Ocean State Libraries

"The Elements of Style has been restored to the world of letters because of its tested usefulness in helping people to write effectively and well. Mr. White has judiciously revised the book and has contributed a final chapter that seeks to lead the reader beyond mere correctness toward distinction in English style. This part of the book is concerned with attitudes in writing, with Mr. White's personal list of "do's" and "don'ts" and with style as...

A punctuation mark feels bad that he doesn't fit in with the others until a friend reveals the possibilities that exist when differences are accepted.

"Authoritative as it is amusing, this book distills everything Benjamin Dreyer has learned from the hundreds of books he has copyedited, including works by Elizabeth Strout, E. L. Doctorow, and Frank Rich, into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best foot forward in writing prose. Dreyer offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation and grammar, including how to navigate the words he calls 'the confusables,'...

"Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language book as full of life as it is of practical advice. Between You & Me features Norris's laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage comma...

Harry Evans has edited everything from the urgent files of battlefield reporters to the complex thought processes of Henry Kissinger. He's even been knighted for his services to journalism. In DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?, he brings his indispensable insight to us all in his definite guide to writing well. The right words are oxygen to our ideas, but the digital era, with all of its TTYL, LMK, and WTF, has been cutting off that oxygen flow. The compulsion...

Join a family of giraffes on their journey to Punctuation Station. As the train chugs along, learn the ins and outs of using periods, commas, apostrophes, question marks, hyphens, quotation marks, and exclamation points.

A comprehensive, practical reference guide to the idiosyncrasies of the English language No one knows grammar like Michael Strumpf. For over a quarter of a century, as creator and proprietor of the National Grammar Hot Line, he helped thousands of callers from every corner of the globe tackle the thorniest issues of English grammar. Now, in The Grammar Bible, he has created an eminently useful guide to better speaking and writing. Unlike other grammar...

Can learning about punctuation really be fun? You bet--in Elsa Knight Bruno's Punctuation Celebration, featuring illlustrations by Jenny Whitehead Punctuation marks come alive in this clever picture book featuring fourteen playful poems. Periods stop sentences in a baker's shop, commas help a train slow down, quotation marks tell people what to do, and colons stubbornly introduce lists. This appealing primer is a surefire way to make punctuation...

Greedy Apostrophe runs all over town inserting himself in places where he does not belong and causing great confusion.