Wikipedia:Identifying and using style guides: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:05, 12 July 2018

Revision as of 11:06, 12 July 2018

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The four most frequently used 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 AmericaqtypoAmerica 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.

Wikipedia's Manual of Style also relies heavily on ''[[Scientific Style and Format]]'' for medical, science, and other technical topics; e.g. it is where most of our advice on units of measure comes from. This is put together by a multi-disciplinary body of science writers from all over the [[anglosphere]]. It was formerly published in the UK, and leaned British for basic typographical matters, but the last few editions have been published in the US by the University of Chicago Press, and been normalized to an extent to ''Chicago'' style on such matters, without affecting the technical advice.