An A to Z format for quick reference, suggestions based on current language practice, chart of levels of speech and writing geared to context, descriptive and prescriptive entries, guidelines for nonsexist usage.

The essays in this collection give full attention to dictionaries, language change, standards of usage (and the continuing arguments over same), and dialect. The section entitled "Language as Metaphor and Play" analyzes the diversity of language, linguistic ambiguities, and other complications of communication.