Fowler’s English Usage
Changes From 1906 to 1996
• The King’s English
– Fowler, H.W. and F.G., 1st edition (1906)
• The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage
– Fowler, H.W., ed. R.W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd
edition.
Major Changes
• Organization
Chapters
Alphabetized List
• Pronunciation clarifications
Respelling
• Overall Shift in Tone
Prescriptivism
IPA format
Descriptivism
Organization
The King’s English (1906)
• Table of contents with various headings
and subheadings
• Not alphabetical
Organization
The King’s English (1906)
Chapter 1.
Vocabulary
Americanisms
… Americanisms are foreign words,
and should be so treated…
“Far out, a three-funnelled Atlantic transport with turtle
bow and stern waddled in from the deep sea.”
-Kipling.
Organization
The King’s English (1906)
• Chapter 4
Punctuation
Quotation Marks
QUOTATION marks, like hyphens, should be
used only when necessary. The degree of necessity will vary
slightly with the mental state of the audience for whom a book is
intended…
John Smith, Esq., 'Chatsworth', Melton Road, Leamington.
The implication seems to be: living in the house that sensible
people call 164 Melton Road, but one fool likes to call
Chatsworth.
Organization
The New Fowler’s Modern English
Usage (1996)
• Pronunciation and abbreviation keys at the
front
Organization
The New Fowler’s Modern English
Usage (1996)
• Alphabetical listing of words and concepts
prescience, prescient. The customary pronunciations
now in BrE are /'presIәns/ and /'presiәnt/, whereas the
OED (1909) gave only /'pri:∫Iәns/ and /'pri:∫Iәnt/, with a
long first vowel and a palatized medial consonant.
presumedly. Four syllables if used: see –EDLY. But it
is better to use presumably or another synonym.
Pronunciation Clarifications
• The King’s English
The preface to The New Fowler’s Modern
English Usage states that in The King’s
English, “Fowler used a respelling system
when discussing the pronunciation of
individual words.”
Pronunciation Clarifications
• The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage
– IPA format
– Many Abbreviations
glycerine. /‘glIsә,rim/. So spelt in BrE
but usu. glycerin /-rm/ in AmE.
Shift in Tone
• The King’s English
– Prescriptivism
• Lays down rules and suggestions for proper
usage.
• The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage
– Descriptivism
• Describes how words and language rules function
• Acknowledges non-standard forms but does not
advise against usages