How Not to Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar

by William Safire

Book Overview

How Not to Write is a wickedly witty book about grammar, usage, and style. William Safire, the author of the New York Times Magazine column On Language, homes in on the essential misrules of grammar, those mistakes that call attention to the major rules and regulations of writing. He tells you the correct way to write and then tells you when it is all right to break the rules. In this lighthearted guide, he chooses the most common and perplexing concerns...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039332723X
• ISBN13: 9780393327236
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.8" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Clever Beyond Words

Safire's little booklet is never boring and always educational. In a day and age where bloggers run amog without grammatical concern, Safire pinpoints both the richness and exactness of the English language.

Fifty nifty rules for writing readable prose.

Safire is a recognized master of our language. In this slender volume, he presents fifty column length articles about the misrules of grammar with humor and patience. I keep it at my elbow whenever I feel the urge to scribble. Well recommended.

Loved it!

This is a real jewel and I liked it better than Lynn Truss's book on grammar. It was funny, insightful and I learned several important things. Safire has a masterful command of the English language, is concise and direct, and writes in a style that almost anyone can understand. The only part that left me confused was when to use "if I was" and "if I were." I'm still not sure exactly what the difference is between those two and must confess that I'm one of those sloppy writers who uses "if I were" indiscriminately! Great read and very humorous. Highly recommended. Sentence fragments notwithstanding, I found a great deal of important info in this book. Sigrid Macdonald Author and Editor

Great writing advice that goes down easy because it is given with honey

Almost none of us is a professional writer. While some of us do write on a regular basis, nearly everyone has to at least occasionally put words on paper for one reason or another. We get tense because we are unsure what to put on that very blank page. We are armed with only some vague and incomplete memories of usage rules from our school days, and we wisely don't fully trust what we remember. The idea of reading through a textbook on grammar and writing is not very appealing and going back to school for a class is impractical. What can we do to improve our writing and feel more confident in what we present to others? William Safire is a well-known writer and authority whom many trust to pass judgment on what is fair and foul about the rules we use in our writing. He is no curmudgeon when it comes to writing and appeals more to usage, what sounds right to the ear, and what communicates the writer's meaning with verve and clarity. These little articles will help you with pesky split infinitives, punctuation, capitalization, sentence construction, participle issues, and word usage. This book was published years ago as "Fumblerules". A fumblerule is a sentence that teaches a writing principle by being a clearly and often humorous example of breaking the rule. You immediately see why writing that way is a mistake. He has fifty column length articles here; each devoted to clarifying one rule. I enjoyed all of them and had more than a few laughs as I read through the book. It is likely that you already know and keep most of these rules, but if you only get a more sure grip on five or ten of these rules, you will have been richly rewarded for the money you plunked down and couple of hours you spend thinking about the advice Safire provides. Super!