Tag Archives: fowler

Are Americanisms taking over the British Language?

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

Below follows Jan van den Berg’s first blogpost: “American influence is busily eroding a valuable and once firm distinction in British speech and writing” (Amis 1997: 11). This is a quotation from Kingsley Amis’s usage guide The King’s English (1997). As we … Continue reading →

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Maar is het fout? (But is it wrong?)

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

Here is Annemarie Walop‘s second blog post. While browsing on the internet a few weeks ago, I found a very interesting article on the website of Dutch quality newspaper De Volkskrant about the Dutch coordinating conjunction maar (“but”). The article is … Continue reading →

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Effect an effect

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

Here is Kate Taylor’s first blogpost (Kate is another of my MA course Testing Prescriptivism students). In my experience there are three levels of knowledge regarding the uses of the words effect and affect: imagine these three levels as the tiers … Continue reading →

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Hodge and Byron F. Caws

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

Walking along Fleet Street in London last week, we sidetracked a little to have a look at Dr Johnson’s house in Gough Square. The first thing you see when entering the square is a statue of Johnson’s cat, Hodge. But … Continue reading →

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Back to school: buy Fowler

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

I was just forwarded an email from OUP USA which announces a Back to School 2013 offer of a 65% reduction on book prices. The list of books on offer include Fowler’s Modern English Usage, at half-price, which is good, … Continue reading →

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Who was Sir Ernest Gowers?

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Carmen Ebner

While browsing in one of the many second hand bookshops in Scotland, I came across a familiar name: Sir Ernest Gowers. Gowers, known for his revision of H.W. Fowler’s Modern English Usage, also published other reference works such as the … Continue reading →

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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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HUGE database

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Robin Straaijer

The creation of a database of English usage guides and usage problems: the Hyper Usage Guide of English, or HUGE-database, is one of the sub-projects within Bridging the Unbridgeable. It is the first database to combine more than two hundred years of usage advice … Continue reading →

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Focussing? Focusing?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

A while ago, I used to get phone calls from colleagues from all over the university with questions like how to write focussing, with single or double s. As a member of the English department I was expected to know these … Continue reading →

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Publication history of Fowler

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

I’m working on a publication history of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, along the lines of R.C. Alston’s Bibliography of the English Language from the Invention of Printing to 1800. For this, I need to have information on the publication of reprints … Continue reading →

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