Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right
by Bill Bryson

Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right
List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $6.97
You Save: $5.98 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Bill Bryson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-14
ISBN: 0767910435
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Broadway

Book Reviews of Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

Book Review: Fun to read, and a good reference
Summary: 4 Stars

This book is a light, fun read for people who enjoy the nuances of the English language and maybe would like to become better readers/writers/editors. I always have this book handy when I'm making editing corrections at work. While I don't consult it regularly, it has definitely clarified three or four things that I couldn't find explained clearly or concisely enough on the internet. Also, someone wrote a review about this book and claimed that it was obsolete because you can find everything that Bill writes about explained somewhere online. This may be true, but Bill's writing style is interesting, concise, thorough, and written colloquially enough to be easy to digest-- so you're more likely to retain this nuanced information of usages than trying to locate these things somewhere else.

Summary of Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right

One of the English language's most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.

As usual Bill Bryson says it best: "English is a dazzlingly idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully at odds with logic and common sense. This is a language where 'cleave' can mean to cut in half or to hold two halves together; where the simple word 'set' has 126 different meanings as a verb, 58 as a noun, and 10 as a participial adjective; where if you can run fast you are moving swiftly, but if you are stuck fast you are not moving at all; [and] where 'colonel,' 'freight,' 'once,' and 'ache' are strikingly at odds with their spellings." As a copy editor for the London Times in the early 1980s, Bill Bryson felt keenly the lack of an easy-to-consult, authoritative guide to avoiding the traps and snares in English, and so he brashly suggested to a publisher that he should write one. Surprisingly, the proposition was accepted, and for "a sum of money carefully gauged not to cause embarrassment or feelings of overworth," he proceeded to write that book-his first, inaugurating his stellar career.

Now, a decade and a half later, revised, updated, and thoroughly (but not overly) Americanized, it has become Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, more than ever an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. With some one thousand entries, from "a, an" to "zoom," that feature real-world examples of questionable usage from an international array of publications, and with a helpful glossary and guide to pronunciation, this precise, prescriptive, and-because it is written by Bill Bryson-often witty book belongs on the desk of every person who cares enough about the language not to maul or misuse or distort it.


From the Hardcover edition.

Synonyms & Antonyms Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in The English Language
Writings from The New Yorker 1927-1976 ImageWritings from The New Yorker 1927-1976
by E. B. White
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.68
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Elements of Style Illustrated ImageThe Elements of Style Illustrated
by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2005-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Elements of Style (Unabridged) ImageThe Elements of Style (Unabridged)
by White, William, E. B. Strunk
audible.com; Audio Download; Book
Best price: $16.25
Price in other shops: $30.95
Dictionary of Homonyms (Wordsworth Reference) (Wordsworth Reference) ImageDictionary of Homonyms (Wordsworth Reference) (Wordsworth Reference)
by David Rothwell
Wordsworth Editions Ltd; Published: 2007-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $7.99
The Universal Journalist - Second Edition ImageThe Universal Journalist - Second Edition
by David Randall
Pluto Press; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.25
Price in other shops: $20.95
Linguistic Minimalism: Origins, Concepts, Methods, and Aims (Oxford Linguistics) ImageLinguistic Minimalism: Origins, Concepts, Methods, and Aims (Oxford Linguistics)
by Cedric Boeckx
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-11-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.79
Price in other shops: $39.95
Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language ImageDeath Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language
by Don Watson
Gotham; Published: 2006-05-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $13.00
Quite literally: Problem words and how to use them ImageQuite literally: Problem words and how to use them
by Wynford Hicks
Routledge; Published: 2004-07-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $24.00
Lexical Priming: A new theory of words and language ImageLexical Priming: A new theory of words and language
by Michael Hoey
Routledge; Published: 2005-06-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.29
Price in other shops: $45.95
American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds ImageAmerican Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds
by James Maguire
Rodale Books; Published: 2006-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.89
Price in other shops: $24.95
Similar Books and other products
In a Sunburned Country ImageIn a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2001-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.68
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir ImageThe Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2006-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.65
Price in other shops: $25.00
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away ImageI'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2000-06-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops: $14.95
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe ImageNeither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson
Harper Perennial; Published: 1999-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.17
Price in other shops: $14.95
Bill Bryson's African Diary ImageBill Bryson's African Diary
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2002-12-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.21
Price in other shops: $12.00
Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors ImageBryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: $22.00
Made in America ImageMade in America
by Bill Bryson
Harper Perennial; Published: 1996-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $14.95
Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Eminent Lives) ImageShakespeare: The World as Stage (Eminent Lives)
by Bill Bryson
Eminent Lives; Published: 2007-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: $19.95
The Mother Tongue ImageThe Mother Tongue
by Bill Bryson
Harper Perennial; Published: 1991-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops: $14.95
A Short History of Nearly Everything ImageA Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2004-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $16.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories