Is there a relatively standard British English Grammar guide that people know of, in particular one in use in the legal industry over there?
Also, does anyone know of any book or article that compares grammar in British and American English?
Thanks for any help…
I don’t think there is very much difference, if any at all, in grammar between US and UK English.
Usage, however, has many differences.
As a British person living in the US, trust me, there are differences - such as the use of a comma before the “and” in a list.
That is not grammar, it’s style. Even within the U.S. there is not one consistent form considered “correct.” It’s been discussed lots here before; here is a synopsis.
Yes, sorry - clumsy of me there. I am looking for a British English style guide, as used in the legal profession there, and anything comparing British and American English style as applied to the legal profession.
I will check that link… thanks…
Except for that whole collective noun/singular vs. plural verb kerfuffle.
Jack Lynch writes my favorite online Grammar and Style Guide…except where we disagree it is excellent. http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html
You may want to look at the Additional Reading and Online sources at the bottom of the Home page.
A sample entry from the “Commas” header:
*Finally, the thorniest comma-related question, whether or not to include the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma from its inclusion in their house style guides). In most house styles, the comma is preferred before the last item in a list: “the first, second, and third chapters.” Leaving it out — “the first, second and third chapters” — is a habit picked up from journalism. While it saves a teensy bit of space and effort, omitting the final comma runs the risk of suggesting the last two items (in the example above, the second and third chapters) are some sort of special pair. A famous (and perhaps apocryphal?) dedication makes the danger clear: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”
Oh, yeah — go and read the entry on Semicolons for good measure.*
(I would have preferred a colon instead of his second comma, but hey…)
I don’t have the book at home that I could get the reference from, but my favorite grammar book was written by a lawyer and one of his main references (IIRC) was a legal writing guide. Don’t know if it was British, though. Here’s the book and two of the sources he drew from (I’d written some tips and had used these references, so I have them handy).
C. Edward Good, A Grammar Book for You and I. . . Oops, Me! Capital Books, Inc., Herndon, Virginia, 2002.
Wilson Follett, Modern American Usage: A Guide, Hill and Wang, revised by Erik Wensberg, New York, New York, 1998.
Henry W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, second edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 1965.