* Roy H. Copperud; Authority on English Style and Usage

Roy H. Copperud, 76, an authority on the style and usage of the English language. He wrote five acclaimed books, including “American Usage and Style: A Consensus,” which won the 1980 Humanities award of the Assn. of American Publishers. Copperud worked as a journalist in Minnesota, Baltimore and Los Angeles where he was a copy editor for The Times. He was editorial director and music critic for the Pasadena Independent and Star-News before becoming a professor of journalism at USC in 1964. He was a member of the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary, a consultant to the Webster Living Encyclopedic Dictionary and a cited source in Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. He also was the longtime author of the “Editorial Workshop” column in Editor & Publisher, a trade publication for journalists. In Altadena on Friday of what was described as a lengthy illness.