How Not to Write

Fifty humorous misrules of grammar will open the eyes of writers of all levels to fine style. How Not to Write is a wickedly witty book about grammar, usage, and style. It homes in on the essential misrules of grammar, those mistakes that call attention to the major rules and regulations of writing. It tells you the correct way to write and then tells you when it is all right to break the rules. In this lighthearted guide, it chooses the most common and perplexing concerns of writers new and old. Each chapter starts by stating a rule like Don't use Capital letters without good reason. Safire then follows up with solid and entertaining advice on language, grammar, and life. It covers a vast territory from contractions to contractions, the double negative,s pseudo quotes from Emerson, Franklin, Twain, and Lincoln; from run-on sentences to semi-colons; from punctuation marks such as commas, colons, semi-colons, exclamation points; from word choice; from vocabulary even down to word skills; from editorial skills with headlines for essays; and much more. "