'Robert William Burchfield'
CNZM CBE (
January 27,
1923 -
July 5,
2004)
was a scholar, writer, and
lexicographer.
Born in
Wanganui,
New Zealand,
he studied at
Victoria University in
Wellington and, later, at
Magdalen College,
Oxford University in
England on a
Rhodes Scholarship, where he was mentored by
J.R.R. Tolkien. From 1957 to
1986 he edited the second
Supplement to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary''. Subsequently he produced
a controversial, substantially rewritten edition of
''
Modern English Usage'', the famous
style guide
to the
English language by
Henry Watson Fowler.
He died at the age of 81.
External links
★
Obituary of Robert Burchfield ''(
Daily Telegraph)''
★
''Oxford English Dictionary'' website entry for Robert Burchfield