Resources for writers and editors
Columbia University's Project
Bartleby publishes classic works whose
copyrights have expired:
Grammars, dictionaries, and
Professor Darling's excellent online Guide
to Grammar and Writing comes
with quizzes and provides useful mini-courses on grammar
and mechanics. Miss Grammar's cousinthe
elderly, but vigorous, "Grammar"resides
Rutgers professor, Jack Lynch, publishes a
handy Guide to Grammar and Style, based on his
Dictionaries provides links to many online
dictionaries and word books,
including dual-language works (English-German, for
example) and non-English language books.
Thesaurus Search Form,
an experimental program maintained by Mark Olsen
at the University of Chicago, lets you
"search the headwords or full text of Roget's
- Jeremy Smith's British-American Dictionary documents
the truth of the adage that England and America are
two nations separated by a common language.
For another amusing illustration of this truth, see United
Kingdom English for the American Novice,
in which one learns that "American dinner" means
Style and usage
In case you missed this classic in school, here is George Orwell's 1946 essay on writing clearly: Politics and the English Language.
Jonathan Price of the Communication Circle offers Tips to
tighten up your Web proseand most other writing
English as a second language
Cafe boasts over 2500 links in these categories:
Grammar; Writing; E-mail; Listening; TOEFL; Pronunciation; Home pages;
News; Vocabulary; Reading; Magazines; Games; Dictionaries; Poetry; Schools;
- The BBC's excellent site Learning English features sound, video, and interactivity to help
foreign speakers of English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml
- Purdue University's Writing
Resources and Writing Labs on the Net provides
extensive information and numerous links.
"In 1995 a group of federal employees began
meeting to try to spread the use of plain language.
This group remains at the center of the movement
in the United States. Now called PLAIN—the
Plain Language Action and Information Network—we
created this website to help others learn about and
use plain language."
This "site provides free plain-language articles,
writing tutorials, Web links, news, networking opportunities,
and professional support."