Dreyer's English

Starred review from October 29, 2018
Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, presents a splendid book that is part manual, part memoir, and chockfull of suggestions for tightening and clarifying prose. These begin with his first challenge to writers: “Go a week without writing ‘very,’ ‘rather,’ ‘really,’ ‘quite,’ and ‘in fact.’ ” (“Feel free to go the rest of your life without another ‘actually,’ ” he says.) Dreyer goes on to write with authority and humor about commonly confused or misspelled words, punctuation rules, and “trimmables,” or redundant phrases (the most memorable he ever encountered was, “He implied without quite saying”; Dreyer was so “delighted” he “scarcely had the heart” to eliminate it from the manuscript). But Dreyer’s most effective material comprises his recollections of working with authors, including Richard Russo, who after noticing a maxim posted in Dreyer’s office from the New Yorker’s Wolcott Gibbs—“Try to preserve an author’s style if he is an author and has a style”—later called him to ask, “Would you say I am an author? Do I have a style?” This work is that rare writing handbook that writers might actually want to read straight through, rather than simply consult. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

November 1, 2018
A veteran copy editor debuts with an account of his beliefs, preferences, and peeves about contemporary English grammar and usage.Dreyer--vice president, executive managing editor, and copy chief at Random House--rehearses a bit of his personal history with the copy editing profession and then takes us on a journey to the many major and minor isles of written English. In most ways, the author is not an Ahab-ian captain. He recognizes the arbitrary nature of many of our "rules" (after all, we made up most of this stuff). Early on, he explains the silliness of our adherence to such things as never splitting infinitives, never starting sentences with "But" or "And," never ending sentences with prepositions. Soon, however, Dreyer begins to list specific dos and don'ts, instructing us on the uses of commas, colons, parentheses, and quotation marks. He pauses to explain the difference between an en- and an em-dash, between "who" and "whom," and "lie" and "lay." He also has some fun with dangling modifiers. In fact, Dreyer has fun throughout, exhibiting a light tone and a sly sense of humor. He could not resist, when reminding us of the difference between "hanged" and "hung," that some men are, indeed, hung. He thinks we are losing the battle against "alright" and doesn't really observe the difference between "nauseated" and "nauseous," but he does like the distinction between "each other" and "one another." Also included are some sections on the correct spelling of proper names and on the use of the word Frankenstein (the creator, not the creature). He wryly reminds us that "clichés should be avoided like the plague" and that we really shouldn't trust internet memes as a source for authentic quotations.A pleasant voyage with a genial, worthy captain--though we do sail to many places we have been before.

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February 1, 2019

With this utterly readable and informative handbook, Random House vice president, executive managing editor, and copy chief Dreyer delivers an assertive (albeit amusing and authoritative) guide to correct English. In an engaging and sometimes anecdotal style, he instructs on the uses of commas, apostrophes, semicolons, and parentheses, not merely through a series of rules but rather with effective examples of correct and incorrect usages. He argues that it's time to stop appropriating British English, presenting plenty of examples of our missteps. While Dreyer's list of frequently misspelled words serves as a helpful reminder of accurate spelling, his chapter on "Peeves and Crotchets" provides a list of wrong usages of which some of us may find ourselves guilty. This will prove beneficial to everyone who wants to improve "their" writing and especially valuable to those who want to help others with their prose. VERDICT Highly recommended for general readers.--Herbert E. Shapiro, Lifelong Learning Soc., Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Raton

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018
In this user-friendly guide, Random House copy chief Dreyer invites readers into his life's work, explaining how to navigate written communication through examples from years spent buried in unpublished manuscripts. While the manual is invaluable for the author-to-be, it's also an advantageous read for anyone looking to avoid sounding like an idiot in any official document, regardless of whether they have a background in or penchant for writing. Speaking of they, it's worthwhile to note that Dreyer's is a modern reference text, relaying how certain rules of the English language, like pronoun use, are evolving alongside Western culture. The manual is peppered with Dreyer's playful anecdotal footnotes and acerbic wit, making for a riotous read when readers wouldn't necessarily expect one. Useful features include a compilation of Dreyer's ultimate language pet peeves and a list of commonly misspelled proper nouns with tricks for keeping them straight. A remarkably fun book about a dastardly dry subject, this will surely aid in committing the rules of the written word to memory, once and for all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)