Fowler's Modern English Usage
Encyclopedia
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler
(1858–1933), is a style guide
to British English
usage, pronunciation, and writing. Ranging from plurals
and literary technique
to the distinctions among like words (homonyms, synonyms, etc.), to the use of foreign terms, it became the standard for most style guides that followed; thus, the 1926 first edition remains in print despite the existence of the 1965 second edition, and the 1996 and 2004 printings of the third edition, which was mostly rewritten as a usage dictionary incorporating corpus linguistics data
. To its users, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage is informally known by the names Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Fowler, and Fowler’s.
s and on ending a sentence with a preposition; rules on the placement of the word only; and rules distinguishing between which and that. He classified and condemned every cliché
, in the course of which he coined and popularised the terms battered ornament, Wardour Street, vogue words, and worn-out humour, whilst defending useful distinctions between words whose meanings were coalescing in practice, thereby guiding the speaker and the writer away from illogical sentence construction, and the misuse of words. In the entries "Pedantic Humour" and "Polysyllabic Humour" Fowler mocked the use of arcane words (archaisms) and the use of long words. Moreover, like most practical guides to writing and speaking a language, the linguistics
of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage mix the prescriptive
and the descriptive, which allows grammatical extremists to ascribe H.W. Fowler a place in the opponent camp.
(1871–1918), wrote and revised The King's English
(1906), a grammar and usage guide later superseded by this book in the 1930s. Moreover, he researched the Dictionary assisted by Francis, who died in 1918 of tuberculosis
, which he contracted in service with the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War (1914–1918). Fowler thus dedicated
the Dictionary to his brother, Francis George:
The first edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) was much reprinted; thus, a reprint wherein the copyright page indicates 1954, as the most recent reprinting year, also notes that the 1930 and 1937 reprintings were "with corrections". The second edition, Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1965) was revised by Sir Ernest Gowers
, who updated the text, contributed entries, and deleted articles "no longer relevant to [current] literary fashions". For the twenty-first century, the third edition, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996), was revised and published as Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004), the editor of which, Robert Burchfield
, in the preface acknowledges that, while "Fowler’s name remains on the title-page . . . his book has been largely rewritten."
Historically, the substantive and editorial differences among the first-edition and the third-edition versions is that the former, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), is a prescriptive style guide to clear and expressive writing, whilst the latter versions, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996) and Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004), are descriptive usage guides to spoken and written English. The 2009 reprinting of the 1926 first edition contains an introduction and entries updated by the linguist David Crystal
.
Henry Watson Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language...
(1858–1933), is a style guide
Style guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
to British English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
usage, pronunciation, and writing. Ranging from plurals
English plural
In the English language, nouns are inflected for grammatical number —that is, singular or plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plurals are formed for nouns...
and literary technique
Literary technique
A literary technique is any element or the entirety of elements a writer intentionally uses in the structure of their work...
to the distinctions among like words (homonyms, synonyms, etc.), to the use of foreign terms, it became the standard for most style guides that followed; thus, the 1926 first edition remains in print despite the existence of the 1965 second edition, and the 1996 and 2004 printings of the third edition, which was mostly rewritten as a usage dictionary incorporating corpus linguistics data
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
. To its users, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage is informally known by the names Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Fowler, and Fowler’s.
Linguistic approach
In A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Henry W. Fowler’s general approach encourages a direct, vigorous writing style, and opposes all artificiality, by firmly advising against convoluted sentence construction, the use of foreign words and phrases, and the use of archaisms. He opposed pedantry, and ridiculed artificial grammar rules unwarranted by natural English usage, such as bans on split infinitiveSplit infinitive
A split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....
s and on ending a sentence with a preposition; rules on the placement of the word only; and rules distinguishing between which and that. He classified and condemned every cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
, in the course of which he coined and popularised the terms battered ornament, Wardour Street, vogue words, and worn-out humour, whilst defending useful distinctions between words whose meanings were coalescing in practice, thereby guiding the speaker and the writer away from illogical sentence construction, and the misuse of words. In the entries "Pedantic Humour" and "Polysyllabic Humour" Fowler mocked the use of arcane words (archaisms) and the use of long words. Moreover, like most practical guides to writing and speaking a language, the linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage mix the prescriptive
Linguistic prescription
In linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
and the descriptive, which allows grammatical extremists to ascribe H.W. Fowler a place in the opponent camp.
Quotations
Widely and often cited, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage is renowned for its witty passages, such as:
DidacticismDidacticismDidacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
: The speaker who has discovered that Juan and Quixote are not pronounced in Spain as he used to pronounce them as a boy is not content to keep so important a piece of information to himself; he must have the rest of us call them Hwan and Keehotay; at any rate he will give us the chance of mending our ignorant ways by doing so.
French Words : Display of superior knowledge is as great a vulgarity as display of superior wealth — greater indeed, inasmuch as knowledge should tend more definitely than wealth towards discretion and good manners.
InversionInversion (linguistics)In linguistics, grammatical inversion is any of a number of different distinct grammatical constructions in the languages of the world. There are three main uses in the literature which, unfortunately, have little if any overlap either formally or typologically: syntactic inversion, thematic...
: Writers who observe the poignancy sometimes given by inversion, but fail to observe that 'sometimes' means 'when exclamation is appropriate', adopt inversion as an infallible enlivener; they aim at freshness and attain frigidity.
Split InfinitiveSplit infinitiveA split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....
: The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish. . . . Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are happy folk, to be envied by the minority classes.
Terribly : It is strange that a people with such a fondness for understatement as the British should have felt the need to keep changing the adverbs by which they hope to convince listeners of the intensity of their feelings.
Welsh rarebit : Welsh rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh rarebit is stupid and wrong.
Editions
Before writing A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Henry Fowler and his younger brother, Francis George FowlerFrancis George Fowler
Francis George Fowler , familiarly known as F.G. Fowler, was an English writer on English language, grammar and usage.Born in Tunbridge Wells, F. G. Fowler was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He lived on Guernsey in the Channel Islands...
(1871–1918), wrote and revised The King's English
The King's English
The King's English is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the Fowler brothers, Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler, and published in 1906, and thus pre-dates by 20 years Modern English Usage, which was written by Henry alone after Francis's death in 1918.The King's...
(1906), a grammar and usage guide later superseded by this book in the 1930s. Moreover, he researched the Dictionary assisted by Francis, who died in 1918 of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, which he contracted in service with the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War (1914–1918). Fowler thus dedicated
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
the Dictionary to his brother, Francis George:
I think of it as it should have been, with its prolixities docked, its dullnesses enlivened, its fads eliminated, its truths multiplied . . . having been designed in consultation with him, it is the last fruit of a partnership that began in 1903 with our translation of LucianLucianLucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.His ethnicity is disputed and is attributed as Assyrian according to Frye and Parpola, and Syrian according to Joseph....
.
The first edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) was much reprinted; thus, a reprint wherein the copyright page indicates 1954, as the most recent reprinting year, also notes that the 1930 and 1937 reprintings were "with corrections". The second edition, Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1965) was revised by Sir Ernest Gowers
Ernest Gowers
Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE Hon. D.Litt Hon. ARIBA was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.-Life:...
, who updated the text, contributed entries, and deleted articles "no longer relevant to [current] literary fashions". For the twenty-first century, the third edition, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996), was revised and published as Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004), the editor of which, Robert Burchfield
Robert Burchfield
Robert William Burchfield CNZM CBE was a scholar, writer, and lexicographer.Born in Wanganui, New Zealand, he studied at Wanganui Technical College and Victoria University in Wellington...
, in the preface acknowledges that, while "Fowler’s name remains on the title-page . . . his book has been largely rewritten."
Historically, the substantive and editorial differences among the first-edition and the third-edition versions is that the former, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), is a prescriptive style guide to clear and expressive writing, whilst the latter versions, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996) and Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004), are descriptive usage guides to spoken and written English. The 2009 reprinting of the 1926 first edition contains an introduction and entries updated by the linguist David Crystal
David Crystal
David Crystal OBE FLSW FBA is a linguist, academic and author.-Background and career:Crystal was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He grew up in Holyhead, North Wales, and Liverpool, England where he attended St Mary's College from 1951....
.
See also
- Corpus linguisticsCorpus linguisticsCorpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
- Disputes in English grammar
- Elegant variationElegant variationElegant variation is a phrase coined by Henry Watson Fowler referring to the unnecessary use of synonyms to denote a single thing. In A Dictionary of Modern English Usage he says:...
- False scentFalse scentA false scent or false trail is an incorrect scent which may mislead an animal which hunts by smell, especially a hound. This may be the result of deliberate interference by a hunt saboteur or it may be a form of control by the master...
Similar works
- The Elements of StyleThe Elements of StyleThe Elements of Style , also known as Strunk & White, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, is a prescriptive American English writing style guide comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of forty-nine "words and...
, by William Strunk Jr.William Strunk Jr.William Strunk Jr. was a professor of English at Cornell University and author of the The Elements of Style , which, after being revised and enlarged by his former student E. B...
and E. B. WhiteE. B. WhiteElwyn Brooks White , usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine, he also wrote many famous books for both adults and children, such as the popular Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and co-authored a widely used writing guide, The...
. - The Chicago Manual of StyleThe Chicago Manual of StyleThe Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...
, an American EnglishAmerican EnglishAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
guide to style and publishing markup. - The Complete Plain Words, by Sir Ernest GowersErnest GowersSir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE Hon. D.Litt Hon. ARIBA was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.-Life:...
. - Practical English UsagePractical English UsagePractical English Usage is a standard reference book aimed at foreign learners of English and their teachers written by Michael Swan.Published by Oxford University Press, it has sold over 1.5 million copies since the first edition was published in 1980. A new, and greatly extended second edition...
, by Michael SwanMichael Swan (writer)Michael Swan is a writer of English language teaching and reference materials. Major publications include Practical English Usage and Basic English Usage...
, a grammar for non-native English speakers. - The Cambridge Guide to English UsageThe Cambridge Guide to English UsageThe Cambridge Guide to English Usage by Pam Peters is a usage dictionary, giving an up-to-date account of the debatable issues of English usage and written style. It is based on extensive, up-to-date corpus data rather than on the author’s personal intuition or prejudice, and differentiates between...
, by Pam PetersPam PetersPam Peters is an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She has been on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Standing Committee on Spoken English for the past 12 years, and published several books on Australian and international English usage, including...
. - Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English UsageMerriam Webster's Dictionary of English UsageMerriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is a usage dictionary published by Merriam-Webster, Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts. It is currently available in a reprint edition ISBN 0-87779-132-5 or ISBN 978-0877791324. Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is a usage...
.