The Cambridge Guide to English Usage

The Cambridge Guide to English Usage is an A-Z reference book, giving an up-to-date account of the debatable issues of English usage and written style. Its advice draws on a wealth of recent research and data from very large corpora of American and British English - illuminating their many divergences and also points of convergence on which international English can be based. The book comprises more than 4000 points of word meaning, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and larger issues of inclusive language, and effective writing and argument. It also provides guidance on grammatical terminology, and covers topics in electronic communication and the internet. The discussion notes the major dictionaries, grammars and usage books in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia, allowing readers to calibrate their own practices as required. CGEU is descriptive rather than prescriptive, but offers a principled basis for implementing progressive or more conservative decisions on usage.

Preface; Overview of contents and how to access them; A to Z entries; Appendix I. International Phonetic Alphabet symbols of English sounds; Appendix II. Geological eras; Appendix III. Perpetual calendar 1901–2008; Appendix IV. International system of units (SI units); Appendix V. Interconversion tables for metric and imperial measures; Appendix VI. Selected proofreading marks; Appendix VII. Formats and styles for letters, memos and e-mail; Appendix VIII. Layout for envelopes; Appendix IX. Currencies of the world; Bibliography.

Pam Peters is the Director of Macquarie University's Dictionary Research Centre. Her publications include The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide.