Book Review: The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. University of Chicago Press. 2003. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [ISBN 0-226-10403-6. 956 pages, including index. $55.00 USD, hardcover; $36.98 USD, used, hardcover, Powell's; $37.40 USD (special sale), new, hardcover, Amazon.com]

by Valerie M. Ball

Technical communicators often know The Chicago Manual of Style as a recommended style guide, so it may be a surprise to learn from the book's preface that its “core constituency” is “writers and editors of scholarly books and journals” (Manual 2003, xi), a group generally distant from documentation users.

However, even without the time-earned respect for the latest version of a style sheet that dates to the 1890s, the 15th edition is a page-turner on any technical communicator's desk. And the new and updated features may resolve, start, or continue differences of opinion, such as the Manual's approval for “Beginning a sentence with a conjunction,” which apparently has “no historical or grammatical foundation” (Manual 2003, 193) to render it nonstandard. Moreover, the long-enforced ban not to end a sentence with a preposition is another myth, a “superstition” preached by English teachers who actually have no textbook support for such a “handicap.” This 15th edition is indeed a page-turner. But beginning a sentence with “but” contains caveats that require a closer reading of Paragraph 5.191 on page 194.

New and Updated Features

The seeming heresies in the preceding paragraph are part of the “Grammar and Usage” chapter, which is one of the new features of the 15th edition. Additional material pertinent to technical communication includes a section on electronic publishing, advice on editing and proofreading on screen, updates of copyright laws and permissions, a reorganized section on compounds and hyphenation, more attention to Canadian terms and usage, and a revised chapter on mathematics that recognizes the use of software by authors and editors. Guidance is also provided for bias-free language. One new section, the typographic presentation of American Sign Language by editors of Gallaudet University Press, should benefit technical communicators as they explain technological advances to assist the hearing-impaired.

What Technical Communicators Can Use

The “Grammar and Usage” chapter is elegant, well-organized, and concise. The English language traditionally has eight parts of speech, an arrangement with which the Manual concurs, even though other authorities may cite from three to fifteen parts of speech. Every item is thoroughly explicated, and each builds successively upon its specified usage. Examples are given within “curly” brackets { }, all of which are printed in medium blue-gray ink. Technical terms for grammar are explained fully: in paragraph 5.120 (Manual 2003, 178), the Manual states that “past perfect” and “pluperfect” are the same verb tense, which is formed by using had with the principal verb's past participle {had walked} {had drunk}. Thus, even a lazy user of the Manual can obtain information quickly, and a native speaker of English can understand the rules more easily from the examples. My only criticism of the blue-gray ink is its spottiness in some places in my copy. I could still read everything, but a poor printing of its own special book does not commend quality assurance at the University of Chicago Press.

“Prepositional Idioms” in the “Grammar and Usage” chapter are useful even to a native speaker; they are invaluable to a non-native speaker. “Troublesome Expressions” encompass 37 pages and provide the connotations for why the word “lady” is a “patronizing stereotype,” what is “stuffy” about “it is I,” and the differences between “immigrate” and “emigrate.” This section makes any writer more aware of the denotations and connotations of words, an awareness that is invaluable to both native and non-native speakers of English.

The 15th edition addresses the task of keyboarding on the basic level of substituting the lower case “l” for the numeral “1.” Instructions about using the tab key instead of the space bar, eliminating the extra character space after a period at the end of a paragraph, omitting blank lines — all of these directives give the Manual an omniscient presence in electronically prepared manuscripts. Sans serif fonts, such as the Arial type used in The Galley, should be avoided because of the similarities of “1,” “l,” and “I.” The commentary on dashes, italics, underlining, and quotation marks/punctuation will either cause or cure apoplexy.

What I Wish Were Better

Other than the occasional low-quality print of blue-gray ink, my only disappointment is the section on bias-free language, and that disappointment is caused by my wish for something more than a panacea, something that can be applied as easily as the rules for ergative verbs. Instead, the writer and the editor are admonished to be careful, to be sensitive, and to work hard. Yes — nothing new.

Obviously, a 926-page book divided among 18 chapters and two appendices cannot be adequately analyzed in less than a thousand words, and I've probably violated a few of the Manual's rules in this review. Even worse, I probably haven't addressed some of the essential questions that Galley readers may have. The University of Chicago Press has advice for all, though, including those who don't open the book: “Users should break or bend rules that don't fit their needs, as we often do ourselves” (Manual 2003, xiii).

Recommendation: Buy It, Use It, Write It, Preach It

Enough said.

Employed as a technical writer at Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics, Valerie M. Ball has been a member of WVC since January 2002. She won an award of excellence for her trade-journal article, “Risk-Free Runways,” and she has served as a judge at chapter and international levels, with her most recent experience for STC at the 2004 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Valerie's next collaboration with The Chicago Manual of Style will be in July 2004 at the Region 8 Conference when she presents “Syntax or Sin Tax: Which Should a Writer Choose?” Meanwhile, she can be reached at vmball@rockwellcollins.com .