The Careful Writer

the long version

The Careful Writer, called by Time "The Compleat Bernstein," is a concise yet thorough handbook, covering in more than 2,000 alphabetized entries the problems that give (or should give) a writer pause before he sets words to paper: questions of use, meaning, grammar, punctuation, precision, logical structure, and color. It is perhaps the liveliest and most entertaining reference work for writers of our time -- delighting while it instructs, amusing even as it scolds and cajoles the reader into skillful, persuasive, and vivid writing. The Careful Writer, Mr. Bernstein's major work on usage, is an indispensable desk reference, and a source of continuing reading pleasure. - Back cover.