Write Right!: A Desktop Digest of Punctuation, Grammar, and Style

210 Pages·2001·2.21 MB·English

by  Jan Venolia

Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1995, 2001 by Janet G. Venolia

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Venolia, Jan.
Write right! : a desktop digest of punctuation, grammar, and style / Jan
Venolia.—4th ed.
p. cm.
1. English language—Grammar—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English
language—Punctuation—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. English language—
Style—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.
PE1112.V4 2001
428.2—dc21
2001003524
eISBN: 978-0-307-78418-6

Copyediting by Suzanne Byerley
Illustrations by Ellen Sasaki

v3.1

Words are the only tools you will be given. Learn
to use them with originality and care. Value them for
their strength and diversity. And also remember that
somebody out there is listening.
—William Zinsser

Amen.
—Jan Venolia
Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the
wrong words.
—Mark Twain
Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Why All the Fuss?

P O The Basics
ART NE:
1: Coming to Terms with Terms
P Two: The Tools of Writing
ART
2: Grammatical Guidelines
3: Punctuation Pointers
4: Copyediting Considerations
P T The Craft of Writing
ART HREE:
5: Words
6: Style
Resources
Frequently Misspelled Words
Glossary
Bibliography
Web Sites

Why All the Fuss?

Our language is an invaluable resource, as much
a part of our heritage as forests, wildlife, and waters.
—Paul Lovinger

Does good writing matter any more? In an e-commerce environment, do you still
need to know how to create an effective sentence? Absolutely! Magazines,
newspapers, and books are written words, whether in electronic or print form.
What emerges from fax machines and appears on computer screens is writing,
not speech. Businesses still need to “put it in writing.” Furthermore, what’s
written needs to be clear and concise. That’s where punctuation and grammar
come in.
On the job or at school, you probably have to write—fast and well. You need to
know how to choose the words that best convey your ideas and how to organize
them for maximum effect. Can you rely on software to improve your writing? It
helps. You can easily revise text, experiment with format, and find typos (though
spell-checkers have definite limitations). But grammar-checkers are more
annoying than useful. A concise handbook like Write Right! remains your best
bet.
But what is good writing? And who says so? Who decides which changes in
language are acceptable and which are to be rejected? Described as “usage
wars,” this subject is hotly debated in language and education circles.
On one side, the combatants declare that what constitutes good English should