Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
I have a stack of vital reference books on the right-hand corner of my desk: Two dictionaries, a thesaurus, Chicago Manual of Style, a couple of other books - and Elements of Style sitting right on top of the heap.
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Hi Lemurion, et al,
Strunk and White's
Elements of Style is probably the best value book around. It is small and concise (quote: omit needless words!). It is also available online.
I too, have a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, but refer to it pretty much only when I am doing layout work, which is rare nowadays. Mine is from 1993, so might be in need of an update.
Although much larger than S&W, the Cambridge Australian English Manual of Style is an outstanding reference work, regardless of your country of residence. Despite the name, it provides sage and often terse advice (with occasional doses of humor) on word usage, grammar, and so forth. It will, for example, comprehensively put to bed usage of the verb "lay" in all its forms. <smile>
Cheers,