Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Strunk & White in our very own NRC-Handelsblad!

Posted on July 20, 2016

I don’t always read the Dutch writer Pia de Jong’s weekly column from the US in our paper, but last night, turning over the NRC, my eye was immediately drawn to the words Elements of Style: Strunk and White in NRC-Handelsblad, … Continue reading →

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Fingers crossed, please!

Posted on July 19, 2016

A few weeks ago, I submitted our HUGE database as a candidate for the Nederlandse Dataprijs. By mid-September, the jury will nominate three potential winners, and we hope to be among them. What is more, we would really like to be … Continue reading →

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“Basically … rather good”

Posted on July 13, 2016

Just decided to check up on the reception of Simon Heffer’s new (well, two years old by now) usage guide called Simply English, and found that Ben East, in The Guardian, described it as “basically … rather good”.  Interesting, in view … Continue reading →

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Frank Sinatra and prescriptivism

Posted on July 12, 2016

This summer, driving through France, one of the CDs we played was “The best of Frank Sinatra”. Singing along with his very popular “That’s Life” (1966), my attention was suddenly caught by his use of laying for lying: “Each time I find myself … Continue reading →

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9 December: Life after HUGE? Registration now open

Posted on June 16, 2016

Below, you will find the preliminary programme for the symposium Life after HUGE? which will be held on 9 December at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. Registration is now open, and you may do so either by leaving a comment … Continue reading →

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How do sticklers react to linguistic findings?

Posted on June 14, 2016

Here is Lingyun Lai’s second blogpost: Sometimes, grammar handbooks and usage guides address similar usage issues, but their conclusions are not always the same. Nowadays, quite a few grammar references are based on corpus linguistics, and many such descriptive findings disaffirm … Continue reading →

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Forever dangling? The unstoppable dangling participle under scrutiny

Posted on June 13, 2016

Here is Ina Huttenga’s second blog post: The dangling participle is a pervasive structure in the English language. These “misrelated” modifiers have been used throughout English language history, but they seem to have become problems only recently, in the 20th … Continue reading →

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