HOME: Resources & Links

Some books and sites I recommend

Every worker in every field has her go-to sources for professional help, advice, guidance and education (not to mention entertainment). Some of my own fave resources are in book form, others are available online; and I’ve posted a selection of them below, in the hope that you'll find something useful there too.

Of course, few professionals use these resources to actually DO their jobs. An editor who ran to the reference books every time she met a confusing sentence would be like a dentist who had to flip open his Introduction To Teeth whenever a patient sat in the big chair.

Still, if a tricky text problem presents itself, we like to have the experts on hand to remind us. And if a client ever needs convincing of the unarguable wisdom of our approach, it’s good to be able to point to page 12 of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style (for instance), and say authoritatively: “According to this, the correct pronoun is definitely whom.”

These are a few of my favourite books
	Chicago Manual of Style. Billed as “The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers,” the 15th edition is the most extensive revision in decades. For all its inconvenient 5-lb heft and two-inch girth (not to mention its sometimes hard-to-navigate index), it’s still the classic tome that writing professionals reach for first.
	The Elements of Style. At the opposite end of the bulk scale from Chicago is this slender, indispensable volume by William Strunk and E. B. White, first published in 1957. It remains the most compact and lucid handbook available, offering brief, to-the-point advice on composition, grammar, word usage, and that indefinable thing called writing style.
	A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Still known by its short name of “Fowler’s,” this handy manual has rarely been out of writers’ hands since it first appeared in 1926. Originally aimed at "the half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities who wants to know, Can I say so-&-so?", the opus by former schoolmaster Henry Watson Fowler offers style and wit along with grammar advice.
	Editing Canadian English. A publication of the Editors' Association of Canada, this guide tackles the tricky issues of “Canadian” style – sorting out the distinctions between British and American usage. The trade mag Quill & Quire described the book as “[deserving] a place near the computer of everyone in Canada who writes or edits.”
	The Globe and Mail Style Book. Now in its ninth edition, the “Guide to Language and Usage” was originally created for writers and editors at the Globe and Mail. Then the world at large heard how comprehensive and entertaining this style book was; and now it’s become a valued reference guide for anyone who works with words.
	Canadian Press Stylebook. For years the bestselling reference book for our national news agency, the CP Stylebook is used now by anyone looking for practical advice on how to write accurately and concisely. Also useful is its companion volume, CP Caps and Spelling – an alphabetical listing of the most common words likely to make writers grope for the right answer.
	Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Who'd have thought a book about punctuation could cause a publishing sensation? Certainly not its author, U.K. journalist and novelist Lynne Truss, who was motivated mostly by “horror and despair” at the present state of British language use. This spirited instructional work is NOT really about grammar, Truss insists; it’s more like a self-help book.
	The Elephants of Style. A sequel to Bill Walsh’s brilliant first book, Lapsing Into a Comma, the title Elephants of Style is, of course, a homage to Strunk and White. This book continues Walsh’s glossary of style issues large and small, gleaned from decades spent as a copy editor at The Washington Post.
	Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins. Subtitled “The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, and Outmoded Rules of English Usage,” Theodore Bernstein’s entertaining book is a systematic debunking of all the rigid rules once taught by his grade-school English teacher, Miss Bertha Thistlebottom. A clever rebuttal of mostly outdated “don’ts.”
	The King's English. The late British writer Kingsley Amis's “Guide to Modern Usage” is as witty and biting as his comic novels. More frolicsome than Amis’s cherished Fowler's, and brimming with the strong opinions and razor-sharp wit that made him one of the most popular writers of his generation, this volume aims to “discuss, and perhaps settle, some modern linguistic problems.”
	The Complete Plain Words. A British classic for more than half a century, this useful handbook was first penned to teach the British civil service how to write clearly. It still gets rave reviews from readers. Sample comments: “Interesting and easy to read.” “Covers a lot of ground without being complicated or long-winded.” “Great index.”

Some of my favourite online resources

	Editors' Association of Canada (EAC). Astute readers of these pages may have noticed, now and again, the odd reference to the national professional organization. The EAC website also includes a Resources section, where the Grammar, Style and Usage page is packed with links to useful online tools to help editors with their work.
	Strunk & White. If looking up usage points in a slender reference book is too onerous for you, here’s the e-version: Bartleby.com, which allows you to look up the timeless words of wisdom online.
	The Slot. Subtitled “A Spot For Copy Editors Since 1995,” Bill Walsh’s site offers the same incisive viewpoints and cutting criticisms as his two published books (see above). The material in his “Sharp Points” section is as much fun to read onscreen as in book form.
	Netlingo. The online world is changing too fast for many of us to keep up with its lexicon – so it’s a good thing that the Netlingo “geeks” (they use the word with pride) are around to help. Offering thousands of definitions for the Internet, the site is updated regularly with new terms.
	The Best of British. This amusing site – “The American's Guide To Speaking British” – contains over a thousand words and phrases that differ in meaning (sometimes hilariously) between the U.S. and the U.K. It’s divided into seven useful sections: Home, Slang, People, Motoring, Clothing, Around the House, Food & Drink, and Odds & Sods.
	PWAC. The writer’s equivalent of EAC is the Professional Writer’s Association of Canada (known as “Pee-Whack” for short). This nationwide organization aims to ensure that downtrodden writers get a fair deal in the publishing industry.
	Online Etymological Dictionary. Billed as “a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English,” this site explains that etymologies are “explanations of what our words meant 600 or 2,000 years ago.” A free initiative by U.S. historian, author, journalist and lecturer Douglas Harper.
	The Word Detective. “Puzzled by Posh?” demands this entertaining site. “Confounded by Cattycorner? Baffled by Balderdash? Flummoxed by Flabbergast?” The index contains the origins of all those words and many more, with 1,300-plus entries.
	Epicurious. If you’re a curious epicure, this site is a treasure trove of facts about food and wine. Want to know the correct accents for (and pronunciation of) crème fraîche? Check out the food dictionary. Meanwhile, the wine dictionary will tell you how to correctly spell Gewürztraminer – and how to tell it from Riesling or Chardonnay.
	Plain Language Association. Billing itself as “the heart of clear language,” the association is devoted to the goal of writing in plain language, the kind that everyone can easily understand. Its “Samples” section gives some examples of “how to rewrite.”
	Acronym Finder. With more than four million acronyms in its database, this is the world's largest and most comprehensive searchable dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms.
	Words: Woe & Wonder. As journalist Blair Shewchuk says, “the World Wide Web doesn't have a monopoly over the 23rd letter of the alphabet.” The online CBC forum "WWW" allows people to comment on various aspects of Canadian usage.
	World Wide Words. Run by British language wonk Michael Quinion as a sideline to all his other PR and writing endeavours, this site is a marvellous compendium of little-known facts about English word use and phrase origins.

The Phrase Finder. Want to resolve an argument over how a phrase originated? Check out the meanings and origins of over 1,200 English sayings and idioms.

Latin Phrase Translator. Wikipedia, everyone’s favourite online free encyclopedia, hosts this alphabetical list of many common (and some UN-common) Latin phrases – ones we may often use, but don’t necessarily know the meanings of.

Guide to Grammar and Style. Jack Lynch, a non-prescriptivist grammarian at Rutgers University, offers personal insights on language use and misuse, gleaned from a long academic career.

Note that this list is still a “work in progress” – as I find more resources I like, I’ll upload them here for your viewing pleasure.