Yesterday's tip listed some elementary workbooks for a reader who asked about basic grammar guides. Today's list veers off into more general references that can help insecure writers stand on solid grammatical ground.

For no-nonsense advice about writing clear, concise prose, Strunk and White's The Elements of Style ($12) remains the classic. If your correspondents wish your messages came with a simultaneous interpreter, order this book today. You need never write gobbledygook again.

A book we cite often is The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage ($24), the official guide of the newspaper's writers and editors. It's both accessible and sensible. For clear, up-to-date guidance on usage in general ("fewer" vs. "less"), politically charged terms (use "sexual orientation," not "sexual preference"), new words ("passenger-mile" is hyphenated), and issues you may never have thought of and may never need to know ("use 'coffin' instead of the euphemistic 'casket'"; "'Meat Loaf' and 'Little Richard' keep their full name without title in all references"), the book is a bottomless resource. It's very opinionated, of course.