One Hundred Years of The King's English

"Any one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid."

So begins one of the most charming and yet sensible books ever written about English grammar, usage, and style. This year marks the centennial (or, as its English authors would have put it, the centenary) of The King's English, by brothers Henry and Francis Fowler.

Available online in its second edition at Bartleby.com, The King's English offers five "practical rules in the domain of vocabulary":

• Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.
• Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.
• Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
• Prefer the short word to the long.
• Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance.

A century later, we echo this advice in Tips to Cut the Clutter and in More Ways to Cut the Clutter.

You can find reference works for writers that are more current and (perhaps) more practical. Indeed, Henry Fowler himself (following his brother's death in World War I) wrote one that was even more popular--A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926). But you won't find a reference book that's any wiser or more enjoyable than The King's English.