Wikipedia:Identifying and using style guides: Difference between revisions

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== The "big four", plus one ==

The four most influentialfrequently off-siteused style guides for English are also those that are the main bases of our own MoS. These are ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' (often called ''Chicago'' or ''CMoS'') and ''[[Garner's Modern English Usage]]'', for American and to some extent Canadian English; and ''[[New Hart's Rules]]'' and ''[[Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]'' for British English, and Commonwealth English more broadly. They are not necessarily the most factually correct on all [[Linguistics|linguistic]] matters they address, but they are by far the best-selling and thus the most influential on usage.

These are the style guides with the most direct impact on formal written English. ''Chicago'' and ''New Hart's'' are the primary style guides of non-fiction book publishers in North American and the Commonwealth, respectively, and also have a significant impact on journals. Well-educated people who write much often have a copy of one or the other (though not always a current edition). ''Garner's'' and ''Fowler's'' are both usage dictionaries (like ''New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors'', often packaged with ''New Hart's'' in a single volume, ''New Oxford Style Manual''), and are popular with well-read everyday people as well as professional writers/editors. Cambridge University Press puts one out too, but ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'' dates to 2004, is rarely cited, and is primarily for [[English as a second language|ESL]] learners.