Fowler’s Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage (3rd edition)

Val Hamilton recently reviewed the 4th edition of the full Monty – oops, Fowler – in these columns (RR 2016/050), and this is the, well, concise version. It is an update of the work by Robert Allen published in 2008 as the Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage, itself a cut-down of the biggie. You would, however, need a big pocket for this edition.

Kingsley Amis once said that works of this kind consist not of description, but prescription: not English as she is spoke, but as she should be spoke – or, rather, written – and...