Dreyer's English
An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
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Narrated by:
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Benjamin Dreyer
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Alison Fraser
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By:
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Benjamin Dreyer
About this listen
New York Times best seller • A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by O: The Oprah Magazine • Paste • Shelf Awareness
"Essential (and delightful!)" (People)
We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help.
As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike - not to mention his followers on social media - for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now, he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he has copyedited and overseen into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward.
As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en dash; the rules and nonrules of grammar, including why it’s okay to begin a sentence with "And" or "But" and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including "very," "rather," "of course," and the dreaded "actually." Dreyer will let you know whether "alright" is all right (sometimes) and even help you brush up on your spelling - though, as he notes, "The problem with mnemonic devices is that I can never remember them."
And yes: "Only godless savages eschew the series comma."
Chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this audiobook will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and - perhaps best of all - an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language.
Praise for Dreyer’s English
"Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal... One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer’s English." (The Wall Street Journal)
"Destined to become a classic." (The Millions)
"Dreyer can help you...with tips on punctuation and spelling.... Even better: He’ll entertain you while he’s at it." (Newsday)
©2019 Benjamin Dreyer (P)2019 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Interwoven with cultural history and lively self-revelation, this bracing manual will up your game even if all you’re writing is emails." (People Book of the Week)
"Call it the hedonic appeal. Dreyer beckons readers by showing that his rules make prose pleasurable.... His book is in love with the toothsomeness of language. Its sentences capture writing’s physicality." (Katy Waldman, The New Yorker)
"Brimming with wit and revelatory wisdom, this style manual-cum-linguistic jubilee from Random House’s copy chief...entertains as it enlightens." (O: The Oprah Magazine)
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A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
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Great for casual linguists
- By Bertie on 01-11-10
By: John McWhorter
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Semicolon
- The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
- By: Cecelia Watson
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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A pause-resisting, existential romp through the life and times of the world’s most polarizing punctuation mark. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don’t need guides at all and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication.
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Silly me; I thought it was about semicolons
- By Jeffrey D on 08-15-19
By: Cecelia Watson
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Draft No. 4
- On the Writing Process
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: John McPhee
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Draft No. 4 is an elucidation of the writer's craft by a master practitioner. In a series of playful but expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he's gathered over his career and refined during his long-running course at Princeton University, where he has launched some of the most esteemed writers of several generations. McPhee offers a definitive guide to the crucial decisions regarding structure, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces and presents extracts from some of his best-loved work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny.
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McPhee is the Craft
- By Darwin8u on 09-19-17
By: John McPhee
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The Story of English in 100 Words
- By: David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences, and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ("roe", in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ("loaf") to cutting edge ("twittersphere") and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ("and", "what") to the more fanciful ("fopdoodle"), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language.
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Random but entertaining
- By Sean on 04-01-13
By: David Crystal
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The Memoir Project
- A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text For Writing & Life
- By: Marion Roach Smith
- Narrated by: Marion Roach Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.
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amazing what you can learn from brevity
- By Schwartz-Burrill on 09-15-11
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How to Speak and Write Correctly
- By: Joseph Devlin
- Narrated by: Shawn Grisden
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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This book has no pretension about it whatever -- it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, expatiating on the dogmas of style, nor a Grammar full of arbitrary rules and exceptions. It is merely an effort to help ordinary, everyday people to express themselves in ordinary, everyday language, in a proper manner.
By: Joseph Devlin
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Reading Like a Writer
- By: Francine Prose
- Narrated by: Nanette Savard
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire listeners to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
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Practical, literate, generous
- By Gare on 04-13-08
By: Francine Prose
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How Fiction Works
- By: James Wood
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Ranging widely from Homer to David Foster Wallace, from What Maisie Knew to Make Way for Ducklings, Wood takes the reader through the basic elements of the art, step by step. He sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision, resulting in nothing less than a philosophy of the novel, which has won critical acclaim nationwide, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times Book Review.
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Educational!
- By Don on 05-04-09
By: James Wood
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Poetry in Person
- Twenty-five Years of Conversation with America's Poets
- By: Lucille Clifton, Alexander Neubauer - editor, Eamon Grennan, and others
- Narrated by: Alexander Neubauer
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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This first audio edition of Poetry in Person: 25 Years of Conversation with America’s Poets (Knopf, 2010), invites listeners into an intimate classroom with eight acclaimed poets. Full of compelling, in-depth conversation about manuscripts and drafts by the poets themselves, plus readings of the finished poems, these historic recordings offer one of the most detailed portraits ever produced of how poems are actually made.
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Fascinating
- By d on 08-28-16
By: Lucille Clifton, and others
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The Art of Language Invention
- From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building
- By: David J. Peterson
- Narrated by: David J. Peterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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From master language creator David J. Peterson comes a creative guide to language construction for sci-fi and fantasy fans, writers, game creators, and language lovers. Peterson offers a captivating overview of language creation, covering its history from Tolkien's creations and Klingon to today's thriving global community of conlangers.
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Great resource, but not conducive to audiobook
- By Ashley T. on 04-18-16
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A Little History of the World
- By: E. H. Gombrich
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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E. H. Gombrich's world history, an international best seller now available in English for the first time, is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements, and an acute witness to its frailties.
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an enlightening book; very well read
- By A.B.Oxford on 06-03-06
By: E. H. Gombrich
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The Elements of Eloquence
- Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don’t need to have anything important to say - you simply need to say it well.
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Who knew rhetoric could be so much fun?
- By Philo on 10-30-14
By: Mark Forsyth
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Born to Kvetch
- Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods
- By: Michael Wex
- Narrated by: Michael Wex
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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As the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution: they never stopped kvetching about God, gentiles, children, and everything else.
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Fascinating, but...
- By Christopher B. on 04-05-16
By: Michael Wex
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Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled.
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Dreyer's English (Adapted for Young Readers)
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Adapted from the New York Times best seller by Random House's longtime copy chief, this informative and witty guide to writing and grammar, written especially for a younger audience, entertains as well as instructs.
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Refreshing
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Word Workout
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EDUCATIONAL, ENTERTAINING, ENGROSSING, ETC.
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Loved his take on life
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Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.
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Wasteful
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
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Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled.
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Ten years ago, Roy Peter Clark, America's most influential writing teacher, whittled down almost 30 years of experience in journalism, writing, and teaching into a series of 50 short essays on different aspects of writing. In the past decade, Writing Tools has become a classic guidebook for novices and experts alike and remains one of the best loved books on writing available. This new edition includes five brand-new, never-before-shared tools.
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Required Reading
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Review By a Fan
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Between You and Me
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English Grammar Rules & Mistakes Bundle
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good book but
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This is not the described book.
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Word by Word
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Kory should narrate more Audible books!
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First You Write a Sentence
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Whether dealing with finding the ideal word, building a sentence, or constructing a paragraph, First You Write a Sentence informs by light example: much richer than a style guide, it can be listened to not only for instruction but for pleasure and delight. And along the way, it shows how good writing can help us notice the world, make ourselves known to others, and live more meaningful lives. It's an elegant gem in praise of the English sentence.
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Dull
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Stein on Writing
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Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."
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Excellent advice and examples for better writing.
- By Jane on 06-22-12
By: Sol Stein
What listeners say about Dreyer's English
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gus Block
- 01-07-20
A Delightful Surprise
I was fairly confident I would like this book, if only from its topic and tongue-in-cheek subtitle. What I didn't expect was how much I would enjoy the narration. I'm especially wary of authors who read their own work - often a notoriously bad choice - but in this case Benjamin Dreyer nails it, along with his co-performer Alison Fraser. Excellent production and direction, too. Well done!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jeff Hopper
- 06-01-19
Wonderfully read
As a style manual, this would be better consumed in print. However, the audio book gives us the full benefit of Dreyer's voice, in both the literal and the literary sense, the latter of which is so much a part of the excellence (and enjoyment) of this writing. (Special note: I am certain the writer himself would groan over Audible's request that we rate the "story" of this book.)
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- Steven
- 08-18-19
Fabulous
Appreciated his learned take on writing style, and loved the style with which it was delivered.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kate
- 02-24-20
Fun
The author is not only obviously knowledgeable, he’s so entertaining to listen to. Thankfully he narrated his own book.
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- juddson
- 02-28-23
Informative + Entertaining
It is a difficult task to write a book about grammar without putting your readers to sleep. I appreciate the author’s dry humor. I also bought the paperback because I suspect I will be referencing this book regularly.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-30-19
Fun, Informative, and Well Performed
Well written, well researched, all together well done. Benjamin Dreyer has put together an excellent handbook, and his and Alison Fraser's performance is fantastic. Listen through the first time for the fun of it, then keep a copy at your desk for reference.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Mbaum
- 11-24-20
enjoyable but overhyped
I learned some useful information and laughed some along the way, but this was neither as amusing nor as informative as the glowing reviews led me to believe.
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1 person found this helpful
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- z1ulike
- 04-29-19
Almost Utterly Great
The author's political commentary should have been edited out. A great read otherwise. I've gained new respect for copy editors and hope I haven't broken too many rules writing this review.
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- Brooklyn
- 09-09-19
Grammar can be fun.
I read this for a graduate level course, and it was excellent. Who knew learning grammar could be so much fun.
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- J.B.
- 07-09-19
Proper English and Much Tongue in Cheek
Dreyer's English, An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer, and narrated Benjamin Dreyer, along with delivery of the performance lines by Alison Frase. A pleasant journey into the peculiarities of the English language. Filled with little tidbits one should mind when writing and delivered in a tongue in cheek format. Mr. Benjamin Dreyer is a copy editor for Randon House.
The book is more entertaining than one would anticipate when considering the foibles of this idiom we took from the British, because Mr. Dreyer’s method of delivery is; a bit ironic. In fact, it is just packed with goodies to keep in mind when writing and equally packed with quips.
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