Have you ever wondered what “bellwether” meant?  How do you correctly use “either”?  And what should one do with a comma, exactly?  If you’ve been bugged by these and other grammar and usage questions, you should pick up Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words.   I recommend this book to even those writers who feel secure in their linguistic knowledge.  We could all use a refresher sometimes.

Bill Bryson makes grammar seem less like a monster (a fault of some instructional books I’ve come across) and more like a doddering relative.  He acknowledges the inherent confusion of English, the language of mish-mashes, dialects, ethnicities and slang.

Also try Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors.