Although I haven’t read Garner’s Modern American Usage from cover to cover, I do occasionally refer to it when writing, and I often just flip through it for pleasure. I especially like to periodically reread the essay* in the preface section, Making Peace in the Language Wars, which reminds me not be to quick to join the language war—the war between prescribers who guide people on how to use language correctly and describers on how language is used:
To my knowledge, anthropologists don’t denounce ethnic food, and art historians don’t denounce art restorers – especially not when the cooks and the artisans know a thing or two about the material they’re dealing with. Musicologists don’t censure musicians who teach others how to produce a vibrato. Sociologists don’t look askance at ethicists who aim to guide human behavior. Those who study language could learn something from these other fields – something about balance, civility, and peaceful coexistence.
Bryan A. Garner
I think we should embrace language for what it is, and accept and enjoy some of its contradictions.
* Reference books on writing and language often have wonderful essays in their preface, well worth the time to read.