Mind the Gaffe!: A Troubleshooter's Guide to English Style and Usage

Front Cover
Harper Collins, Nov 21, 2006 - Reference - 320 pages

A linguist with attitude, R. L. Trask was a steadfast soldier in the never-ending War of Words, fighting the good fight for standard written English. Revered for its insight and legendary for its "cheek," Trask's Mind the Gaffe! is an indispensable guidebook for wordsmiths and language mavens of every stripe, providing safe passage through the ubiquitous minefields of improper usage.

  • Artiste: This pretentious word . . . commonly means "fraud pretending to be an artist." Don't use it unless you mean to be insulting.

  • Amoral, Immoral: An amoral person is one who does not know the difference between right and wrong. An immoral person knows the difference but does wrong anyway.

  • Reaction: A reaction is a sudden and spontaneous response to a stimulus, such as jumping, shrieking, or fainting. The word is not properly used as a fancy word for any kind of considered response. If you circulate a policy document, you can ask others for their opinions, or for their criticisms, but do not ask them for their reactions unless you hope to hear responses like "I burst into uncontrollable laughter."

 

Other editions - View all

Say what You Mean!: A Troubleshooter's Guide to English Style and Usage
Robert Lawrence Trask
Limited preview - 2005
Mind the Gaffe!: A Troubleshooter's Guide to English Style and Usage
R. L. Trask
No preview available - 2006

Common terms and phrases

abbreviations acceptable adjective advised American English appears applied authorities avoid become better Britain British English called capital careful writing comma common common error commonly confused consider construction contexts contrast correct course denotes derived dictionary different doubt especially established example exist expression fact find first formal formal writing French frequent gerund grammatical hyphen illustrated important intended kind label language Latin less linguistics means merely never Note noun object occurs origin past perhaps person phrase plural possible practice preferred present problem produce question rare readers reason recently recommended regarded result rule sense sentence single singular sometimes sounds spelling standard English style term things University usage usually varieties verb word write written wrong

About the author (2006)

One of the most celebrated linguists of his time, R. L. Trask was a brilliant lecturer and the author of many popular works, including The Penguin Guide to Punctuation and The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar. Born in New York State in 1944, he lived in England after 1970, and was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex until his death in 2004.

Bibliographic information

TitleMind the Gaffe!: A Troubleshooter's Guide to English Style and Usage
AuthorR. L. Trask
Editionreprint
PublisherHarper Collins, 2006
ISBN0061132209, 9780061132209
Length320 pages
Subjects › 

Reference / General
Reference / Writing Skills
  
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