Wilson Follett devoted his last years to composing a book on a subject he had studied all his life: the usage of American English.

This came from a group of writers and teachers of English: Carlos Baker, Frederick W. Dupee, Dudley Fitts, James D. Hart, Phyllis McGinley, and Lionel Trilling.

He was considered by expert reviewers to have struck the right balance of prescriptivity and to have trodden the right line between outdated, schoolmarmish rules and laissez-faire liberality in matters of grammar and usage.

The novelist, poet, literary critic and journalist Malcolm Cowley reckoned that the Guide was "Sensible, vigorous, and cogent ... Follett deserves a place on the shelf beside Fowler."

Poet and critic Mark Van Doren wrote "This is a book that any conscientious writer will continue to consult as long as he lives."