Reference books for writing

[Rhapsody]

Today I stood in front of a large collection of grammar books. A couple of shelves were devoted to British grammar books. I was lucky, I have been looking for a while for good reference books, so I felt like a kid in the candy store. Unfortunately the books there were at very basic level. There were a few that stood out. One of them was: Michael Swan- Practical English usage.

Book Description
Over 600 concise articles, arranged in alphabetical order, explain and illustrate points of grammar, usage, vocabulary, idiom, style, and pronunciation. For this new edition, the whole book has been thoroughly revised and, in places, reorganized and rewritten.

The reviews are great so far. Any opinions? Books that are on your desk and are very usefull for you? Since there are differences between American and British grammar I am settling for the latter.

I already put out a ILL-request for the following books:
Elements of Style, The: A Style Guide for Writers / William I. Strunk

The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed / Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Harbrace College Handbook / Winifred Horner, Suzanne S. Webb, Robert Miller

[Minuialeth]

I've stopped reading and studying grammar so long ago my brother almost always makes a point about my rusty grammar. ;D
but if anyone is interested I can do a search for useful books and that would help us all I think... ;D

[Rhapsody]

Okies, well. Today I was in a different bookstore (in the east of the country near the German border) and I found:

An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage
G. Leech, R. Cruickshank (Editor), R. Ivanic (Editor)

I like to hold the books in my hands and browse through them to see if they will work for me. This one appealed to me since it had examples (instead of pages with exercises) and it was written clearly without using too specific grammar terminology. Back in the train, I already read some entries so this one is a tip!

[Minuialeth]

you know you just gave me an idea...why don't we make our own exercises right here? They will be for everyone with a time frame of say a weak...

[Leaward]

At the grammar course I took in February, the Strunk and Whites was definitely recommended as was the Harbrace. My teacher also recommended two other books but they were specifically for the Canadian publishing industry.

That's a matter of discussion on a few other sites -- which rules should be followed. From what I gathered, as long as you're consistent. Rhapsody for instance pointed out once that in Dutch, (and correct me if I misunderstood, Rhaps) quote marks can actually indicate the 'style' of speech, double quotes means the speaker might be shouting, while single quotes can mean it's a simple 'said'. I find that really interesting.

In Canada, we use the American system of double quotes, but in England, single quotes are used for speech.

Find a way that works for you, and just stay consistent with it. Even within countries it depends upon who is publishing your work, what style they use. And my teacher even recommended that we create our own unique style sheet.

[Rhapsody]

It might be that we Dutch are so easy-going that we adapt to every grammar style out there! I just need to be consistent!