Current English Usage [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Nomral reding is a knid of hgih-spede gessuing game, wihch explians why we find it difficult to proof-raed. The raeding porcess is increbidly flexilbe and can cope with all kinds of worng infromation, such as revresed lettres, missprimts, punchuation errers and chainges in tiep font, eny of witch wood compeltely fox a comutre. But so long as sence is comming over the I bounds on. What does hold up the porcess are unfmailiar langauge consturctions, so a when of juggled the about are all sentence words the brian gets into an awful staet tyring to recnocile a snesible anticiptaed messaeg and the nonsesnical messaeg which was actaully recieved. The human mind is remarkable. It is able to make sense of garbled information in painfully mutilated messages. Yet it is obviously desirable to remove any such impediments, so that writer and reader can communicate with greater ease and clarity. That is the practical aim of this book: to provide a work of quick reference for those who wish to write good English. The entries deal with difficult points of grammar ('unfamiliar language constructions'), punctuation, style, idiom, spelling and modern usage generally. As the focus of the book is on good written English, pronunciation has not been dealt with. Very many of the entries are for quick reference. What is the plural of crisis? Is the proper spelling focussed or focused? If you want a deeper understanding, there are general entries on the principles involved. The entry at focused, for example, cross-refers to spelling, where the rule governing the spelling of past tense forms is explained. There is another type of entry. Under ambiguity, sexism in language, cliché, abstract language, etc, there is practical advice and also more reflective comments on contemporary use of and changes in English. It is worth pointing out that a work of this nature is necessarily prescriptive. The aim is to give guidance as to what is accepted as good written English by educated users of the langyage. Our task was not that of the linguist - simply to record what people do - but rather iii