[Editor’s note: An asterisk (*) indicates entries that were not in the earlier essay.]
*Adams, Michael. In Praise of Profanity. Oxford, 2016 (CH, Dec’16, 54-1578).
*____. Slang: The People’s Poetry. Oxford, 2009 (CH, Aug’09, 46-6627).
*Algeo, John. British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns. Cambridge, 2006.
The American Heritage Book of English Usage. Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th rev. ed., executive editor Joseph P. Pickett. Houston Mifflin, 2018 (orig. published by American Hertage, ed. by William Morris. 1969)
The Associated Press Stylebook [AP Stylebook]. 55th ed., ed. by Darrell Christian, Sally Jacobsen, and David Minthorn, 2020. (orig. published by Associated Press, 1953).
Ayres, Alfred. The Verbalist: A Manual Devoted to Brief Discussions of the Right and Wrong Use of Words and to Some Other Matters of Interest to Those Who Would Speak and Write with Propriety. Appleton, 1882.
Baron, Dennis E. Grammar and Good Taste: Reforming the American Language. Yale, 1982.
*____. What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He & She. Norton, 2020.
Barzun, Jacques. Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers. Rev. ed., Chicago, 1994 (orig. published by Harper, 1976 [CH, May’76]).
____. A Word or Two before You Go…. Wesleyan, 1986 (CH, Apr’87).
Bernstein, Theodore M. The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage. Atheneum, 1965.
____. Miss Thistlebottom’s Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer’s Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, and Outmoded Rules of English Usage. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977.
____. Watch Your Language: A Lively, Informal Guide to Better Writing, Emanating from the News Room of The New York Times. Channel Press, 1958.
Calloway, Cab, and Bryant Rollins. Of Minnie the Moocher & Me. Crowell, 1976.
*The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries, ed. by Sarah Ogilvie. Cambridge, 2020.
Cappon, ReneĢ J. The Associated Press Guide to News Writing. 4th ed. Peterson’s, 2019 (orig. published as The Word: The Associated Press Guide to Good News Writing, Associated Press, 1982).
Casagrande, June. The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know. Ten Speed Press, 2018.
Chapman, Robert L. New Dictionary of American Slang. 3rd ed. Harper & Row, 1995 (orig. published as Dic-tionary of American Slang, by Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner. Crowell, 1960).
The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, 2017 (CH, Feb’18, 55-1950) (orig. published 1906).
Cmiel, Kenneth. Democratic Eloquence: The Fight over Popular Speech in Nineteenth-Century America. W. Morrow, 1990 (CH, Jan’91, 28-2556).
Coleman, Julie. A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries. Oxford, 2004-.
___. The Life of Slang. Oxford, 2012.
Copperud, Roy H. American Usage: The Consensus. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970.
____. A Dictionary of Usage and Style: The Reference Guide for Professional Writers, Reporters, Editors, Teachers and Students, 1964 (CH, Nov’64).
Current American Usage, ed. by Margaret M. Bryant. Funk & Wagnalls, 1962.
Dictionary of American Regional English, ed. by Frederic B. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall. 6v. Belknap, Harvard, 1985–2013 (v.1, CH, Jan’86; v.5, CH, Jul’12, 49-6004).
A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles, ed. by Mitford M. Mathews. 2v. Chicago, 1951; abridged ed., 1966.
*Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style. Random House, 2019.
*Einsohn, Amy, and Marilyn Schwartz. The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corpo-rate Communication. 4th ed. California, 2019 (CH, Nov’19, 57-0801) (orig. published 2000).
The English Language Arts, by the National Council of Teachers of English. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952.
Evans, Bergen, and Cornelia Evans. A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage. Random House, 1957.
*Evans, Harold. Do I Make Myself Clear?: A Practical Guide to Writing Well in the Modern Age. Back Bay Books, 2017.
The F-Word, ed. by Jesse Sheidlower. 3rd ed. Oxford, 2009 (CH, Jan’10, 47-2340) (orig. published by Random House, 1995).
Farmer, J. S., and W. E. Henley. Slang and Its Analogues. Arno Press, 1970. (orig. published as Slang and Its Analogues, Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for More than 300 Years / with Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian,Etc. Edinburgh, 1890–1904).
Finegan, Edward. Attitudes toward English Usage: The History of a War of Words. Teachers College Press, 1980 (CH, Apr’81).
Flesch, Rudolph. The ABC of Style: A Guide to Plain English. Harper & Row, 1964 (CH, Jun’65).
____. The Art of Readable Writing. 25th anniversary ed., rev. and enlarged. Harper & Row, 1974 (orig. pub-lished by Macmillan, 1949).
*Fogarty, Mignon. Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Holt, 2008.
Follett, Wilson. Modern American Usage: A Guide, ed. by Jacques Barzun et al. Rev. ed. Hill & Wang, 1998 (orig. published 1966).
Fowler, H. W., and F. G. Fowler. The King’s English. Oxford, 1906.
Fowler, Henry W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Re-released ed. Oxford, 2003 (orig. published 1926).
_____. The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, ed. by Robert W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd ed. Oxford, 2004 (orig. published 1996 [CH, Jul’97, 34-6022]).
Frank, Francine Wattman, and Paula A. Treichler. Language, Gender, and Professional Writing: Theoretical Approaches and Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage. Modern Language Association of America, 1989 (CH, Sep’89, 27-0120).
Garner, Bryan A. Garner’s Modern English Usage. 4th ed. Oxford, 2016 (orig. pub. as Dictionary of Modern American Usage, Oxford, 1998 [CH, May’99, 36-4799]).
*____. The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. Chicago, 2016 (CH, Dec’16, 54-1506).
*Garvey, Mark. Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. Touchstone, 2009.
Gordon, Karen Elizabeth. The New Well-Tempered Sentence. Rev. and expanded ed. Ticknor & Fields, 1994 (orig. published as The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed, 1983).
*Gowers, Ernest. Plain Words: A Guide to the Use of English. Rev. and updated by Rebecca Gowers. Particular Books, 2014 (orig. published by H. M. Office, 1948).
Graves, Robert, and Alan Hodge. The Reader over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose. Macmillan, 1943.
Green, Jonathon. Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang. 2nd ed. Cassell, 2005 (orig. published as The Cassell Dictionary of Slang, 1998).
*____. Green’s Dictionary of Slang. 3v. Oxford, 2010 (CH, Aug’11, 48-6639).
*____. The Vulgar Tongue: Green’s History of Slang. Oxford, 2014.
*Haag, Pamela. Revise: The Scholar-Writer’s Essential Guide to Tweaking, Editing, and Perfecting Your Manu-script. Yale, 2021
Hale, Constance. Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wicked Good Prose. Broadway Books. Rev. and updated. ed. Three Rivers Press, 2013 (orig. published in 1999).
*Hughes, Geoffrey. Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. Penguin, 1998.
*____. An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World. Routledge, 2006 (CH, Nov’06, 44-1260).
*Hutcheson, Neal, Danica Cullinan, and Walt Wolfram. Talking Black in America. North Carolina Language and Life Project, 2017.
Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang, ed. and introd. by Clarence Major. Penguin, 1994 (orig. pub. as Dictionary of Afro-American Slang, International Publishers, 1970 [CH, Feb’71]).
Kister, Kenneth F. Kister’s Best Dictionaries for Adults & Young People: A Comparative Guide. Oryx, 1992 (CH, Nov’93, 31-1285).
Krapp, George Philip. A Comprehensive Guide to Good English. 2v. Republished ed. Unger, 1962 (orig. pub-lished as one volume by Rand, McNally, 1927).
Landau, Sidney I. Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography. Scribner, 1984 (CH, Jan’85).
Lasch, Christopher. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English, ed. and introd. by Stewart Weaver. Pennsylvania, 2002.
Leonard, Sterling Andrus. Current English Usage. Inland Press, 1932.
____. The Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage, 1700–1800. Wisconsin, 1929.
Lounsbury, Thomas R. The Standard of Usage in English. Harper & Bros., 1908.
Lukeman, Noah. A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation. W. W. Norton, 2006.
Marckwardt, Albert H., and Fred G. Walcott. Facts about Current English Usage. D. Appleton-Century, 1938.
Marsh, George Perkins. Lectures on the English Language. Scribner, 1860.
*McCulloch, Gretchen. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Riverhead Books, 2019.
McMorris, Jenny. The Warden of English: The Life of H. W. Fowler. Oxford, 2001.
*McWhorter, John. Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths about America’s Lingua Franca. Bellevue Literary Press, 2017.
Mencken, H. L. The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. 4th ed., cor., enl., and rewritten, Knopf, 1936; supplements, 1945, 1948 (orig. published in 1919).
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. Merriam-Webster, 1994 (orig. pub. as Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1989 (CH, Jul’89, 26-6057).
Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing. 2nd ed. HarperCollins, 1988 (CH, Sep’88, 26-0038) (orig. published by Lippincott & Crowell, 1980).
MLA Handbook. Modern Language Association, 9th ed., 2021. (orig. published as MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 1977).
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd. ed. Modern Language Association, 2008 (orig. pub-lished 1986).
*Mohr, Melissa. Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing. Oxford, 2016 (CH, May’14, 51-4862).
*Montagu, Ashley. The Anatomy of Swearing. Macmillan, 1967.
Morris, William, and Mary Morris. Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. 2nd ed. Harper & Row, 1985 (orig. published 1975).
Morton, Herbert Charles. The Story of Webster’s Third: Philip Gove’s Controversial Dictionary and Its Critics. Cambridge, 1994.
*Murphy, Lynne. The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship between American and British English. Penguin, 2018.
The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, ed. by Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor. 2v. 8th ed. Routledge, 2013 (orig. published by Macmillan in 1937 as A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, written by Eric Partridge).
The New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage. HarperCollins, 1994 (CH, Dec’94, 32-1879)
Nicholson, Margaret. A Dictionary of American-English Usage. Oxford, 1957.
*Norris, Mary. Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen. Norton, 2015 (CH, Feb’16, 53-2463).
Nunberg, Geoffrey. Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times. PublicAffairs, 2004.
____. The Way We Talk Now: Commentaries on Language and Culture from NPR’s Fresh Air. Houghton Mif-flin, 2001
O’Conner, Patricia T. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. Putnam, 1996.
*Ostler, Rosemarie. Founding Grammars: How Early America’s War over Words Shaped Today’s Language. St. Martin’s, 2015.
Oxford English Dictionary, prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. 20v. 2nd ed. Clarendon 1989 (orig. published in 1884).
*The Oxford Handbook of African American Language, ed. by Sonja Lanehart. Oxford, 2015 (CH, Feb’16, 53-2535).
Partridge, Eric. Slang To-day and Yesterday: With a Short Historical Sketch and Vocabularies of English, Amer-ican, and Australian Slang. 4th ed. Routledge, 1970 (orig. published 1933).
____. Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, ed. by Janet Whitcut. New ed., Norton, 1995 (CH, Dec’95, 33-1906) (orig. published by Harper and Bros., 1942).
_____. You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies. Hamilton, 1953.
Pinker, Steven. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Viking, 2014 (CH, Sep’15, 53-0084).
Plotnik Arthur. Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style. Random House Reference, 2005.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association [APA Manual]. 7th ed. American Psychological Association, 2021 (orig. published in 1952)
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, ed. by J. E. Lighter. 2v. Random House, 1994- (v.1, CH, Nov’94, 32-1296).
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, editor in chief Jessie Stein. 2nd ed. Random House, 2001 (CH, Apr’02, 39-4296) (orig. published as The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1966).
Ritter, R. M. The Oxford Guide to Style. Oxford, 2002. (orig. developed from Horace Hart’s Rules for Compos-itors & Readers at the University Press, Oxford, first published by G. Cumberlege in 1893)
Sabin, William A. The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting. 10th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2005 (orig. published as Reference Manual for Stenographers and Typists, by Ruth E. Gavin and E. Lillian Hutchinson. Gregg Pub. Co., 1951).
Safire, William. How Not to Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar. Republished 1990 ed. Norton, 2005 (orig. published as Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage by Doubleday, 1990).
*Sagolla, Dom. 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form. Wiley, 2011.
Schultz, Heidi. The Elements of Electronic Communication. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Schwartz, Marilyn. Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing. Indiana, 1995 (CH, Jun’95, 32-5434).
Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, ed. by Council of Science Editors. 8th ed. Council of Science Editors/Rockefeller University Press, 2014 (CH, Nov’14, 52-1177) (orig. published as Style Manual for Biological Journals, 1960)
*Seargeant, Philip. The Emoji Revolution: How Technology Is Shaping the Future of Communication. Cam-bridge, 2019
Shaw, Harry. Punctuate It Right! 2nd ed. HarperPerennial, 1993 (orig. published by Barnes and Noble, 1963).
Sherwin, J. Stephen. Deciding Usage: Evidence and Interpretation. University Press of America, 2000.
Siegal, Allan M., and William G. Connolly. The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. 5th ed. Three Riv-ers Press, 2015 (orig. written by editors of the newspaper and published in 1950).
Simpson, David. The Politics of American English, 1776–1850. Oxford, 1986 (CH, Jul’86).
Skillin, Marjorie, and Robert Malcolm Gay. Words into Type: A Guide in the Preparation of Manuscripts for Writers, Editors, Proofreaders and Printers. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall, 1974 (CH, Dec’74) (orig. published by Ap-pleton-Century Crofts, 1948).
*Skinner, David. The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Pub-lished. Harper, 2012.
Smitherman, Geneva. Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner. Rev. ed. Houghton Mifflin, 2000 (orig. published in 1994).
Stavans, Ilan. Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language. Rayo, 2003.
*Stollznow, Karen. On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present. Cambridge, 2020.
Strunk, William, Jr. The Elements of Style, with revisions, an introd., and a chapter on writing by E. B. White. Macmillan, 1959; 4th ed., Allyn & Bacon, 1999.
Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style, illustrated by Maira Kalman. Penguin, 2005.
*Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, rev. by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and the University of Chicago Press editorial staff. 8th ed. Chicago, 2013 (CH, Dec’13, 51-1807) (orig. published as A Manual for Writers of Dissertations, 1937).
Turner, Lorenzo Dow. Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Republished ed. South Carolina 2002 (orig. published by Michigan, 1949).
Vizetelly, Frank H. A Desk-Book of Errors in English: Including Notes on Colloquialisms and Slang to Be Avoided in Conversation. Rev. 1920 ed. republished by Gale, 1974 (orig. published in 1906).
Walker, Janice R., and Todd Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style. 2nd ed. Columbia, 2006 (orig. pub-lished 1998)
Walsh, Bill. The Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English. McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, ed. by Philip B. Gove. Merriam, 1961 (orig. published as Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, ed. by Wil-liam Allan Neilson and Thomas A. Knott, 1934).
White, Richard Grant. Words and Their Uses, Past and Present: A Study of the English Language. Sheldon & Co., 1870.
Williams, Joseph M., with Gregory Colomb. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. 8th ed. Pearson Longman, 2005 (orig. published by Chicago, 1990).
Wilson, Kenneth G. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia, 1993 (CH, Nov’93, 31-1313).
Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age, ed. by Constance Hale and Jessie Scanlon. Broad-way Books, 1999.
Yagoda, Ben. When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech for Better and/or Worse. Broadway Books, 2006.
*Younging, Gregory. Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. Brush, 2018.
Digital Resources
*All Things Linguistic
https://allthingslinguistic.com/
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
https://www.ahdictionary.com/
American Speech
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/as/
The Chicago Manual of Style Online
http://chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
GPO Style Manual
http://www.gpoacess.gov/stylemanual/2000/front.pdf
*Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
*Grammarphobia
https://www.grammarphobia.com/
Language Log
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
Merriam-Webster Online
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
OED Online
https://www.oed.com/
*Online Resources for African American Language
https://oraal.uoregon.edu
Talking Black in America
https://www.talkingblackinamerica.org/
Wiktionary
www.wiktionary.org/