Description

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Thousands of overused words and phrases—and alternatives to them—are compiled in this ultimate writer’s reference, composing the perfect companion for those seeking to weed out bland, commonplace content and replace it with crisp, concise prose. Entertaining examples of poor vocabulary make for great browsing while specific clichés and sharper options are also featured. Humorous and enlightening, this updated edition contains more than 100 new entries and 50 new exemplary sentences.

About the Author

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Robert Hartwell Fiske is the editor and publisher of the Vocabula Review, a monthly online journal about the English language. He is the author of The Best Words, The Dictionary of Concise Writing, The Dictionary of Disagreeable English, and Vocabula Bound. He lives in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Praise For…

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"Readers will cheer his trouncing of cliche, redundancy, and windy generality."  —Dallas Morning News

"If you want to create fat-free sentences and paragraphs, you will pay heed to Robert Hartwell Fiske's advice."  —Richard Lederer, author, Anguished English

"Robert Hartwell Fiske adheres admirably to rules that are practical, that facilitate understanding through logic and lucidity, or even just by a sense of decorum that makes speech more communicative and writing more elegant."  —John Simon, New York Magazine

"Fiske shows how to make the turgid crisp."  —William Safire, New York Times