Quote:
Originally Posted by EndlessWaves
If you're more interested in what is 'correct' and 'incorrect', understandable by your target audience, then you don't necessarily want a style guide but a book focusing on that instead. For native english writers I've heard the Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage is a good source for how words are and aren't commonly used.
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The
MW Dictionary of English Usage used to be the source for language use in the United States. It is not any longer, although it is still a respected source fro guidance.
The authority today is
Garner's Modern American Usage 3rd ed. I use both (and others) in my work daily, and
Garner's is a far superior and much more current resource than the
MW book. If you need an American usage guide (which I think every writer and editor does), then it should be
Garner's.
An excellent usage guide but no longer current and thus more of historical interest, is H.L. Mencken's
The American Language, a multivolume treatise by one of America's premier wordsmiths. It makes for some fascinating reading.