Style Guide

The Bestselling Guide to English Usage

The Economist

ISBN 1861979169

ISBN 13 9781861979162

September 2005

Price £16.99

Hardback, 9th edition, 160 pp.

Buy this book at the Economist Shop

Subject: Reference

Other formats available: Hardback

The best-selling guide to English usage.

This new, expanded ninth edition of the best-selling guide to style is based on The Economist’s own house style manual, and is an invaluable companion for everyone who wants to communicate with the clarity, style and precision for which The Economist is renowned. As the introduction says, ‘clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought.’

THE STYLE GUIDE gives general advice on writing, points out common errors and clichés, offers guidance on consistent use of punctuation, abbreviations and capital letters, and contains an exhaustive range of reference material - covering everything from accountancy ratios and stock market indices to laws of nature and science. Some of the numerous useful rules and common mistakes pointed out in the guide include:

* Which informs, that defines. This is the house that Jack built. But This house, which Jack built, is now falling down.
* Discreet means circumspect or prudent; discrete means separate or distinct.Remember that “Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are” (Oscar Wilde).
* Fortuitous means accidental, not fortunate or well-timed.