Education

New Book on Good English Usage Goes Off the Press

A new book on English usage by National Book Award-winning author Jose Carillo, “The 10 Most Annoying English Grammar Errors,” went off the press recently along with the second updated edition of his award-winning and bestselling first book, “English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today’s Global Language.”

Carillo’s new 122-page book consists of incisive, no-holds-barred critiques of the most vexing grammar and usage errors that crop up in today’s newspapers and magazines as well as in the broadcast media and on the web. The 498-page “English Plain and Simple,” which won the National Book Award in linguistics from the Manila Critics’ Circle in 2005, seeks to help nonnative English speakers improve their written English without having to go back to the classroom.

Both books may be browsed at www.manilatimes.net/josecarillobooks and are available in the Philippines from selected outlets of National Book Store, Powerbooks, Bestsellers, Goodwill Bookstore, Fully Booked, and Expressions. Group or bulk orders of the books may be purchased at quantity discounts at books@manilatimes.net.

About the Author

Jose A. Carillo, who writes under a pen name, is a nationally awarded writer and editor and an internationally awarded corporate communicator. He won a National Book Award for linguistics from the Manila Critics Circle in 2005 for his first English-usage book, English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today’s Global Language. Previously, he had won a total of nine major industry awards in the Philippines for his work as company editor and public affairs executive. He later gained international recognition for his work as a corporate communicator, winning the Gold Quill Award of the U.S.-based International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in 1989 and the Golden World Award of the U.K.-based International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in 1990.

A former college newspaper editor in chief, national newspaper reporter, company editor, and corporate communications executive, he ran a Metro Manila-based English-language services company as its general manager for nearly five years until mid-2005. He is now an independent editor and communication consultant based in Metro Manila in the Philippines, and can be reached at j8carillo@yahoo.com.

His weekly English-usage column in The Manila Times currently comes out Saturdays in both the print and Internet editions of the paper. In April 2008, he came up with his second English-usage book, The 10 Most Annoying English Grammar Errors.