The Elephants of Style
A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English
Walsh, Bill
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Year Published: 2004
Pages: 238pp Price: $21.95 ISBN: 0-07-142268-4
Resource Type: Book
Opinionated commentary on American English in the computer age.
Abstract:
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
What We Talk About When We Talk About Style
ELEPHANT NO.1
REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE NOT USING A TYPEWRITER
Style Begins With Form and Format
Also, Remember That You're in the United States
ELEPHANT NO.2
LETTERS OF THE LAW
Common Missteps in Spelling
ELEPHANT NO 3.
WHAT'S UP?
All About Capitalization
Everything's Generic
What's in a nAME?
ELEPHANT NO 4.
WHAT TO ABBREV.?
The Short and Shorter of Truncations, Acronyms and Initialisms
Initial Reactions and Second Thoughts (IRAST)
ELEPHANT NO 5.
WHICH ONE IS RIGHT AGAIN?
A quick Review of Problem Pairs (and Trios and …)
ELEPHANT NO 6.
LIES YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER TOLD YOU
The Big Myths of English Usage
ELEPHANT NO 7.
SOME GRAY AREAS
Proceed With Caution
ELEPHANT NO 8.
AGREED?
Making Sure the Parts of Speech Get Along
ELEPHANT NO 9.
COVER YOUR S
Possessives and Plurals
ELEPHANT NO 10.
A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS
Counting on 100 Percent Correctness
ELEPHANT NO 11.
THE ADVENTURES OF CURLY AND STITCH
The Comma, the Hyphen, the Headaches
ELEPHANT NO 12.
FLAIR! ELAN! PANACHE!
A Few Potshots About Style-With-a-Capital-S
Colors Are Pretty, but How About Just Giving It to Me in Black and White?
What Is, Is: Can't Argue With That
The Spin Wins: Great Moments in Obfuscation
Madam Chairman and That Friggin' Masseuse: Taking Linguistic Evolution Like a "-man"
ELEPHANT NO 13.
WRITERS, TYPISTS, THIEVES AND LIARS
Plagiarism and Its Kin
ELEPHANT NO 14.
WRITING AND REWRITING
A Writer-Turned-Editor Writes About Editing and Being Edited
From From to To: Everything's Ranging
Snarky Specificity
Literal and Conservative: George Washington Wasn't Really Our Father
THE CURMEDGEON'S STYLEBOOK (CONTINUED)
A Web FAQ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Subject Headings
