Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Caroline Taggart’s books in National Trust shops

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Proofreading my forthcoming book Describing Prescriptivism, I came to p. 100 where I mention that Caroline Taggart’s Her Ladyship’s Guide to the Queeen’s English (2010), published by the The National Trust, used to lie for sale in country houses all over Britain. … Continue reading →

Posted in news | Leave a comment

An anachronism in The Mitford Murders

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Being a fan of Nancy Mitford, and having read the Mitford sisters’ entire correspondence  (ed. Mosley 2007) as well as their biography by Mary Lovell (2001), I was naturally curious about The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes, the more so since … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged | Leave a comment

Just out!

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Just out, and yes, the book includes a paper on prescriptivism, my own! The project may be finished, but new publications still appear. So: Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (2019), Usage guides and the Age of Prescriptivism. In: Birte Bös and … Continue reading →

Posted in news | 1 Comment

Even John le Carré has them

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Metalinguistic comments that is, as in the novels of Kingsley Amis, Len Deighton and Ian McEwan. Reading A Most Wanted Man (2008), I came across several references to accent but also one to who/whom: But for how long? And from who? … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Describing Prescriptivism

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Soon to appear (expected publication date: some time in September):  

Posted in announcement, news, usage features, usage guide | Tagged | Leave a comment

More complete?

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

In 2007, The Dutch Taaladviesdienst (a language advice service run by Genootschap Onze Taal)  published Taal top 100, a collection of the 100 most popular usage problems in Dutch, in the fields of spelling, grammar, lexis , punctuation and style. … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Leave a comment

These ones, those ones

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Just finished my article “Of greengrocers, sports commentators, estate agents and television presenters: Who’s in a usage guide and why” for a special issue with papers from Liv Walsh’s workshop In the Shadow of the Standard September last in Nottingham. … Continue reading →

Posted in news, usage features | Tagged | 1 Comment

English Grammar Day 2019

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Every year, some time during the summer, UCL organises an English Grammar Day. This time I have been invited to speak, and I decided to do so on the following topic (not yet announced online): No complaint tradition in The Netherlands? … Continue reading →

Posted in events, news | 3 Comments

Lest best: Viktorija Kostadinova’s thesis

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Ingrid Tieken

Lying on my desk today is Viktorija Kostadinova’s PhD thesis, the third of the PhD students from the Bridging the Unbridgeable project. My warmest congratulations to her as her supervisor. She will be defending her thesis on 18 December: wish … Continue reading →

Posted in news | Leave a comment

Grassroots Prescriptivism

Posted on November 23, 2018 by Ingrid Tieken

Yesterday, Morana Lukač defended her PhD thesis called Grassroots Prescriptivism at the University of Leiden. This was the second of the PhD defences from the Bridging the Unbridgeable project. Morana did extremely well, and the committee was most pleased about her performance. … Continue reading →

Posted in news | 1 Comment