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Follett's Modern American Usage

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Wilson Follett devoted his last years to composing a book on a subject he had studied all his life: the usage of American English. However, when he died more than two-thirds of the manuscript were still in first draft. People who had read this draft felt that it would be intolerable for this work
27: 201:. He was considered by expert reviewers to have struck the right balance of prescriptivity and to have trodden the right line between outdated, schoolmarmish rules and laissez-faire liberality in matters of grammar and usage. 249:
wrote that Follett's book was "the most highminded book of its kind since Fowler, and perhaps the only book with comparable credentials, sensibilities, and standards."
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undertook the task of finishing and revising the work on the understanding that he would have help. This came from a group of writers and teachers of English:
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wrote "This is a book that any conscientious writer will continue to consult as long as he lives."
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was "Sensible, vigorous, and cogent ... Follett deserves a place on the shelf beside Fowler."
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As the quotations that follow show, Follett was generally compared favourably with
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in collaboration with six other editors. It is a usage guide for contemporary
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covers issues of usage, prose composition, and style, including
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at his death. It was completed and edited by his friend
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Index


Wilson Follett
Style guide
Hill & Wang
Wilson Follett
Jacques Barzun
American English
English grammar
syntax
literary techniques
Jacques Barzun
Carlos Baker
Frederick W. Dupee
Dudley Fitts
James D. Hart
Phyllis McGinley
Lionel Trilling
Fowler
British English
Malcolm Cowley
Mark Van Doren
Clifton Fadiman
The New York Times
Louis Kronenberger
Disputes in English grammar
Elegant variation
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
Henry W. Fowler
The Elements of Style
Strunk

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