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The Bishop’s Grammar (OUP, 2011) was reviewed in last week’s Times Literary Supplement. One of the aims of my book was to show that Robert Lowth is usually depicted as an icon of prescriptivism, and also that his Short Introduction to English … Continue reading
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Honey’s book, published in 1997, is a controversial publication, to put it mildly. We are looking for reviews of the book in addition to the ones by Peter Trudgill, Roy Harris and Paul Bennett. A rejoinder to Trudgill’s review appeared … Continue reading
Kate Wild, one of our contributors, has kindly lent us two copies of her usage guides: anon., A Dictionary of Daily Blunders. London: Whittaker & Co (1880) anon. Many Mistakes Mended. New York: N. Tibbals & Sons (1886). The first of this … Continue reading
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In a park in Ealing, London (was it Ealing Common?) we came upon this notice: The arrival and that of their descendant’s have changed the face of Ealing and England forever. If you look carefully, someone tried to erase the … Continue reading
We are looking for images that will help to give a visual illustration of prescriptivism. There are of course pictures of Henry Watson Fowler, the author of Modern English Usage, but what else is there that we could use?
We have just launched the Facebook page of the project. Follow the link on the right to visit the page and feel free like us and join our new community of friends to help bridge the unbridgeable!
The usage guide seems a typical English – British as well as American – phenomenon, though one of our commenters, Nadia Petrova, has already drawn our attention to the fact that they are also popular in Russia today. But what … Continue reading
“How can our listeners help you?” was a question Tom Holland asked when he interviewed Ingrid Tieken on the BBC Radio 4 programme Making History (broadcast: Tuesday 18 October 2011). Listeners of Making History can help us by telling us … Continue reading
Paul Bennett, one of the commenters in this blog, offers language advice to the readers of his website. There is a wealth of information in his Quick Language Guide for Writers, and of particular interest there is his section called … Continue reading
Earlier this week, an article appeared in The Independent called “Language watchdog goes interactive to teach French to the French”. It reports on the fight against English influence on French by the Academie Française. Words criticised are stresser, as in “C’était stressant … Continue reading
Bridging the Unbridgeable 