Evening star., 1927-11-28
One reference book Is not enough.

One reference book Is not enough.
II you go in for such works. believ
| ing that they can help any one who
writes, even II 1t Is only writing q
letter, you know that the more OF
them you have. the better.
The plain truth is that no one book
contains everything, any more thar
| one man knows everything or one
| musical show holds all the good songs
of the season.
1t takes many men to make busi
ness, many books to make refer
ence shelf. many song hits" to sup
ply the popular demand during year
A reference book Is like life in some
respects: You ask too much from 1t
do not find everything that you think
you should. but in the end probably
get more than you deserve.
These thoughts came to mind tht
other day as we contemplated q work
new to the shelf given over to books
Of reference--"A Dictionary of Mod
ern English Usage" by II. w. Fowler
first published in 1926 by the Oxford
University Press.
Here is a meaty volume Of some
74O pages, packed with dynamite for
the timid soul who believes that he
must scrupulously follow every rule
he sees in print, especially in a book
of authority.
Andrew Lang, in speaking Of one
of this authors previous works. play
fully stated. II am afraid to set pen
to paper" This is the natural feeling
that many readers will have after
carefully inspecting Modern English
Usage"
Yet, at the same time they will
realize as the result of their perusa1
that the author is a most human sort
Of fellow, who, although he knows q
great deal more than most of us about
the English language as such, also is
not above pounding the purists and
those who misuse our common tongue
through leaning over backwards" in
It's use.
Modern English Usage" is a book
to be used upon demand, as any good
reference book is, but it has the fur
ther good point OF being an interest
ing work for occasional reading.
Very few persons can read die
tionary with any particular pleasure
although most can profit from such
work. The book under consideration
however. is filled with short articles
many of which are packed with pungent
references to grammatical errors com
mon to most readers and writer's
shared alike by those who write and
by those who simply read.
The great English language. with
it's tremendous vocabulary containing
the best words land therefore the best
thoughtS) of all races and ages. is an
elastic medium which very few men
are given to know perfectly.
The best that most of us can do Is
to do our best. 1t is some satisfac
ton to know that the author of Mod.
ern English Usage" il one may judge
from several of his dissertations, is
not above a certain jerky phraseology
Thought Is the gist of writing. In.
dividual words are the material of
thought. To know words is simply the
beginning of writing. One has to
know something, at least, Of what to
do with them.
There are not, perhaps, a dozen men
in the world who know as much
about the English language as DIR.
Fowler, or our own DR.. Frank Vizetel.
iy. but there are several hundred nov
elists. essayists and general writers
who can write rings around them, as
the saying is. SO let the world take
heart, and be not too much ashamed
of itself, after reading Modern Eng.
lish Usage"