Monthly Archives: May 2013

Wanted: Usage Guide Writers (f)

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Robin Straaijer

Our current strategy for deciding which usage guides to enter into our database of English usage guides and usage problems has been to identify different categories of usage guides and focus our efforts on acquiring the guides that fit into these categories. … Continue reading →

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Beaumont’s Better English Campaign

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Inge Otto

In The English Journal of November 1927, George Norvell reported that the teachers of Beaumont Senior High School were so tired of their students’ nonchalant disregard for rules of correct English which they had learned “dozens and perhaps hundreds of … Continue reading →

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Apostrophe humour

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Morana Lukač

In a recent analysis of letters to the editor written on the topic of the errant apostrophe, I have come across many humorous examples of both letters and featured comics. The two comics below are taken from the Guardian. The … Continue reading →

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A blogpoll on ain’t

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

As a follow up to Chloe’s post below on ain’t, I’d be interested in having your feedback in a blog poll as well. So please let us know what you think! (Click on the title to access the blog poll.)

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The ain’t forecast:

Posted on May 28, 2013 by xhlo

For the past 150 years, the ain’t forecast has been mostly heavy showers with some sunny patches – much like a European summer – but how do things look now? Here is a brief run-down of the prescriptivists-family reaction to … Continue reading →

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Punctuation matters

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Anoeska Bronswijk

Nowadays, people seem to be more tolerant towards language. Punctuation errors, for instance, seem to be accepted more often, as understandability is believed to be more important than correctness. Lynne Truss, the well-known author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The … Continue reading →

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Author Spotting

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Cynthia Lange

I would like to share my excitement about my most recent book purchase. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s related to the HUGE database of usage guides and usage problems – albeit tangentially. The book is Het Handboek Stijl, which is the current … Continue reading →

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Pulpitically?

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

I’m currently analysing the entries in Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence (1856), one of the earliest Americn usage guides (though not the earliest one, as I thought before), for a paper I’m giving on the topic at the 5th … Continue reading →

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An Academy of English?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Carmen Ebner

Even if Great Britain never had an Academy of English similar to the France’s Académie Française or the Spain’s Real Academia Española, authority is still assigned to different bodies. But to whom? The desire for having a standard to hold … Continue reading →

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Latest conference news

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Robin Straaijer

Latest conference headline: follow us on Twitter – hashtag #PrescrConf2013 new paper by Charlotte Brewer (University of Oxford) on prescriptivism and the English school curriculum. Here is the new abstract (Grammarian Gove). Registration for the Leiden conference Prescription and Tradition in Language on 12-14 June … Continue reading →

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