Benjamin Dreyer (Random
House, 2019)
One day I'm going to
write a review consisting solely of large chunks from the book,
because the writing is just so damned sprightly. I don't think this
is that day, but it wouldn't be a bad one to choose. Benjamin Dreyer,
in his capacity as the Copy Chief at Random House, has made the world
a better place by cleaning up the prose of innumerable writers. He
knows a good sentence from a bad one, and he has written a beautiful,
witty book about how to tell the difference.
"A good sentence, I
find myself saying frequently, is one that the reader can follow from
beginning to end, no matter how long it is, without having to double
back in confusion because the writer misused or omitted a key piece
of punctuation, chose a vague or misleading pronoun, or in some other
way engaged in inadvertent misdirection."
The book is mostly a
catalog of misdirections Dreyer has known. He hastens to say that
it's not actually comprehensive; you still need The Chicago Manual
of Style "whose edicts I don't always agree with but whose
definitive bossiness is, in its way, comforting," and
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, in addition to
a few good dictionaries.
But what a catalog! Under
"Notes on Proper Nouns", under "Colombia", this:
"South American country. Two o's. Columbia, with a u, is,
among other things, a New York university, a recording company, a
Hollywood movie studio, the District also known as Washington, the
Gem of the Ocean, and the female representation of the United
States." 'Among other things?' Seriously? Nice.
You will find at least a
few things you didn't know in that chapter, as you might in "Notes
on Easily Misspelled Words" and "The Confusables."
Some of you, though, spoiling for an argument, will turn directly to
"Peeves and Crotchets." "The thing is, everyone's
peeves and crotchets are different. People who couldn't care less
about 'could care less' will, faced with the use of 'impact' as a
verb, geschrei the house down, and that mob that sees fifty shades of
red, scarlet, and carmine over the relatively newfangled use of 'begs
the question' to mean 'raises the question' may well pass by a
'comprised of' without so much as batting an eye."
Some entries ("Based
off of") get "No. Just no." Some get "I don't
think that's asking a lot." Others get "Move on already,"
or, at greater length: "As to people who object to supermarket
express-lane signs reading '10 items or less'? On the one hand, I
hear you. On the other hand, get a hobby. Maybe flower arranging, or
decoupage." Good writers avoid some expressions because they're
wrong, and others because people will come running to tell them that
they're wrong.
That same mob of peevers
and pedants are the indirect subject of the chapter on "Rules
and Nonrules," such as 'Never End a Sentence with a
Preposition,' and 'Contractions Aren't Allowed in Formal Writing.'
"Why are they nonrules? So far as I'm concerned, because they're
largely unhelpful, pointlessly constricting, feckless, and useless.
Also because they're generally of dubious origin: devised out of thin
air, then passed on till they've gained respectable solidarity and,
ultimately, have ossified." All good reasons.
No matter how many books
on usage you already have, you want this one. It's funny; it's
timely; it's authoritative, but in a way that keeps the conversation
going. Dreyer again, by way of conclusion: "There's no rule
without an exception (well, mostly), there's no thought without an
afterthought (at least for me), there's always something you meant to
say but forgot to say. There's no last word, only the next word."
And thank Goodness for it.
Published by email,
Any Good Books, April 2019
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