One Day in the Life of the English Language: A Microcosmic Usage Handbook [Hardcover]

Generations of student writers have been subjected to usage handbooks that proclaim, This is the correct form. Learn it books that lay out a grammar, but don't inspire students to use it. By contrast, this antihandbook handbook, presenting some three hundred sentences drawn from the printed works of a single, typical day in the life of the languageDecember 29, 2008tries to persuade readers that good grammar and usage matter.

Using real-world sentences rather than invented ones,One Day in the Life of the English Languagegives students the motivation to apply grammatical principles correctly and efficiently. Frank Cioffi argues that proper form undergirds effective communication and ultimately even makes society work more smoothly, while nonstandard English often marginalizes or stigmatizes a writer. He emphasizes the evolving nature of English usage and debunks some cherished but flawed grammar precepts. Is it acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition? It is. Can you start a sentence with a conjunction? You can. OK to split an infinitive? No problem.

A grammar and usage handbook like no other,One Day in the Life of the English Languagefeatures accessible chapters divided into Fundamentals, Fine Tuning, and Deep Focus, allowing readers to select a level most suited to their needs. It also includes a glossary, a teachers' guide, and a section refuting some myths about digital-age English.

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2016"Frank L. Cioffiis professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York, and has taught writing at Princeton and Indiana universities and at Bard and Scripps colleges. He is the author ofThe Imaginative Argument: A Practical Manifesto for Writers(Princeton), among other books. This little volume has several things going for it: it's compact, bound in the style of an industrial manual, so it can take a lot of punishment. ---Mary Norril£3