Still learning the language

After 16 years of formal education and a lifetime spent working with the English language, including several years as a copy editor, I still do not know what terms like gerund and past participle mean. Nor do I care. So why did I read a language-usage book called One Day in the Life of the English Language (2015) by Frank L. Cioffi that is full of such terms?

Perhaps it was the title and the concept behind the book. Cioffi simply picks a day — Dec. 29, 2008 — and samples various newspapers, magazines and other publications printed that day and explores how the English language was used on that particular day. Mostly he finds fault, which is interesting especially when his target is The New Yorker, a magazine with a reputation for its careful editing.

The fact is, there is much disagreement about what is proper language usage, and Cioffi even concedes that writers and editors should follow the style of their own publication, even while insisting that his own views are more correct.

For instance, he says there should be a comma before the "and" in a series, as with "bell, book, and candle." The Associated Press Stylebook, which I followed during my long newspaper career, regards that comma as unnecessary. In other words, AP favors "bell, book and candle." I continue to follow AP style, and not just out of habit, except in rare instances where one more comma can add to clarity. Cioffi's view is that, yes, that last comma is usually unnecessary but should be used anyway because of those rare instances when it is helpful.

Most of his book is about as interesting as any English class about grammar and usage you ever sat through when you were in school, yet it does have its moments, such as when he finds fault with highbrow publications like The New Yorker. ( And when he writes about when to use such as and when to use like. Did I get it right this time?)