"Be in no doubt: the beer was drunk but the man drank the beer."
"We must avoid vulgarities like 'front up'. If someone is 'fronting up' a television show, then he is presenting it."
Simon Heffer's incisive and amusingly despairing emails to colleagues at the The DailyTelegraph about grammatical mistakes and stylistic slips have attracted a growing band of ardent fans over recent years. Now, in his new book Strictly English, he makes an impassioned case for an end to the sloppiness that has become such a hallmark of everyday speech and writing, and shows how accuracy and clarity are within the grasp of anyone who is prepared to take the time to master a few simple rules.
If you wince when you see "different than" in print, or are offended by people who think that "infer" and "imply" mean the same thing, then this book will provide reassurance that you are not alone. And if you believe that precise and elegant English really does matter, then it will prove required reading.
Publisher: Cornerstone
ISBN: 9780099537939
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 247 g
Dimensions: 198 x 130 x 23 mm
An impassioned case for correct English, full of practical advice - Country Life
Every one of us who gasps at the use of English in the papers each morning or harrumphs on turning on the radio will find much to applaud - The Spectator
I have spent several productive hours reading Strictly English - Jeffrey Archer, Daily Telegraph
His evidently strong feelings about his subject, fluently expressed, make this book lively and engrossing - Times Literary Supplement
The Holy Grail of grammar ... It is a delight to read and learn from this book - Field
A useful book in its field but not without fault. It is set up in narrative format where a glossary would have been more accessible for reference purposes. The index is thin: we are given an appendix of technical... More
A man who has spent ten years standing behind a till is hardly the first person you would approach for guidance on How To Get On In Life. Nonetheless, when I am asked, and especially when I am not, my advice is the... More
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