Unlike most books I review, I can't claim to have read all of this book. A solid foundation for understanding the rules of English Grammar, but tough sledding in places. Not something to pick up looking for a simple "How do I ..." guide. ( )

NA

I can relate to the various reviews offered so far particularly in relation to the English language developing and changing, sometimes for the better, but IMHO, a lot of the time for the worse.
However . . .
Beside my bed is A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler. When I haven't a book on the go I find dipping into Fowler fascinating. Open it anywhere and you find erudite commentary, acerbic criticism and witty comparisons, all expressed in perfect English. Some of the articles are an absolute delight to read.

The world would be a far happier place if we all just buckled down and accepted Fowler as being infallible.

Back in the early 2000s, the software company I worked at had some unused books left over from a project, including a late printing of the first edition of H. W. Fowler’s *A Dictionary of Modern English Usage,* first published Great Britain in 1926. So I snagged it. As David Crystal says in his introduction to this new Oxford World’s Classics reprint, Fowler “writes with an attractive frankness, passion, and sincerity, so that even when we disagree with him we recognize that here is someone who has the best of intentions toward the wellbeing of the language. The impression he gives is of an endearingly eccentric, schoolmasterly character, driven at times to exasperation by the infelicities of his wayward pupils, but always wanting the best for them and hoping to provide the best guidance for them in a world where society and language are undergoing rapid change....We encounter entries which display a vivid and imaginative turn of phrase, especially to express his mock-suffering in the face of bad usage.” To a certain kind of reader, one who adores the English language and has a relationship with it akin to one’s relationship with a sibling, Fowler is a lot of fun. That many of the entries are out of date and may never have applied well to American usage at all only adds to the fascination. After over ninety years, you should consult this book to learn how to think about everyday language issues and not necessarily for guidance that you can apply. As an example of Fowler’s tone and approach, here is the opening of his article on *Pedantry:* “Pedantry may be defined…as the saying of things in language so learned or so demonstratively accurate as to imply a slur against the generality, who are not capable or not desirous of such displays. The term, then, is obviously a relative one; my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone’s else’s ignorance. It is therefore not very profitable to dogmatize here on the subject; an essay would establish not what pedantry is, but only the place in the scale occupied by the author…”

The Oxford World’s Classic reprint (dirt cheap at £9.99 or US$17.95; I got it at half price during Oxford University Press’s annual holiday sale) features a fascimile of the entire book, plus the introduction by Crystal and an appendix of his notes on the entries, which are hit and miss: sometimes he notes how the language has since changed and sometimes he only wants to point a finger and call Fowler’s opinion strange or ridiculous. Overall, the notes are interesting enough to make this edition the one to get. ( )