MARY GABLE

A few times a week, I’ve been camping out at the coffee shop on my block. It’s a nice change from my desk at home (plus, they have the best chocolate-chip cinnamon scones you’ve ever tasted). At my favorite corner in the back (tucked away, sort of, from the noisy cash register and espresso machine) is a little neighborhood book exchange.

It’s mostly your typical rummage-sale used book fare: think trashy paperbacks, battered coffee-table books on castles and gardening, and how-to guides with titles like Windows 2000 for Dummies. But one book caught my eye. Gold letters on a green spine: Words Into Type.

I’ve always had a thing for old-school style guides. Over the past few years, I’ve collected more than I’ll probably ever need (or use). But just one more can’t hurt, right?

Words Into Type contains the chapters you’d expect: editorial marks, citation styles, grammar and punctuation particulars. But there was one section I’d never seen before: a list of “prepositional idioms.” It reminded me of preposition lists I had to memorize as a student just beginning to learn Spanish. It never occurred to me that a similar list must exist for the English language.

For example, the word “identical” can only be followed, according to the guide, by the preposition “with;” “muse” with “on” or “upon.”

I’m not sure that today’s usage is quite as limited as thebook suggests (it counts “vest-pocket republic” and “like a bolt from the blue”—whatever those mean—among overused expressions). But I’m always happy to add another reference book to my shelf. Or maybe I should have traded it out for one I already own…

Here’s a link to “The Right Preposition” in the Words Into Type e-book.