The Joy of English

Jesse Karjalainen aims to give solid advice about the practical use of English without getting caught up in what he calls ‘the minutiae of grammar and parts of speech’. So his book offers readable guidance on ways to make your writing sharper and more correct. There are fifty-five chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of English usage. One chapter, for example, looks at the differences in the use of ‘neither… nor’ and ‘either… or’ and points out where their correct usage is similar and where it differs. Another chapter discusses the use of the simple word ‘that’ and advises on when and where it should be used to sharpen your meaning and where it can be omitted. Then there are chapters dealing with farther versus further, with who versus whom and many other problems that occur in our daily writing.  It adds up to a fascinating read for all of us who use words, and one that will actually make us better writers.