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This will be one of the topics discussed at the SENSE panel discussion ‘Varieties of English: How prescriptive should we be?’ on 27 January (see under News for more information). One of the panel members will be Joy Burrough-Boenisch, the author of the … Continue reading
We have just published the sixth usage poll, which we hope you will have time to complete during the upcoming Christmas break. You will find it under the tab Usage polls just under the banner of this blog. We’re temporarily … Continue reading
I’m currently reading a pile of students’ essays on the use of WordSmith Tools in the analysis of two eighteenth-century English novels. They make very interesting reading, and no two are alike. This time, though, in view of the discussions … Continue reading
During the past few days, I received emails (from the UK) that contained the following phrases: An Out-of-Office reply: Please note I work Monday – Wednesday’s only Please supply: Passengers full name (as stated on passport); Passengers date of birth; Passport number … Continue reading
“Flat Adverbs” are defined by the OED as follows: “Not distinguished by a characteristic ending, as an adverb which has the same form as an adjective or substantive, or a substantive used as an adjective” (OED, s.v. flat, adj., adv. … Continue reading
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If today’s pet linguistic hates for BBC journalists and news writers are try and (for try to), concede defeat/victory, gone missing and Americanisms (e.g. turning nouns into verbs and attaching prepositions to verbs: hospitalize, meet with) (see elsewhere in this blog), different ones are listed in Robert Burchfield’s … Continue reading
At the 17th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, one of the plenary papers will be on prescriptivism. The speaker is Anne Curzan, from the University of Michigan, and her paper will be called “Prescriptivism: More Than Descriptivism’s Foil”. The … Continue reading
When setting out to fill in our fourth language poll, one of the readers of this blog found she wanted to leave all the boxes blank for the ‘less’ and ‘try and’ questions, but that the poll wouldn’t allow that. … Continue reading
Let us know what you think about these constructions by filling in our fourth usage poll. You’ll find the poll under the button Usage polls, immediately below the banner of this blog.
Bridging the Unbridgeable 