Category Archives: usage features

Grumbling about grammar over coffee

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

The Literary Gift Company What a wonderful gift this would be, this lovely set of Grammar Grumble Mugs! Except that most of them are about spelling, not grammar of course (I’m a pedant after all!). Thanks for the link, Ana! 

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You guys, you all and Kingsley Amis

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

When we were living in Cambridge, two years ago, I was struck by the pervasiveness of you guys as a plural pronoun. It is not as if it was new to me: in my history of the language lectures I … Continue reading →

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Hain’t

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Inge Otto

Have you ever heard anybody say hain’t?  Have you seen it written down somewhere for have not or has not? Until this morning I was totally unfamiliar with the expression. To be honest, I  only knew of the existence of … Continue reading →

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Ain’t: Bob Dylan vs. The Byrds

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

Whenever I listen to Bob Dylan’s song “Mr Tambourine Man”, I catch myself being surprised at the line: I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to. Shouldn’t it be ain’t in this context? Googling for the line, … Continue reading →

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Kind regards or best wishes?

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

During dinner at a conference last week, a British colleague raised the question of where the closing formula “kind regards” had suddenly come from. It is pervasive in emails nowadays, she said, but she waived my suggestion that it might … Continue reading →

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Peter Trudgill on less and fewer

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

Reading students’ papers this summer, I kept stumbling over their use of less for fewer. But it is not a typically Dutch error (as I have to see it in my role as their teacher), nor is it new. For … Continue reading →

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Punishing Princes Street

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Carmen Ebner

Edinburgh’s Princes Street is a true shopper’s delight. Its countless shops and stores make the hearts of shopaholics beat faster and credit cards moan even louder. Yet, it is not all sunshine and roses down Princes Street. Grammar – or … Continue reading →

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David Crystal and the history of English spelling, or how the Internet is killing off silent letters

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Morana Lukač

The Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, which is held annually in Wales, was a prolific place this year for discussions about language use. Professor David Crystal gave a wonderfully engaging talk at the event, presenting his latest book Spell … Continue reading →

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Marilyn French and the split infinitive

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

I found another one! And once again in a novel by Marilyn French (1929-2009), this time My Summer with George (1996). The novel is situated in 1991 (p. 236), and it is about the dream of an affair in late middle … 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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