stumbled across this entry at Language Log:
[…] The Elements of Style offers prejudiced pronouncements on a rather small number of topics, frequently unsupported, and unsupportable, by evidence. It simply isn’t true that the constructions they instruct you not to use are not used by good writers. Take just one illustrative example, the advice not to use which to begin a restrictive relative clause (the kind without the commas, as in anything else which you might want). But the truth is that once E.B. White stopped pontificating and went back to writing his (excellent) books, he couldn’t even follow this advice himself. or should he; it’s stupid advice). You can find the beginning of his book Stuart Little on the official E.B. White website; and you can see him breaking his own rule in the second paragraph. That isn’t the only such example.
recommends the following 2 books:
- Proper Grammar by Ronald Wardhaugh, published by Basil Blackwell in 1999 – about grammatical correctness
- Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage – alternative to S & W
