If you are already familiar, or at least acquainted, with Fowler's Modern English Usage, or perhaps one of the other Oxford publications on grammar and usage, then the Chambers Good Writing Guide probably contains little, if anything, for your edification. If, however, you are a student or an inexperienced writer (whether of letters, essays, e‐mails or something more ambitious) looking for a straightforward introduction to the art of writing, with practical advice and worked examples, then this may just fit the bill.
Cornucopia or clutter? I cannot decide which best describes this work. Styling itself a self‐help guide and reference book, it aims to show the reader how to write correctly, clearly and persuasively. To that end it contains a wealth, perhaps even a miscellany, of information. Such a book is not, I suspect, intended to be read from cover to cover, and some firm organizational structure is clearly necessary to permit the reader to navigate quickly, and to dip in and out of the text at will. There is structure in this book, and organization, but so much that I find myself at times at sea amongst the various headings, sub‐headings, text‐boxes, and bullet points which divide the text. Bold, italic, and bold‐italic fonts are employed liberally, and whilst in the main they are used to identify cross‐ referenced words and phrases, the usefulness of this device is diluted by its parallel use for simple emphasis. Here, it is deployed to varying degrees of effect and is often reminiscent of those frantic and desperate underlinings found in library copies of student textbooks. Whilst it may help the eye and the memory to read that “If an adjective comes before a noun it is categorized as attributive” or that “A phrasal verb is an expression that consists of a verb followed by a particle … ”, it is less helpful, and frankly irritating, to read that “If you do not have all of the information that you need immediately to hand, you will need to do some research”; “…you will need to make a record of the things you find out … ” or “You can stop the spelling check from operating in a passage containing specialized terminology … ”. Looking at the bigger picture, I understand that the purpose of such emboldening is to make key words and phrases stand out of the text, allowing the reader to skim through the main points of a topic, but even this aim is endangered by over‐use of the device.
Perhaps I am being unfair. This is, after all, a bright lively text containing a mass of information, which I navigate, despite my irritation, without great difficulty. I suspect that the work's most appreciative audience is likely to be students. Certainly, its chatty tone seems to be aimed at the younger writer, who after all, may appreciate its headlong, emphatic style.
The work is split into three main sections. The first, entitled The Writer's Toolkit, introduces the sort of material that might be found in any standard work on usage: spelling; grammar; punctuation; confusing and controversial words. This is good basic stuff, and it gets the points across clearly and simply. In addition, there are sections on slang, jargon and clichés; ambiguity; how to write numbers, dates, speech etc; and the ever topical and controversial “plain English” and “sensitive language”. A section entitled Getting Information including such sub‐topics as How to Use a Dictionary, How to Use a Thesaurus and Getting Help from the Internet underlines that this really is an introductory level text.
Part Two, Putting Pen to Paper analyses the processes that go into creating a written document: research, planning, drafting, composing, checking and proof reading. In recognition of the fact that putting pen to paper means, for many, sitting at a keyboard, this section also includes tips on word processing. The importance of creating a coherent overall structure in a piece of writing is examined, and ways of constructing sentences and paragraphs are introduced. There are also sections on developing a writing style, keeping the reader interested, and getting the point home, which, although brief, are nonetheless informative at an introductory level. Unsurprisingly, Getting the Point Home advocates emphasising words, emphatic punctuation, and emphatic sentence structure.
Part Three is entitled Writing in the Real World and provides a whistle‐stop tour of letters, e‐mails and texts; writing in business; academic writing; writing for the internet; writing to attract attention; technical writing, and creative writing. For those of you wondering what a good writing guide has to say about texting, a brief paragraph or two tells the reader that conventional grammar and spelling are out of the window, and the next two pages are devoted to translating such frequently texted words and phrases as XLNT 2NITE L8R and RUOK? (those still puzzled can find the translations at pp. 305‐306). In so short a space, this section cannot hope to make an expert of the reader in all, or even any, of these areas, and it does little more than introduce concepts. The section on creative writing has passages on Being Creative and Being Poetic, along with a list of eleven unusual descriptive adjectives. The emphasis throughout the section, however, is firmly on the practical, with examples of different types of letter, newsletters, a CV, etc.
In summary, this is ideal for the beginner, with enough material to lay the groundwork for many different types of writing. One word about the binding, though. Although my copy has been well thumbed for the purpose of this review, I cannot say that it has had hard or prolonged use, yet already the pages are falling out. I may have a rogue copy, but if not, those destined for library shelves may need to be handled with care.
