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Information about Fowler's Modern English Usage

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, often referred to as Fowler's Modern English Usage or simply as Fowler's, is a style guide to British English usage, written by Henry W. Fowler, and first published in 1926. Modern English Usage covers in detail many issues of usage, pronunciation, and style, from plurals and literary techniques to distinctions between similar words and the usage of foreign terms. The guide set the standard for all usage books to follow, and as such its first edition remains in print even though more recent editions exist.

The second edition, published in 1965, was a light revision by Sir Ernest Gowers, updating and contributing to the existing text, while removing articles "no longer relevant to [current] literary fashions."

Robert Burchfield edited the third edition. Its preface explains that while "Fowler's name remains on the title-page, ... his book has been largely rewritten." This third edition can best be understood as a shift from prescriptive to descriptive linguistics; the criticism it has received is perhaps in part due to the popularity of earlier editions with proponents of prescriptive linguistics.
  • First edition, 1926 (reprinted in 2003, see References).
  • Second edition, 1965, edited by Sir Ernest Gowers, paperback edition with corrections 1983.
  • Third edition, 1996 (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage).

See also

Similar works

References

  • Fowler, Henry; Winchester, Simon (introduction) (2003 reprint). A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series). Oxford Press. ISBN 0-19-860506-4.
  • Burchfield, R. W. (Editor); Fowler, H. W. (1996). The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-869126-2.
  • Nicholson, Margaret (1957). A Dictionary of American-English Usage Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage. Signet, by arrangement with Oxford University Press.
Style guides (or style manuals) are prevalent for general and specialized usage, for the general reading and writing audience, and for students and scholars of the various academic disciplines, medicine, journalism, the law, government, business, and industry.
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British English (BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere in the Anglophone world.
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Henry Watson Fowler (10 March 1858 – 26 December 1933) was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of English. He is notable for both Fowler's Modern English Usage and his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
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This article has been tagged since September 2007.

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A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader.

Elements of fiction

Literary techniques are important aspects of an author's style, which is one of the five elements of fiction
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Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE (2 June1880–16 April 1966) was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.
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Robert William Burchfield CNZM CBE (January 27, 1923 - July 5, 2004) was a scholar, writer, and lexicographer.

Born in Wanganui, New Zealand, he studied at Victoria University in Wellington and, later, at Magdalen College, Oxford University in England on a Rhodes
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In linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used. These rules can cover such topics as standards for spelling and grammar or syntax; or rules for what is deemed socially or politically correct.
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The of this article or section may be compromised by "weasel words".
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English grammar series
English grammar
  • Disputes in English grammar
  • English verbs

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Elegant variation is a phrase coined by Henry Watson Fowler to refer to the unnecessary use of synonyms to mean a single thing. In Modern English Usage (1926) he wrote:


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The Elements of Style ("Strunk & White") is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage in the United States.
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William Strunk, Jr. (July 1, 1869, Cincinnati, Ohio—September 26, 1946, Ithaca, New York) was Professor of English at Cornell University and is best known as the author of the first editions of The Elements of Style, a best-selling guide to English usage.
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Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York – October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist.
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The Chicago Manual of Style (abbreviated in writing as CMS or CMOS, or, verbally, as Chicago) is a style guide for American English published by the University of Chicago Press, prescribing a writing style widely used in publishing.
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American English (AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US), also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States.
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markup.

For generic discussions of markup in various contexts, see:
  • Markup language — a type of language that describes a document's formatting
  • Markup (business) — a term for the increase in the price of goods to create a profit margin for a business.

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Plain Words is a style guide for British English written in 1948 by Sir Ernest Gowers, and expanded and reissued in 1954 as The Complete Plain Words (ISBN 0-14-051199-7).
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Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE (2 June1880–16 April 1966) was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.
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