Tag Archives: dangling participle

Le Carré’s main character spinning in his grave

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Ingrid Tieken

Reading another spy novel by John Le Carré, this time Absolute Friends (2003), I didn’t expect to come across any metalinguistic comments relating to prescriptivism since most of the novel is situated in Germany. But I did find this absolute … Continue reading →

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Just out (surprise)

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

Today, we found out that our article “Prescriptive attitudes to English” is published, that it has been out for two months already. Thanks, Carmen, for tweeting about it, or I wouldn’t have known. Still, I’m really pleased, and expect Carmen … Continue reading →

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Forever dangling? The unstoppable dangling participle under scrutiny

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Ingrid Tieken

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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Practicing with the HUGE database

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Robin Straaijer

Last week we ran a workshop with a group of language professionals in which they explored the HUGE database with some practice searches. Those practice search questions are now also available on the database page so you can do the same. … Continue reading →

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Fresh from the English Today press: The dangling participle – a language myth?

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Carmen Ebner

The December issue of  English Today contains the latest feature article from our project in which I am discussing the acceptability of the dangling participle. Here are some of the main points addressed in the article The dangling participle – a language myth?: … Continue reading →

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Want to write like a spy?

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

It appears that even the CIA has a style guide. A secret one no less, one that got leaked moreover, according to The Guardian Online yesterday. The Guardian article tells us that the style guide includes well-known “old chestnuts”  like uninterested/disinterested, … Continue reading →

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