Kenneth George Wilson (

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

, 21 April 1923 – Mansfield, Connecticut, 11 March 2003) was an American author, professor of English, and vice president at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. His best-known work is ''The Columbia Guide to Standard American English'', published in 1993. Through the 1970s Wilson served as UConn's vice president for academic programs or academic affairs. With the 1974 change in title, the vice presidency replaced the provost as the university's chief academic officer. He had been dean of the university's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 1966 to 1970 and head of the English department in 1965-66. "Many of his contemporaries credit Wilson with starting the process of making UConn a nationally respected university," reported a university press release and the university magazine, ''Advance'', at the time of his death in 2003. Wilson returned to teaching in 1981 and retired in 1989. He had joined UConn's Storrs campus faculty in 1951 as an instructor and rose to be a full professor. A graduate of

Albion College Albion College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students as of Fall 2021 ...

, Wilson earned his master's and doctoral degrees from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He was born in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Wilson is the subject of an article in ''Contemporary Authors'' (December 2007) from

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

. When the ''Columbia Guide'' was published online by

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in 2001, the site said of Wilson's book: "A vigorous assessment of how our language is best written and spoken and how we can use it most effectively, this guide is the ideal handbook of language etiquette: friendly, sensible, reliable, and fun to read." The electronic edition continues to be offered through licenses to libraries and other institutions. The Guide has 6,500 entries, including both descriptive and prescriptive examples. The electronic edition features 4,300 hyperlinked cross-references. In the book's introduction, Wilson called standard American English usage "linguistic good manners, sensitively and accurately matched to context — to listeners or readers, to situation, and to purpose."

Bibliography

* ''Essays on Language and Usage'' (1962) with Leonard Fellows Dean * ''Harbrace Guide to Dictionaries'' (1963) * ''The Play of Language: A Revision of Essays on Language and Usage'' (January 1971, September 1971, ) with Leonard Fellows Dean, and W. Walker Gibson * ''Van Winkle's Return: Change in American English, 1966-1986'' (June 1987, ) * ''The Columbia Guide to Standard American English'' (1993, May 1999, ), from 2001 to June 2009 available free of charge online at

;As editor * ''Models in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry'' by David W. Newman (October 1987, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Kenneth G. 1923 births 2003 deaths Albion College alumni Writers from Akron, Ohio University of Michigan alumni University of Connecticut faculty Linguistics writers