Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 4th Edition

Review from previous edition Full of lucid advice'Daily Express[Fowler’s Modern English Usage] offers impeccable advice.‘The TimesCompared with the liberalism of other grammars, Burchfield's englightened pedantry is a sheer joy to read and consult.'The IndependentBurchfield, in his new edition, has succeeded admirably in producing a sensible, practical, up-to-date, sometimes controversial, and altogether excellent guide to English usage’Manchester Evening NewsTo consult Fowler is to consult the oracle. Those of us who get worked up about English can turn to Fowler: he smoothes one's fevered brow.'Lynne Truss, The GuardianIf the good and truthful use of language matters … then Fowler was more than the harmless drudge of Johnson’s phrase and more than a great English eccentric. He was a hero.‘The SpectatorThe Dictionary on the whole speaks about the extraordinary skill and expertise of Fowler as a lexicographer and linguist.'The Huffington PostSome care about getting English right; others don’t. For those who do, there is a higher authority, a sacred book, that offers guidance through our grammatical vale of tears. Its full title is A Dictionary of Modern English Usage’The New York Times

Jeremy Butterfield is an OUP author, language expert, writer, and lexicographer. For many years he worked in senior editorial positions in Collins Dictionaries. He is the author of the popular book on the English language, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare (2009), as well as the Oxford A-Z of English Usage (2013).

Robert Burchfield (1923-2004) was born in Wangannui, New Zealand. He edited the third and the revised third edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage. His distinguished lexicographical career included a number of key publications: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966, with C. T. Onions and G. W. S. Friedrichsen) and The English Language (1985).

Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933) worked as a teacher and freelance writer before going to Guernsey to form a remarkably successful writing partnership with his brother Francis. Most notably, the Fowler brothers wrote The King’s English, and compiled the first edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911). Henry Fowler finished the Pocket Oxford Dictionary in 1924, and Modern English Usage, which made him a household name, in 1926.