CURRENT AMERICAN USAGE

Prepared by a committee of the National Council of Teachers of English, this is a reference work whose purpose it is ""to disseminate knowledge about actual usage in America today"". It deals primarily with frequently disputed matters of syntax rather than pronunciation or vocabulary, evidence gathered from primary investigations, scholarly dictionaries, treatises of linguists, and magazine articles. The 240 entries are alphabetically organized and conveniently cross-referenced. Typical entry-BAD, BADLY -- is headed by a short summary paragraph: ""Usage is almost evenly divided between feel bad and feel badly. In spoken English, more examples of feel badly occurred: in formal written English, more examples of feel bad. With verbs like look and , bad is almost always preferred."" Following these summaries, the various data from which conclusions have been reached are discussed along with a listing of primary sources available to scholars. Thoroughly objective and extensively researched, aural preference, references to Chesterton, school-marmish conservatism, any and all imperatives are left to the reader's choice of status. Should become a standard reference work.