science

Le Bon Usage

Le Bon Usage is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Le Bon Usage rather than just read about it. In short: Le Bon Usage (French pronunciation: [lə bɔn‿yzaʒ], Correct Usage), informally called Le Grevisse, is a descriptive grammar of French first published in 1936 by Maurice Grevisse, and periodically revised since. It describes the usage of the French language, primarily in its written literary form.

Key takeaways

Le Bon Usage belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Le Bon Usage to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Le Bon Usage from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Le Bon Usage (French pronunciation: [lə bɔn‿yzaʒ], Correct Usage), informally called Le Grevisse, is a descriptive grammar of French first published in 1936 by Maurice Grevisse, and periodically revised since. It describes the usage of the French language, primarily in its written literary form.

Description Quite extensive (1,760 pages in the 16th edition), it includes numerous examples and counter-examples (40,000 citations) taken from Francophone literature of various periods, including newspapers, forming a reference for teachers of French, and in particular, authors, translators, and editors.

Editions

In 1936, the first edition was published by Duculot (later De Boeck Supérieur). A new edition was published in 1939, and another in 1946. In 1946, the book was awarded the gold medal of the Académie française. The high praise of André Gide in the literary supplement of Le Figaro in February 1947 contributed to its success. In 1980, Bernard Pivot dedicated an episode of Apostrophes to the book following Grevisse's death. After Grevisse's death in 1980, his son-in-law André Goosse, also a grammarian, took over and published the 12th and 13th (1993) editions. The 14th edition was published in August 2007 in a new format. The 15th edition appeared in 2011. The 16th edition was published in 2016 to mark the 80th anniversary of the book.

Online As of 1 January 2023, Le Bon Usage is no longer available online.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Le Bon Usage

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Le Bon Usage claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Le Bon Usage before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Le Bon Usage ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Le Bon Usage

In research: Le Bon Usage appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Le Bon Usage in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Le Bon Usage is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 non-fiction books, Belgian books, Books about the French language, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Le Bon Usage outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Le Bon Usage in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Le Bon Usage means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Le Bon Usage out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Le Bon Usage in simple terms?

Why does Le Bon Usage matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Le Bon Usage?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Le Bon Usage.