How to Speak and Write Correctly

A dictionary may hold 200,000 words, Joseph Devlin argues—but ordinary speech needs only about 2,000. Call a spade “a spatulous device for abrading the surface of the soil,” and you may reveal less learning than you hoped.

In this practical guide to English, Devlin makes a case for familiar words, clear thoughts and sentences that say exactly what they mean. He leads readers from the parts of speech and the rules of grammar to the larger aims of purity, perspicuity and precision, with a brisk, sometimes pointed warning against slang, confusion and verbal showmanship. The goal is not to sound grand, but to speak and write correctly—and to be understood without effort. Which small habits of language stand between a muddled sentence and one that lands just right?

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