What is the difference between sympathy and empathy? Is a collaborator the same thing as a collaborationist? What about contemporary and contemporaneous? Is it acceptable to say "equally as good"? Should it be demur or demure? Ketchup of catchup? Which verb number follows "each"? Thecomplexities of the English language can be daunting for even the most fluent speakers. Almost anyone engaged in formal writing--letters, reports, memos, school essays--will sometimes need to consult a usage guide for advice on matters such as these.The Guide to Canadian English Usage is an easy-to-use reference providing pithy directon on more than 1,750 details that puzzle even professional writers. From the indefinite article to zoology, alphabetically arranged entries clarify issues of word choice, punctuation, spelling and abbreviations.A number of entries address related concerns, such as alphabetization. Each entry is illustrated with examples from more than 150 published Canadian sources.

Margery Fee teaches postcolonial literatures, Canadian literature, and First Nations writing at the University of British Columbia. Her recent publications include “Aboriginal Writing in Canada and the Anthology as Commodity” (Native North America: Critical and Cultural Perspectives, ed. Renée Hulan, ECW Press, 1999), and “Who Can Write as Other?” (The Postcolonial Studies Reader, eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Routledge, 1995). She has published on Indigenous writers Jeannette Armstrong, Beatrice Culleton, Keri Hulme, and Mudrooroo Narogin, and has just completed editing a special double issue of Canadian Literature on Thomas King.

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