Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style

An utterly delightful book to read, Dreyer’s English will stand among the classics on how to use the English language properly. * Elizabeth Strout *A mind-blower–sure to jumpstart any writing project, just by exposing you, the writer, to Dreyer’s astonishing level of sentence-awareness. * George Saunders *On every page, the serious stuff is spiced with his distinctive humour… This is what to look for in a language book: authority without arrogance. There is always more to learn. * The Economist *Brilliant * Guardian *The joy of Dreyer’s English is that it’s written by an editor who so clearly loves words, has a sense of humour and prizes clarity over nit-picking * Financial Times *Meet the guardian of grammar who wants to help you be a better writer. Benjamin Dreyer sees language the way an epicure sees food. And he finds sloppiness everywhere he looks. * New York Times *An informative and entertaining handbook on how to write clearer English. It’s pithy, witty and a near perfect example of the kind of writing it advocates. * Sting *Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal … One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer’s English. * Wall Street Journal *It is Benjamin Dreyer’s intense love for the English language and his passion for the subject that make the experience of reading Dreyer’s English such a pleasure, almost regardless of the invaluable and practical purpose his book serves in such dark and confusing times for grammar and meaning. * Ayelet Waldman & Michael Chabon *Benjamin Dreyer’s brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry was to medieval English: a gift that broadens and deepens the art and the science of literature by illustrating that convention should not stand in the way of creativity, so long as that creativity is expressed with clarity and with conviction. * Jon Meacham *

Benjamin Dreyer is vice president, executive managing editor and copy chief, of Random House. He began his publishing career as a freelance proofreader and copy editor. In 1993, he became a production editor at Random House, overseeing books by writers including Michael Chabon, Edmund Morris, Suzan-Lori Parks, Michael Pollan, Peter Straub, and Calvin Trillin. He has copyedited books by authors including E. L. Doctorow, David Ebershoff, Frank Rich, and Elizabeth Strout, as well as Let Me Tell You, a volume of previously uncollected work by Shirley Jackson. A graduate of Northwestern University, he lives in New York City.