‘A pleasing read for anyone who has an appreciation for the written word.’ TIME MAGAZINE, BEST 10 NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2019 ‘A fascinating guide to grammatical ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ – practical and useful’ SEBASTIAN FAULKS, SUNDAY TIMES ‘Benjamin Dreyer’s brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry was to medieval English: a gift that broadens and deepens the art and the science of literature’ JON MEACHAM

Stuffed with advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this book will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and – perhaps best of all – an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language. Dreyer’s English is the distillation of everything he has learned from copyediting thousands of books, the perfect guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward.īoth authoritative and amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en-dash the rules and non-rules of grammar, including why it’s OK to begin a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’ and to confidently split an infinitive and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including ‘very’, ‘rather’, ‘of course’, and the dreaded ‘actually’.Īnd yes: ‘Only godless savages eschew the Oxford comma.’ He is beloved by authors and editors alike – not to mention his followers on social media – for playfully, brilliantly deconstructing the English language. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help.Īs copy chief of Random House, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades.

We all write, all the time: books, blogs, tweets, emails, emails, emails – and we all want to write better. Wise, funny, no-nonsense, stylish and brilliantly practical.’ RACHEL JOYCEĪn indispensable, New York Times-bestselling guide to the craft of writing from Random House’s long-time copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus. For those who care about words – and for those who don’t – Dreyer’s English is the book we have all been waiting for.

‘An utterly delightful book to read, Dreyer’s English will stand among the classics on how to use the English language properly.’ ELIZABETH STROUT

Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer