Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style

by Benjamin Dreyer

Southern Gal, amiably, to Frosty Matron: So where y’all from? Frosty Matron, no doubt giving Southern Gal a once-over through a lorgnette: I’m from a place where people don’t end their sentences with prepositions. Southern Gal, sweetly, after a moment’s consideration: OK. So where y’all from, bitch?

3.

In a tote-up of grocery items, as above, the series comma ensures that the final two items in a list aren’t seen as having a special relationship,

If Jeanette has some pencils and Nelson has some pencils and Jeanette and Nelson are not sharing their pencils, those pencils are: Jeanette’s and Nelson’s pencils

But if Jeanette and Nelson reject individual ownership and pursue a socialist policy of collectivization for the betterment of humankind, those pencils are now: Jeanette and Nelson’s pencils Well, truly I suppose they’re then the people’s pencils, but you get the point.

a New York–to–Chicago flight

Please note in the second example above that I’ve used two en dashes rather than an en dash and a hyphen, even though “Chicago” is a single word. Why? Visual balance, that’s all. This a New York–to-Chicago flight simply looks—to me and now, I hope, to you, forever afterward—a bit lopsided.

The farmer lived on seventy-five fertile acres and owned twelve cows, thirty-seven mules, and 126 chickens. but rather: The farmer lived on seventy-five fertile acres and owned 12 cows, 37 mules, and 126 chickens.