Tag Archives: Steven Pinker

Taggart vs. Pinker: and the winner is …

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

I’d really like to be able to find out how well “our” usage guides, those in the HUGE database that is, have been selling over the years. This is confidential information, I was recently told by the firm handling the estate of … Continue reading →

Posted in news, usage guide | Tagged Caroline Taggart, Simon Heffer, Steven Pinker | 4 Comments

2014’s most remarkable events in prescriptivism

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

It’s new year’s eve, and time to look back on the year that is almost behind us! Several remarkable events happened this year, events that we all reported on in this blog. First there was the new edition of Sir … Continue reading →

Posted in announcement | Tagged CIA, English Today, HUGE database, Rebecca Gowers, Sir Ernest Gowers, Steven Pinker | Leave a comment

On November 7, The Washington Post published my review of Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style. You can read it on their website here. It also appeared in the print newspaper on the same day under the title ‘The Sense of Style,’ … Continue reading →

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Robin Straaijer | 1 Comment

Steven Pinker’s Sense of Usage

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Robin Straaijer

Last month, Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style was published in Britain and the US. As a specialist on books of usage advice, and as someone who needs to write for a living, I find The Sense of Style interesting because it … Continue reading →

Posted in news, usage guide | Tagged alternative, flat adverbs, language myths, SENSE, Sense of Style, Steven Pinker, Strunk and White, style | 3 Comments

“Could care less” or “couldn’t care less”

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Morana Lukač

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” are Rhett Butler’s famous last words to Scarlett O’Hara. Could you imagine a modern remake of Gone with the Wind in which Rhett would rather say “Frankly my dear, I could care … Continue reading →

Posted in polls and surveys, usage features | Tagged could care less, couldn't care less, Deborah Tannen, sarcasm, Steven Pinker, William Safire | Leave a comment

More usage guides in 2014?

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

The present year promises to be a good year for usage guides. Later this month, Rebecca Gowers’s new edition of her great-grandfather’s Plain Words will be published, an e-version of David Crystal’s Who Cares about English Usage will come out, … Continue reading →