An A.B.C. of English Usage [antikvár]

PREFACEIn this book an attempt has been made to present in dictionary form the main elements in the accidence and syntax of the English language, both spoken and written. Spelling, punctuation, pronunciation, and idiom have their place in the scheme of what is intended to be a dictionary of grammar and usagean alphabetical companion to English composition. The definitions and rules have been presented in their simplest and most concise terms. This presentation assumes a knowledge of what may be called the axioms of grammar, and involves a frequency of cross reference that will, it is hoped, be as interesting and profitable in the limited spaces of this book as in the wider fields of Fowler's Modern English Usage, that prince of reference books for the connoisseur in language. To M.E.U. our debt is deep and gladly acknowledged, not only for an idea that we have tried to translate into the terms of the class-room or the office, but for its guidance on all points of which we have been doubtful or ignorant. We are much indebted, also, to various other commentaries on language and grammar, especially Mr. Logan Pearsall Smith's Words and Idioms and Prof. Sonnenschein's New English Grammar; and to innumerable pupils of our own who have often helped us to a great right by doing a little wrong. Our special thanks are due to Mrs. Jessie Coulson, lately of the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary, who read the manuscript from end to end and made a large number of invaluable suggestions. We also owe much to the criticisms and suggestions of our publishers. Besides M.E.U. and The King's English, our chief courts of appeal have been the various Oxford Dictionaries, the Report on Grammatical Terminology (which seems to survive only in such prefaces as this). Authors' and Printers' Dictionary (F. H. Collins), and Rules for Compositors and Readers (Horace Hart).Croydon,H. A. T.February 1936.G. H. V.