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One of Arnold Zwicky's main areas of interest is the often-preposterous universe of advice literature for grammar, usage and style. I recently asked him for some recommendations on guides that weren't prescriptive and dumb. Here are his suggestions:

"The best work on grammar, usage, and style is Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage."
Almost everything else is unscholarly and opinionated, says Arnold. But after the "MWDEU" he'd go for the 1996 American Heritage Book of English Usage (available online) and the 2005 American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style.
Arnold's read good things about Lukeman's The Art of Punctuation (2006), but hasn't looked at it carefully. The other books don't really cover too much punctuation, though.
"In a very different vein, there's Cazort's Under the Grammar Hammer: The 25 Most Important Grammar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them" (1997). It goes for the ones that professionals think are most serious (though not professionals in linguistics or English).

Presentation notes

How do you talk about the success of UI text? What are the best practices for creating language that is clear and compelling?

Click here to see a list of references and resources for my presentation on "Language and the design of user interfaces" (WritersUA conference, March 25, 2007)

Top links

There are lots of people thinking about language and design (though not always together). Here are some favorites.

Linguistic interface design

The sciency art of UI writing