Woe is I

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

I picked this book up several years ago, but had not gotten very far in it, for as much as I wanted to improve my writing, I was not necessarily interested in reading about improving my writing, but since I am taking a course on editing, I decided that this would be a good book to read.

This is a good book on grammar, and is set up as a reference as well. She writes about grammar rules clearly, although her examples are not always as clear as I would hope. I also disagree rather strenuously with her on one or two points. She is of the group that does not believe that “they” and “their” should be substituted for him/her or his or her or whatever convoluted combination we currently need to use as a gender non-specific pronoun. Bah humbug! English doesn’t have a gender neutral pronoun, and people are already using they and their in this manner, so why not accept this as a development of the language to compensate?

Regardless (not irregardless!) this is an informative book, and one that should make a good reference as I attempt to become a better writer.

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