Mar 3, 2009
Replace whimsy with evidence: Use Merriam Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage.
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[W]hen a question of English usage comes up, it’s one of the first places that you should look for an evidence-based opinion.
(link added)
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Do you have any favorite entries?
You can also use the online Merriam-Webster for free. And there’s also the Free Dictionary. What an age we live in!
BTW, I read somewhere that you used to sit down and read dictionaries.
AP: One of my fondest memories of my maternal grandfather is his admonitions to me to ‘look it up’ when I’d ask him what a word meant. I’d lug the near 30 lb Merriam Webster monster across the room to him and together we’d read the dictionary. A sweet recollection. Thanks for bringing it up.
Jessica,
My favorite is the discussion of they/their/them referring to singular nouns on pages 733-736.
Deron and Karen,
I do love those kinds of dictionaries. If I had a spare thousand dollars, I’d buy the 22-volume Oxford English Dictionary that tries to note every word that’s ever been used in English.
But that’s not what this one is. This is a dictionary of usage, which means it discusses how words are used more than what they mean. Although, obviously there’s a little overlap.
Anyway, as I type this comment, my son is spitting up on my copy that’s sitting here next to me, so I gotta run.
Thanks for reading even my most boring posts!