The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation

Bryan A. Garner

Bryan A. Garner

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation

In: Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing

University of Chicago Press | 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226191294

Overview
Contents

About this book

Few people can write on the English language with the authority of Bryan A. Garner. The author of The Chicago Manual of Style’s popular “Grammar and Usage” chapter, Garner explains the vagaries of English with absolute precision and utmost clarity. With The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation, he has written the definitive guide for writers who want their prose to be both memorable and correct.

Throughout the book Garner describes standard literary English—the forms that mark writers and speakers as educated users of the language. He also offers historical context for understanding the development of these forms. The section on grammar explains how the canonical parts of speech came to be identified, while the section on syntax covers the nuances of sentence patterns as well as both traditional sentence diagramming and transformational grammar. The usage section provides an unprecedented trove of empirical evidence in the form of Google Ngrams, diagrams that illustrate the changing prevalence of specific terms over decades and even centuries of English literature. Garner also treats punctuation and word formation, and concludes the book with an exhaustive glossary of grammatical terms and a bibliography of suggested further reading and references.

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation is a magisterial work, the culmination of Garner’s lifelong study of the English language. The result is a landmark resource that will offer clear guidelines to students, writers, and editors alike.

Author information

Bryan A. Garner is president of LawProse, Inc. and Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of the "Grammar and Usage" chapter of The Chicago Manual of Style and editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary. His many books on language and law include Garner’s Modern English Usage and Legal Writing in Plain English, the latter from the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

“Garner is the greatest writer on grammar and usage that this country has ever produced. This book will be an instant classic.”

— David Yerkes, Columbia University

“A thoroughgoing, clear explication of the traditional categories of grammar, expanded from his summary in The Chicago Manual of Style and a fit companion to Garner’s Modern English Usage.”

— John E. McIntyre, author of The Old Editor Says

"The Chicago Guide is not what I expected, but it is what I had hoped for. There are a lot of grammar books available and a lot of sharply focused books on specific items . . . but there aren’t many, if any, that are comprehensive and accessible. The Chicago Guide certainly is accessible and comprehensive."

— An American Editor

“[A manual] for those of us laboring to produce expository prose: nonfiction books, journalistic articles, memorandums, business letters. The conservatism of his advice pushes you to consider audience and occasion, so that you will understand when to follow convention and when you can safely break it. When someone offers you good advice, you would do well to take it.”

— John E. McIntyre, Baltimore Sun

“This grammar book doesn’t shoot and leave. It stays with you.”

— Hamodia

“Writers, copy editors, and students seeking advice or explanations of the conventions of standard literary English will find definitive, clearly expressed rulings in The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. . . . Essential."

— Choice

“Garner’s guide is well-organized, logical, comprehensive, up-to-date, and comes alongside the reader in his or her search for clear as well as correct language (the second is not always the first).”

— Reference Reviews

“At last, everything I had long been looking for in a single volume presented logically and explained adequately in terms that any interested reader can not only follow but also make his or her own with a little due diligence and old-fashioned intellectual elbow grease.”

— Thomas R. Claire, Publishing Research Quarterly

“A grammar companion such as this one to CMS and an authoritative dictionary would establish language authority across company texts. Therefore, this work is highly recommended.”

— Technical Communication

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	ix
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
I. The Traditional Parts of Speech
Nouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	13
Traditional Classifications Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	19
Properties of Nouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	23
Plurals Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	25
Case Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	29
Agent and Recipient Nouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	32
Conversions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	33
Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	36
Definition and Uses Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	36
Properties of Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	38
Classes of Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	42
Personal Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	42
Possessive Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	47
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	48
Demonstrative Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	49
Reciprocal Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	50
Interrogative Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	51
Relative Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	52
Indefinite Pronouns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	56
Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	58
Types of Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	58
Articles as Limiting Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	61
Dates as Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	63
Position of Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	64
Degrees of Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	66
Special Types of Adjectives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	68
Functional Variation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	70
Verbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	71
Definitions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	71
Infinitives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	84
Participles and Gerunds Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	86
Properties of Verbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	90
Auxiliary Verbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	121
Adverbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	127
Definition and Formation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	127
Simple vs. Compound Adverbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	128
Types of Adverbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	130
Adverbial Degrees Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	133
Position of Adverbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	134
Prepositions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	139
Definition and Types Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	139
Prepositional Phrases Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	141
Other Prepositional Issues Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	143
Limiting Prepositional Phrases Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	144
Conjunctions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	146
Interjections Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	152
II. Syntax
Sentences, Clauses, and Their Patterns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	157
The Four Traditional Types of Sentence Structures Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	159
English Sentence Patterns Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	160
Clauses Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	165
Ellipsis Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	167
Negation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	169
Expletives Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	173
Parallelism Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	175
Cleft Sentences Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	178
Traditional Sentence Diagramming Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	181
Transformational Grammar Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	195
Overview Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	195
Base Rules in Transformational Grammar Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	196
Nouns and Noun Phrases Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	197
Determiners Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	198
Noun-Phrase Modifiers Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	199
Verb Phrases Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	200
Different Types of Principal Verbs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	202
Adverbials Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	203
Transformations Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	205
Spotting Ambiguities Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	207
III. Word Formation
Generally Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	213
IV. Word Usage
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	223
Troublesome Words and Phrases Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	225
Bias-Free Language Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	324
Prepositional Idioms Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	329
V. Punctuation
The Comma Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	345
Using Commas Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	347
Preventing Misused Commas Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	351
The Semicolon Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	357
Using Semicolons Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	357
Preventing Misused Semicolons Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	359
The Colon Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	361
Using Colons Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	361
Preventing Misused Colons Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	364
Parentheses Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	365
Using Parentheses Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	365
Preventing Misused Parentheses Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	368
The Em-Dash (or Long Dash) Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	369
Using Em-Dashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	369
Preventing Misused Em-Dashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	371
The En-Dash (or Short Dash) Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	373
Using En-Dashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	373
Preventing Misused En-Dashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	373
The Hyphen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	375
Using Hyphens Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	375
Preventing Misused Hyphens Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	378
The Apostrophe Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	380
Using Apostrophes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	380
Preventing Misused Apostrophes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	381
Quotation Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	382
Using Quotation Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	382
Preventing Misused Quotation Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	385
The Question Mark Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	386
Using Question Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	386
Preventing Misused Question Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	386
The Exclamation Mark Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	387
Using Exclamation Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	387
Preventing Misused Exclamation Marks Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	387
The Period Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	388
Using Periods Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	388
Preventing Misused Periods Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	389
Brackets Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	390
Using Brackets Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	390
Preventing Misused Brackets Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	391
The Slash (Virgule) Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	392
Using Slashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	392
Preventing Misused Slashes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	393
Bullets Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	394
Ellipsis Dots Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	396
Using Ellipsis Dots Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	396
Preventing Misused Ellipsis Dots Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	398
Select Glossary Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	401
Sources for Inset Quotations Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	491
Select Bibliography Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	497
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	507
Word Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	509
General Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	543
Pronunciation Guide Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	583

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation

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