''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'' is a
usage dictionary
A language-for-specific-purposes dictionary (LSP dictionary) is a reference work which defines the specialised vocabulary used by experts within a particular field, for example, architecture. The discipline that deals with these dictionaries is s ...
published by
Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States.
In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as G ...
, Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts . It is currently available in a reprint edition (1994) or . (The 1989 edition did not include ''Merriam-'' in the title. It was added as part of the
rebranding
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investo ...
campaign to emphasize the differences between Merriam-Webster's dictionaries and
dictionaries of other publishers using the
generic trademark
A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products o ...
''Webster's''.)
The book has been praised by language experts.
Stan Carey
Stan or STAN may refer to:
People
* Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name
** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy
* Stan (surname), a Romanian surname
* Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
at the blog ''Sentence First'' concludes that it operates "in such a thorough and unbiased way is what elevates ''MWDEU'' so far above the ordinary. Each entry is presented in a much broader context than is typically the case in books that advise on English usage and style." It is critically acclaimed by the linguist
Geoffrey Pullum
Geoffrey Keith Pullum (; born 8 March 1945) is a British and American linguist specialising in the study of English. He is Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh.
Pullum is a co-author of ''The Cambridge Gram ...
, who calls it "the best usage book I know of... utterly wonderful." It is known for its historical scholarship, analysis, use of examples, and
descriptive
In the study of language, description or descriptive linguistics is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is actually used (or how it was used in the past) by a speech community. François & Ponsonnet (2013).
All acad ...
approach. It has more than 2,300 entries, and includes more than 20,000 quotations from prominent writers.
[see]
''Usage''
/ref>
A concise version is also available.
See also
* ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like words ...
''
* ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage
''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'' by Pam Peters is a usage dictionary, giving an up-to-date account of the debatable issues of English usage and written style. It is based on extensive, up-to-date corpus data rather than on the author's ...
''
* ''Garner's Modern American Usage
''Garner's Modern English Usage'' (''GMEU''), written by Bryan A. Garner and published by Oxford University Press, is a usage dictionary and style guide (or 'prescriptive dictionary') for contemporary Modern English. It was first published in 1 ...
''
* List of English words with disputed usage
Some English words are often used in ways that are contentious among writers on usage and prescriptive commentators. The contentious usages are especially common in spoken English, and academic linguists point out that they are accepted by many ...
Notes
External links
Entry at Google Books
English dictionaries
Style guides for American English
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