Product Description

An invaluable companion for communication

This new, expanded eighth edition of the best-selling guide to style is based on The Economist's own house style manual, and is a boon for everyone who wants to communicate with the clarity, style and precision for which The Economistis renowned. As the introduction says, "clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought."

The Style Guide gives general advice on writing, points out common errors and clichés, offers guidance on consistent use of punctuation, abbreviations and capital letters, and contains an exhaustive range of reference material—covering everything from accountancy ratios and stock market indices to laws of nature and science.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #775094 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Amazon.com Review
Rare is the style guide that a person--even a word person--would want to read cover to cover. But The Economist Style Guide, designed, as the book says, to promote good writing, is so witty and rigorous as to be irresistible. The book consists of three parts. The first is the Economist's style book, which acts as a position paper of sorts in favor of clear, concise, correct usage. The big no-noes listed in the book's introduction are: "Do not be stuffy.... Do not be hectoring or arrogant.... Do not be too pleased with yourself.... Do not be too chatty.... Do not be too didactic.... [And] do not be sloppy." Before even getting to the letter B, we are reminded that aggravate "means make worse, not irritate or annoy"; that an alibi "is the proven fact of being elsewhere, not a false explanation"; and that anarchy "means the complete absence of law or government. It may be harmonious or chaotic."

Part 2 of the book describes many of the spelling, grammar, and usage differences between British and American English. While many Briticisms are familiar to most Americans and vice versa, there are some words--such as homely, bomb, and table--that take on quite different meanings altogether when they cross the Atlantic. And part 3 offers a handy reference to such information as common business abbreviations, accountancy ratios, the Beaufort Scale, commodity-trade classifications, currencies, laws, measures, and stock-market indices. The U.S. reader should be aware (but not scared off by the fact) that some of the style issues addressed are specifically British. --Jane Steinberg

Review
Independent on Sunday - 'the gold standard'

From the Publisher
A guide to emulating the acclaimed writing style of the esteemed magazine As virtually everyone doing business abroad can tell you, learn to communicate clearly, and you've taken a giant step toward professional success. It's no wonder, then, that this annual "how to" on improving your writing style attracts such a sizable number of readers year after year. After all, it's from the magazine whose superbly written articles are its hallmark. Offering explicit pathways to the clarity, precision, wit, and flair that set the quality of the authoritative weekly apart, The Economist Style Guide is an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to hone his or her communication skills.

Customer Reviews

Style guidance at its best
Simple. Straightforward. Writing instruction as you would expect from perhaps the best magazine on the planet. Clear, concise, to the point. If you want to write well, then buy this book.

depends
The usefulness of this volume will depend both on your target
audience and on your "native" English (Oxford or American).
If you are a scientist writing papers in American English,
the book will be of limited value since some of the "no-noes"
of the Economist Style Guide (e.g. writing in the passive
voice) are accepted conventions of the genre, and some of the
usage recommendations are specific to Oxford English. By the
same token, the volume will be quite helpful when writing
documents addressing a general audience in the UK, Canada, or "down under".

Excellent Reference
More than grammar. This book helps with style and it also has reference information on abbreviations, calendars, countries, currencies, science, geology, internet, latin, proofreading, stockmarket, world times, etc. It has many interesting sections.