples of the editor's desk, American style (British style being different), especially the first three:
FOR GENERAL PURPOSES:
· The Chicago Manual of Style  , 15th Edition (the style Bible for books and some magazines, and there's an online edition)
· AP Style Guide (The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing in Media Law, for journalists)
· Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner ( VERY useful)
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Also useful:
· Words into Type , 3rd Edition (how a book is put together, supplements Chicago)
· Wired Style (online style guide)
· The Careful Writer by Theodore M. Bernstein, and/ or Dos, Don'ts & Maybes of English Usage
If budget allows, consider subscribing to Copy Editor: Language News for the Publishing Profession
DISCIPLINE- AND SITUATION-SPECIFIC STYLE GUIDES:
· AMA Style Guide (American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 10th Edition)
· APA Style Guide (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition), used in psychology and the social sciences
· Apple Style Guide (excellent free style guide for software documentation and other technical writing)
· CBE Manual, Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers , Council of Biology Editors
· CSE Manual, Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, Council of Science Editors
· The Economist Style Guide
· The Elements of Legal Style by Bryan A. Garner
· Global English Style Guide: Writing Clear, Translatable Documentation for a Global Market, by John R. Kohl
· Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences , published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; helpful on math typography and style questions
· IEEE Computer Society Style Guide, online
· MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing , 2nd Edition (used in English and the humanities)
· Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications , explains a convention, then lists correct and incorrect examples of it
· Numbers Guide: The Essentials of Business Numeracy by Richard Stutely
· Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry , from Sun Technical Publications
· Religion Stylebook, online
· Wikipedia Manual of Style
CONSIDER ALSO, FOR THE FULLER LIBRARY:
· Mathematics into Type , updated, by Ellen Swanson, Arlene O'Sean, Antoinette Schleyer (American Mathematical Society)
· Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style , by Virginia Tufte
· Style: Toward Clarity and Grace , by Joseph M. Williams (on the internal logic of effective writing)
Wendalyn Nichols of Copyediting Newsletter (note that the publication has made "copyediting" one word now) turns to dictionaries for people learning English to find the proper collocation for prepositions--words that "go with" other words, that co-locate in identifiable patterns. Her example: "X is a comfort to Y" is correct, and "X is a comfort for Y" is not, but sometimes what "sounds right" will be different for Brits and for Americans. The books she refers to when checking out collocators can often be found where ESL (English as a second language) is taught:
· The Cambridge Dictionary of American English
· The Longman Advanced Dictionary of American English
· The Macmillan English Dictionary
· The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary
I've provided links to some style "crib sheets" to get you going while you wait for those books you ordered to come. Nothing worse than having a deadline and not knowing how to do your commas or references, and not knowing the difference between when to use "caretaker" (when you're taking care of property) and when to use "caregiver" (when you're taking care of someone who's ill).
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ONLINE STYLE GUIDES
Age Beat survey on style (phrases aging people hate)
Apple style guide (excellent style guide for technical publications, related to computers), free PDF download
AP style via FreelanceStarCompany (Associated Press, for articles)
APA style resources (crib sheets)
BBC News Styleguide, useful for current British usage
British vs. American spelling (Jones)
Chicago Manual of Style Q&A (free, but not complete)
Chicago Manual of Style, online (not free)
Chicago style citation quick guide
Differences between British and American English (English as a second language)
Differences between various forms of English spelling (Wikipedia)
Documentation Guide (Purdue, Owl)
Economist style guide
Electronic style (George H. Hoemann, dated)
IEEE Computer Society Style Guide, online
Microsoft Manual of Style (400 pages) free PDF
MLA Formatting and Style Guide (OWL)
MLA style crib sheet (Abel Scribe)
Plain English handbook (Securities & Exchange Commission)
Religion Stylebook, Religion Newswriters
Urban Dictionary (helpful with really current slang!s
Web Style Guide, 2nd ed. (Patrick Lynch and Sarah Horton)
Wikipedia Manual of Style
Writing headlines for Google and e-media, by Steffen Fjaervik, Poynter online
William Safire's Great Rules of Writing
Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
GRAMMAR AND STYLE WEBSITES, QUIZZES, EXERCISES
Ask the English Teacher (Crawford Kilian, and check his excellent links)
ACES interactive online quizzes
***Capital Community College's excellent Guide to Grammar & Writing
***Council of Science Editors’excellent links for wordsmiths
Do you have what it takes to join the Word Police? Barbara Wallraff (requires registering with Atlantic online)
Do you make these mistakes when you write? (Copyblogger)
Edit Yourself (Bruce Ross-Larson & Co.)
Elements of Style (Strunk & White) (beware banner ads)
Englishforums.com (learn English with online help from volunteer teachers all over the world)
Five grammatical errors that make you look dumb, by Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
Fuzzmail (silly fun for the typo-aware)
Grammar Bytes! interactive grammar review (active learning exercises)
Grammar exercises (OWL)
Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tricks for Better Writing
Grammar Police
Grammar Hotline Directory (by state)
Grammar Slammer
Guide to Grammar and Style (Jack Lynch--very handy!)
Hit Parade of Errors in Style, Grammar, and Punctuation (University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre)
Links for writers (Northwestern University)
Newsroom training (no train, no gain)
Nonsexist language (U of Minnesota)
Online English grammar (EduFind)
Online grammar tutorials (Englishpage.com)
Online technical writing course (David A. McMurrey)
Grammar, punctuation, and spelling
Passive voice (Bartleby, on when its use might be called for)
Plainlanguage.gov
Poynteronline writing and editing tips
Pronunciation links (Karen's ESL Partyland)
The Tongue Untied (guide to grammar, punctuation & style for journalists--turn the pages!)
Resources for ESL students (students for whom English is a second language)
Schoolhouse Rock (grammar songs to music, such as "Pack Up Your Adjectives"), good for enlivening a lesson maybe!
Self-study quizzes for students of ESL
Slip-ups archive (errors in books, bloopers in movies and on tv)
Spelling test (Mindy McAdams' test, using 50 commonly misspelled words)
Starting a sentence with a conjunction (and, but, etc.)
Style guide for technical writing (Ronald B. Standler)
Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See But Can Easily Fix (Holt Uncensored)
Tips on writing and editing (Poynter)
Triangle grammar guide (Pam Nelson's blog on use and misuse of language)
You Don't Say — Language and Usage Blog (John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun)
DICTIONARIES AND DICTIONARY-STYLE REFERENCES
Do not assume that a reference work is good because it's called Webster's or Roget's. Those labels are public domain now, so anyone can use them.
AskOxford.com (Oxford English dictionary)
A-Z list of English idioms
Bartleby, reference books online, free
Buzzwhack (demystifying buzzwords)
Financial terminology and other quizzes (for ESL students, about.com)
Glossary of spiritual and religious terms
Grammars and Language Corners in many languages--great links at YourDictionary.com
Hutchinson dictionary of difficult words (from literati to verbigerative)
100 most commonly mispelled (oops misspelled) words in English (yourdictionary.com)
100 most often mispronounced words and phrases in English (yourdictionary.com)
Online dictionaries
Plain Language Offenders (and simple words to replace them)
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, at Bartleby's
Trademark checklist (International Trademark Association)
Urban dictionary (slang terms)
The Visual Dictonary (infovisual.info) Click on arrows to change volumes (vegetal biology, animal biology, human body, music, transport, clothing).
Visual Dictionary Online (Merriam-Webster) Search within 15 themes.
**Visualizing data (fabulous site)
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FOR EDITORS ONLY
Assignment Editor (home page, with links, for newsroom)
Bechtel, The Editor's Desk (blog)
Bob Baker's Newsthinking
A Capital Idea (a newspaper copyeditor's blog)
Copy Editing Resources (American Press Institute, excellent links)
Copy Editor (a newsletter and job board), pricey but good
Editorial Eye (eei press)(a sampler of articles)
**E-resources for copy editors (Sonia Jaffe Robbins, NYU)
Headsup: The Blog
Organizations and resources for editors
Regret the Error reports on media corrections, retractions, apologies, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the press
The Slot (Bill Walsh, Washington Post)
The Purist
I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist.
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."
~ Ogden Nash
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A GREAT READ
Book publishing
Editors and editing
Ethics, rights, and other issues
General
GREAT SEARCH LINKS
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Writers and creators
Specialty writing, from children's books to sportswriting
Groups for writers who specialize in animals, children's books, food, gardens, family history, resumes, sports, travel, Webwriting, and wine (etc.)
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