«The Globe and Mail» Style Book: A Guide to Language and Usage. Rev. ed.

Sarah Robertson is the trade, scholarly, and reference editor of the
Canadian Book Review Annual.

The Globe and Mail Style Book was last revised and updated in 1995. This
latest edition retains the format used in previous editions, with
entries alphabetically arranged and cross-referenced. The authors
present advice and rulings on a wide range of usage issues, from
abbreviations and capitalization to punctuation and points of grammar.
There are extended entries on such topics as quotations; courts,
contempt, and libel; foreign and French words; Native people; women and
language; and measurement. Serving as appendixes are The Globe and
Mail’s code of conduct, a history of the Globe, and 16 pages of maps.

A quick comparison with the 1993 edition reveals some minor style
alterations (e.g., day care and data base now appear as single words,
and Art Deco is lowercase); such essential additions as ageism,
Internet, Web, and ABM (it is curious that while this entry suggests ATM
is the U.S. term, ATM appears with far greater frequency in the pages of
The Globe and Mail); and an updating of the historical record where
applicable. ITP Nelson Canadian Dictionary of the English Language has
replaced Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary as the Globe’s
official spelling guide. Individual exceptions to Nelson are listed
under the entry on spelling.

The book is considerably more prescriptive than the Guide to Canadian
English Usage (Oxford University Press, 1997). The authors adopt a
traditional stance on such bugbears as hopefully, presently, beg the
question, enthuse (as a verb), and parameter. The entries themselves are
models of clarity and conciseness (advance planning is accompanied by
the pithy query, “Is there another kind?”), peppered with dry wit
(on the expression rush to hospital, the authors remark, “We can
assume an ambulance doesn’t dawdle”). In future editions, McFarlane
and Clements might consider replacing some of the more quixotic entries
(Anne Boleyn, Sir Henry Pellatt, fuddle-duddle, to name a few) with
entries that are more au courant.

Although developed specifically for Globe staff, The Globe and Mail
Style Book continues to be an invaluable reference work for all editors,
writers, and journalists who ply their trades in Canada.