The New York times manual of style and usage
by Allan M. Siegal, William G. Connolly · first published 1999
18% recommend82% neutral
Is the deejay a wannabe? Or does the D.J. just want to be?When is heaven capitalized?Do you stand in line or on line?For anyone who writes--short stories or business plans, book reports or news articles--knotty choices of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and meaning lurk in every line: Lay or lie? Who or whom? None is or none are? Is Touch-Tone a trademark? How about Day-Glo? It's enough to send you in search of a Martini. (Or is that a martini?) Now everyone can find answers to these and thousands of other questions in the handy alphabetical guide used by the writers and editors of the world
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2010–2026The Chicago manual of style
University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 11219 recommend · 112 mention19 recommend · 11219 recommend
2007–2026The Elements of Style
William Strunk, Jr., E. B. White
Recommended by 131 · mentioned by 231131 recommend · 231 mention131 recommend · 231131 recommend
2007–2026Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Recommended by 58 · mentioned by 13558 recommend · 135 mention58 recommend · 13558 recommend
Macro advise: read a lot of material similar to what you hope to write. Write a lot, you only get better with practice. Collaborate with a good editor. Books: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, Shertzer's The Elements of Grammar, and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.
on “Ask HN: How do you write great sentences, paragraphs, or articles?” ↗For writing englishThe New York Times Manual of Style and Usage : The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative Newspaper
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite book on English grammar?” ↗…around 4600+ results. A cursory glance at the first page of search results and the snippet text in the results all look fine. I guess, we could say, much ado about nothing. [1]: Siegal, Allan (1999). The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Three Rivers Press. p. 80. [2]: Google search query for site:nytimes.com containing "comprised of". URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22comprised+of%22+site%3Any...
on “Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of”” ↗The spelling of 'NFL' vs. 'N.F.L.' isn't up to the individual NYT writer. Whatever his preference, his editor will make sure it complies with the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, which in its 2015 edition still calls for 'N.F.L.'
on “Early Retirement in the N.F.L. and at Google, and the Paradox of Success” ↗It does? I have a 5th Ed. New York Times Manual of Style and Usage right here and it clearly distinguishes between the two. Under the entries for both ensure (p 120) and insure (p 170) it gives examples of the other.
on “The result would be a catastrophe (1985)” ↗…convicted of a crime is not pertinent unless the case has racial overtones; It is left as an exercise for the reader to find out in which cases race was pertinent. Reuters and AP have similar rules. [1] New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 2015 Edition, pg. 2183 http://1.droppdf.com/files/bp7ed/the-new-york-times-manual-o...
on “Sorry New York Times, I decline to be interviewed” ↗I just added a link to a Wikipedia discussion in my comment above, which should answer your question. It gives an example: > ...whereas The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage requires an apostrophe when pluralizing all abbreviations regardless of periods (preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's").
on “How Developers Choose Names” ↗…were written by my instructors/professors. We/I did use some international ones from time to time (some profs had preferences). These were: (1) MLA Style Manual or MLA Handbook (2) AP Stylebook (3) New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (4) Chicago Manual of Style Now that I'm in the United States, I use (4) at work. They have an online version of their entire book (first 30 days free): http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html…
on ““A book is a sneeze”” ↗…style rules. Rules for things like US or UK spelling, for usage questions where there is no single correct answer. Maybe they start with the Chicago Manual of Style, but add custom rules. Maybe it's the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. It's just like a style checker for code. It frees writers and editors from having to worry about details to focus on the important and difficult aspects of writing. What details? Things like "do you…
on “Writing like a pro with Vale and Neovim” ↗…stylebooks of the New York Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, and others [1], whether one is an immigrant or minority is only pertinent in heartwarming stories such as this. Quoting directly from the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 2015 Edition [2]: race should be cited only when it is pertinent and its pertinence is clear to the reader. The race of a victim of a hate crime or the subject of a police search is clearly germane,…
on “A Refugee Won over a Conservative German Town” ↗That may be the result of the "New York Times Manual of Style and Usage." For example, the Times NEVER uses a lower case "i" when iPhone begins a headline or sentence or picture caption. It is always "IPhone"
on “40 Years Ago, This Ad Changed the Super Bowl Forever” ↗