A Dictionary of Modern English Usage

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A Dictionary of Modern English Use (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933), is a style guide to English usage, pronunciation and writing. Covering topics such as plural and literary techniques, the differences between words such as (homonyms and synonyms), and the use of foreign terms, the dictionary becomes the standard for other guides for writing in English. Therefore, the first edition of 1926 remained in print, together with the second edition of 1965 edition, edited by Ernest Gowers, and reprinted in 1983 and 1987. The third edition of 1996, retelled as New Modern English Use of Fowler (revised in 2004) largely rewritten by Robert W. Burchfield, as a dictionary of use that incorporates linguistic corpus data; and the fourth edition of 2015, entitled Fowler's Modern Language Dictionary , edited by Jeremy Butterfield, takes the same approach as the third edition (and only revises some entries). Informally, the user refers to the dictionary as Fowler's Modern English Use , Fowler , and Fowler's .

Video A Dictionary of Modern English Usage

The linguistic approach

In the Dictionary of Modern English , the general approach of Henry W. Fowler encourages a direct and powerful writing style, and opposes all artificially, by expressly advising against the construction of complex sentences, the use of foreign words and phrases, and the use of archaisms. He opposes pedantry, and mocks unwarranted rules of artificial grammar by the use of natural English, such as the prohibition of ending a sentence with a preposition; rules about placing words only ; and the rules that distinguish between that and it . He classifies and condemns every cliché, in which case he creates and popularizes the terms outdated , vogue words , and outdated humor , while maintaining a useful distinction between words whose meanings are incorporated into practice, thereby guiding the speaker and writer away from the construction of illogical sentences, and the misuse of words. In the entries of "Pedantic Humor" and "Humor Polysyllabic" Fowler mocks the use of mysterious words (archaisms) and the use of unnecessary long words.

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Quote

Widely and often quoted, Modern English Dictionary is famous for its smart quotes, such as:

DidacticismÃ,

Speakers who have found that Juan and Quixote are not spoken in Spanish because he used to pronounce them as a disgruntled boy to keep an important piece of information for himself; he should have us all call them Hwan and Keehotay ; however, he will give us a chance to improve our foolish way of doing it.

French WordsÃ,

The superior view of knowledge is as great as rudeness as the display of superior wealth - greater, because knowledge must be more likely than wealth to good wisdom and behavior.

Reversal

The author who observes pain is sometimes given by inversion, but fails to observe that 'sometimes' means 'when exclamation is appropriate', adopting the inversion as the perfect magnifier; they aim for freshness and reach frigidity.

Separate Infinitive

The English-speaking world can be divided into (1) people who do not know or care what the infinitive split is; (2) those who do not know, but are very concerned; (3) those who know and cursed; (4) those who know and agree; and (5) those who know and differentiate.... Those who do not know or care are the overwhelming majority, and are happy people, to be envied by minority classes.

Really

It is strange that disdainful people like Britons should feel the need to keep changing the word with which they hope to convince listeners about the intensity of their feelings.

Welsh rarebitÃ,

The Welsh Rabbit is funny and true. Welsh rarebit is stupid and wrong.

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Issue

Before writing the Dictionary of Modern English Use Henry Fowler and his brother Francis George Fowler (1871-1918), wrote and revised The King's English (1906), a Grammar and Usage guides were subsequently replaced by this book in the 1930s. In addition, he studied the assisted by Francis, who died in 1918 of tuberculosis, which he contracted in service with the British Expeditionary Forces in the First World War (1914-1918). Thus, Fowler dedicates the Dictionary to his brother, Francis George:

I think of it as it should, with its countermeasures, its gloom enliven, its decline removed, its truth multiplied... has been designed to consult with him, this is the last fruit of a partnership that began in 1903 with our translation of Lucian.

The first edition of the Modern English Dictionary was published in 1926 and reprinted with corrections in 1930, 1937, and 1954; and again in 2009 with an introduction and comment by linguist David Crystal. It was later revised and edited by Ernest Gowers to make a second edition, published in 1965 as Fowler's Modern English Usage.

The third edition was edited by Robert Burchfield and published in 1996 under the title The New Fowler's Modern English Usage . It was later revised by Burchfield and published in 2004 as Fowler's Modern English Usage . The fourth edition, edited by Jeremy Butterfield, published by Oxford University Press in 2015.

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