''Le Bon Usage'' (, ''Correct Usage''), informally called ''Le Grevisse'', is a descriptive book about
French grammar
French grammar is the set of rules by which the French language creates statements, questions and commands. In many respects, it is quite similar to that of the other Romance languages.
French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most ...
first published in 1936 by
Maurice Grevisse, and periodically revised since. It describes the usage of the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
, primarily in its written literary form.
Description
Quite extensive (1600 pages), it includes numerous examples and counter-examples taken from Francophone literature of various periods, including newspapers, to form a reference for teachers of French, and in particular, authors and editors.
Editions
In 1936, the first edition was published by De Boeck Supérieur (then named Duculot). A new edition was published in 1939, and another in 1946. The book was awarded the gold medal of the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. The high praise of
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...
in the literary supplement of ''
Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
'' in February 1947 contributed to its success.
After the death of Grevisse in 1980, his son-in-law
André Goosse
André Goosse (16 April 1926, Liège – 4 August 2019) was a Belgian Linguist, grammarian. The son-in-law of Maurice Grevisse, he took over editing and updating Grevisse's last book, ''Le Bon Usage''. In 1988, he married the Belgian writer France ...
, also a grammarian, took over and published the 12th and 13th (1993) editions. The 14th edition was published in August 2007 in a completely new format. The 15th edition appeared in 2011. Since then there has been a 16th edition published in 2016.
Online
As of 01/01/2023, ''Le Bon Usage'' is no longer available on-line.
See also
*
French grammar
French grammar is the set of rules by which the French language creates statements, questions and commands. In many respects, it is quite similar to that of the other Romance languages.
French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most ...
References
External links
*
Official website*
Biographical notice from the 13th edition*
Guy Lemaire raconte: Maurice GrevisseRTBF
The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...
journalist Guy Lemaire on Grevisse, 2005
French grammar
Belgian books
Grammar books
Style guides
1936 non-fiction books
Books about the French language
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