This is a specialist dictionary for writers, journalists, and text-editors. It offers rulings on words and spellings which are commonly problematic. For instance, do we write
Muslim or
Moslem,
customise or
customize? It covers the names of well-known people and places, foreign words and commonly-used phrases such as
petit-bourgeois and
persona non grata.
All these items are in any good dictionary, but this eliminates
all the non-problematic words and makes the book easier to use. It also
deals with abbreviations, capitalization and punctuation. Only today, I looked up amendment [one 'm'] superseded [yes - it is spelt with an 's'] and manageable [it keeps the 'e']. It can also be used as a quick guide to many niceties of writing (the difference
between hyphens and dashes) and as a potted source for historical
names and dates.
At first glance, there might not seem much difference between this and an ordinary dictionary, but the process of selection and the emphasis on explanations of common problems makes it a very useful resource. The latest edition offers a huge revision and update on the original. Entries have been expanded on doubtful or variable spellings ("gettable" not "getable"); the punctuation of dates and spellings of proper names; and all those other little things that are so difficult to be consistent about when writing. It is also an invaluable guide to words that are often confused such as biannual (twice every year, or every six months) and biennial (every two years).
It is designed to be used in conjunction with Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers, which gives details of how text should be edited in preparation for printing. The headword is set in bold sans-serif, which is technically more legible, though personally I find it visually disruptive compared with the OUP tradition of bold Roman. There are four appendices: mathematical and logical symbols; proofreading marks; a list of diacritical accents; and tables for transliterating Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Russian.
It should certainly be amongst the reference tools of anybody who takes a serious interest in writing. It's also available in electronic form as part of The Oxford Writer's Shelf programme. However, like
other reference software it has one disadvantage. Unless you have it installed permanently on your hard disk, it's usually quicker to reach the book off a shelf.
