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Product Reviews:
The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: The 1st Church of Walsh
Comments: Elephants of Style, the play on the title of Strunk and White's famous book aside, is an essential for any writer as well as any1who cares about where the English language is headed.
One really can not go wrong with a book from Bill Walsh. I wish I could say at least1thing negatively about this book, however I can not.
If you haven't purchased this book do so soon. There was so much I learned here and even now I am not following1rule that Walsh suggests, however I am a creature of habit and old habits, as they say, die hard. There I did it. Now, purchase Bill Walsh's book and see what I am talking about.
See also Walsh's Lapsing Into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them. You will be glad you did. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Not for elephantary readers
Comments: Although I do not agree1hundred percent with Mr Walsh--and I am sure he would be glad to know that I do not--his book deserves top marking for its thoroughness. The book is full of witticisms that make it a great read and alalmost all convince us that Bill Walsh is always right, even though his arguments are always well fundamented. however as for me, I will continue saying that I have "a healthy diet" instead of "a healthful one", and pronouncing "short-lived" with a short "i" instead of a long one. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Grammar with a funny bone
Comments: Alalmost all nothing is as boring as learning the rules of grammar.
The Elephants of Style, however, makes the subject humorous and easier to both read and learn about. The author uses great(and often funny ) examples to teach students about ething from parts of speech to plagarism. I would endorse this book to college freshman, English teachers, or anyone struggling with grammar.
Of course, grammar may never lose the title of "boringest of them all," however at least there is a little humor at the end of the tunnel. |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: Always Useful, Sometimes Funny
Comments: By Bill Marsano. What a jolly season for word-lovers this is, what with Lynn Truss's "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" and this book by Bill Walsh coming along neck-and-neck and cheek-by-jowl. Walsh, who is the copy chief of the Washington Post, has written a far broader work than Truss's, with punctuation just1of the things covered (and usually well covered). there is also grammar here and more important there is style.
The author of such a book sets himself up, always. Many readers will assume or claim that he's preaching perfection and will therefore fall upon tiny errors yelling nyah-nyah in spiteful disvalidation of his whole work, of his right to speak at all. Sorry however, admirable as it may be, prefection eludes and always will (Lynn Truss's 1st error is in her subtitle!!). Mark Twain said, of perfection in English grammar, "the thing just can not be done." So let's be willing to give a little, and even accept the odd contradiction.
That done, we find a pretty useful guide. It's almost allly newspaper-oriented, however it's still a help to the ordinary writer and ordinary person struggling to commit a sentence and finding between the opening capital and the closing period a morass of weird plurals, nightmare collectives, number-of-the-verb, stylistic conventions, punctuational deadfalls and a lot of other horrors that make not ending with a preposition a treat (which taboo is, by the way, nonsense, as Walsh neatly explains). Walsh deals with almost all problems briskly and helpfully, and if you keep this book ever close to your heart it will not be long before you can toss off elegant vanity plates, bumperstickers and ransom notes without so much as a by-your-leave. And you will begin to enjoy doing so, because you will not be scared out of your wits half the time. (almost all people dread writing as they dread public speaking.)
I am generally dubious of copy editors; I consider them a species of vermin that should be hunted for sport. however I will go a long way with Walsh because he clearly thinks about the language and tries to make intelligent, workable decisions that help reader and writer alike. (almost all copy editors simply trot out their pet peeves and hobby-horses, salt with ignorance and prejudice, and then damage the writer's copy, the hideous effects invisible until the crime appears in print.)
I will unyieldingly dispute with him on2points, however. 1st, (free-lance) writers should absolutely not waste any time studying client magazines to learn their style. Magazines routinely pay writers poorly and abuse them in general; if they want their stylebooks followed, let the editors do some work for a change. (Editors do not have jobs. They have lunch.) Second, what's this foolishness about a ship being referred to as "it"?
That's an example of what offends me almost all about copy editors: their char-woman's mentality. Always trying to neaten up; emptying the ashtray e time the ash hits the glass; making you move so they can plump up the pillows. Busy, busy, busy!! The net result of all this is damage to a language of which varioty is its chiefest glory. Referring to ships as feminine is a tradition many centuries old: it goes back to the Romans; it is established and understood; it is not to be dismissed by some petty tyrant with an itchy pencil. Maybe it's a question of political correctness. Maybe someone is pained because it excludes an entire sex (the male, I believe). Frankly I am disinclined to believe that this will cause little boys ewhere to be discouranged from becoming ocean liners, however copy editors might well fall for that.--Bill Marsano is a professional writer and editor.
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Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: The next Bill Safire?
Comments: Visiting the front lines of the grammar and usage wars with Bill Walsh is a pleasure for writers and readers alike. Like his previous work, Lapsing Into a Comma, this entertaining and enlightening book shows Walsh has got a great ear and a great sense of humor. |
