Acclaim

Great debut!
—Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl

I head a user-experience consultancy in Singapore called PebbleRoad. We recently started doing a lot of content work. We want to do high quality work and were looking for a standard to follow. Word Up! is our standard now.
—Maish Nichani, Managing Director, PebbleRoad Pte Ltd

Excellent.
—Bryan A. Garner, author of Garner’s Modern American Usage, on “You Don’t Know From Prepositions”

This book embodies the adage practice what you preach. Marcia’s writing style is powerful in its own way: engaging, funny, instructive, and supportive. I’ve longed for a book on writing to recommend to clients and colleagues … and this is it!
—Kristina Halvorson, author of Content Strategy for the Web

I love this little book … It’s so entertaining, that bettering your prose is almost effortless.
—Caroline Leavitt, book critic for The Boston Globe and People
(See interview)

It’s got the zen of editing.
—Garret Romaine, professor of English, Portland State University

This book shows how language can be clear, easy-to-read, and enjoyable. If all my clients read this book, their websites would provide more value—and I bet their emails would be better too. I’ll be recommending this book often.
—Karen McGrane, author of Content Strategy for Mobile

I have ebook and physical copies of Word Up!—I have to have it with me in line at the supermarket, on airplanes. But at home, I love cracking open the paperback and “remembering” the pages I’ve hit with colored highlighter.
—Maxwell Hoffmann, technical communicator (See comment)

I read Word Up! in one sitting. I love the witty language and Monty Python references. The glossary alone is so valuable I’m copying it and pinning it to the wall above my computer.
—Todd Albertson, Portland State University student

You rarely get this kind of knowledge in such an engaging way. Read the book like a collection of short stories.
—Rahel Anne Bailie, coauthor of Content Strategy

If you’re in the business of communication—and you are— Word Up! is an essential business resource.
—Margot Bloomstein, author of Content Strategy at Work

I simply love the book. It gives me ideas about my own direction. Marcia was smart to write it as a series of essays rather than attempting to create a formal style guide. She has a unique voice. I’m glad she let us hear it.
—Eddie VanArsdall, author of Content Insomnia blog

Informative and funny.
—Penny J. Beebe, retired senior lecturer in writing at Cornell University

This book deals with grammar and usage in a way that I was never taught in school or any workshop I ever attended.
—Renee Barrett, author of Writer’s Block blog
(See review)

Witty.
—Kitty Burns Florey, author of Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog, on “A Modern Take (Is Take a Noun?) on Parts of Speech”

Why can’t style guides explain writing like Marcia Riefer Johnston?
—Keith Kmett, certified usability analyst

I’m only 35 pages in but I started at midnight last night and do you know what I did the moment I woke up? Turned on my light and resumed reading. Marcia Riefer Johnston has an engaging, clear, and humorous style. I am enjoying every word—and rolling on the floor laughing. I feel myself becoming more powerful already!
—Carolyn Kelley Klinger, president of the Society for Technical Communication, Washington DC chapter

Light, fun, and enjoyable to read. Marcia approaches grammar and style with a refreshing perspective. I wanted to make a checklist of principles to remember as I edit my own writing.
—Tom Johnson, author of I’d Rather Be Writing blog
(See his post)

Better than coffee.
—Cheryl Landes, technical writer and indexer

These tips have changed the way I work.
—Andrew Nhem, content strategist

I recommend Word Up! to my students. I enjoy the casual approach and the sense of humor infused in each chapter.
—Danielle M. Villegas, author of TechCommGeekMom blog

My writing has improved as a result of this book’s guidance, which I find sitting on my shoulders like little angels (and devils) at the oddest moments.
—Kerry Carnahan Ellis, author of Content Insight blog

I read with interest and pleasure. Nice examples, and I especially liked the discussion of stylistic reasons why one would or would not choose to use verb particles. Marcia has a wonderfully engaging writing style that is quite refreshing.
—Muriel R. Schulz, coauthor of Analyzing English Grammar, on excerpts

Inspirational.
—Martha Brockenbrough, author of Things That Make Us [Sic], on “What Brand R U?”

Put this book in your reading queue immediately.

—David Caruso, manager of the Information Design and Architecture special-interest group, Society for Technical Communication

I am a grammar geek and love all kinds of “how to write well” books, from The Elements of Style to The Harvard Blue Book (that one dates me!) to Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I read them cover to cover, like novels. [Word Up!] is particularly good—livelier than most, with plenty of substance.
—Gilion Dumas, author of Rose City Reader blog
(See review)

Marcia Riefer Johnston has packed this volume with nuggets of wise advice. Any aspiring writer would be wise to mine them.
—Jack Hart, author of A Writer’s Coach

Marcia expertly weaves together writing strategy and tactics. Whether you’re new to professional writing or a pro seeking handy tips, this book has you covered.
—Colleen Jones, author of Clout

Illuminating. If some of those sharp-witted classical rhetoricians were blogging in today’s idiom, they might sound like Marcia Riefer Johnston, delivering both quintessential and quirky writing tips along with charming, pointed asides. With bright style and nimble tips that even professional writers forget (or never knew), she channels the inspirations and lessons of her own writing career into a brisk giddyap for balky prose.
—Arthur Plotnik, author of Spunk and Bite

It’s refreshing to be entertained while learning. The Enjoyability factor takes this book from useful and relevant to a great user experience.
—Danalyn Loitz, technical communicator and usability advocate

I find myself forcing others to listen while I read “this great part” out loud every few minutes. My dogs will soon be English experts! I plan to give this book to all my English teachers.
—Jennifer DeAngelo, grammar geek

Since reading Marcia’s book, my sentences are 42 percent more powerful. Plus they have jazz hands.
—Melissa Amos, technical writer

I am having so much fun with this book.
—Barbara Saunders, writer

I admire Marcia’s clarity and thoroughness. Her examples are excellent in that they illustrate distinctions admirably. She is fun to read.
—Thomas P. Klammer, coauthor of Analyzing English Grammar, on “You Don’t Know From Prepositions”

Clever and clear, funny and wise. I’m a tech editor who wants to transition to fiction editing. Quotes from Word Up! will be more effective in my comments than those from some stuffy, grammar-geekish style guide (sorry, “Chicago”).
—Linda Branam, senior technical editor

Fun with words and a great read.
—P. G. Bartlett, head of product management for Acrolinx

These lessons are Wheaties for writing!
—Sherri Henkin, author of Growing the Write Way blog
(See review)

In the last five minutes, I’ve deleted ten be-verbs and reworded four ofs. Thanks for teaching me.
—David Hooker, writer/editor at Prezi

I enjoy the pace, tone, and momentum of this book. Once I get going, it’s hard to stop reading! I love the real-world perspective and candidness. Word Up! engages me as a professional writer but also seems accessible to people just diving into the world of writing.
—Emily Menard, M.A., tech writer, editor, formatting expert

Books on writing—the careful use of words and exercise of grammar—can be catonically dull, not because of the information they present, but because of the presentation itself. Not so in Word Up! by Marcia Riefer Johnston. This book is a fresh and humorous compilation that writer and nonwriter, adult and teen, will find invigorating. Thirty brief chapters, each digestible within a few minutes and in any order, will bring both understanding and chuckles to even the most jaded readers of grammar and word usage. And special segments, such as Johnston’s comic bit on how to obfuscate and wow your employer with just the “right” word comprising a deliberate surfeit of syllables, will produce outright laughter.
—Frank Mazur, fiction writer

I am a flabby writer. That is the conclusion I came to after reading Marcia Riefer Johnston’s Word Up! Marcia has a way of highlighting common mistakes and showing us how to write power sentences—all with a sense of humour. Marcia’s style of writing (about grammar mind you) got me chuckling out loud.
—Jacqui Licht, technical writer

Like vitamin-enriched chocolate. This book brought me a smile as well as instruction.
—Wendy Hood, Marcia’s sister

Buy this book.
—Stella Robertson, Marcia’s mom

Seriously. Buy this book.
—Your mom