Gwynne's Grammar

Oct 3, 2024 5:11 AM

Author:Nevile Gwynne

Gwynne's Grammar

'Grammar is the science of using words rightly, leading to thinking rightly, leading to deciding rightly, without which – as both common sense and experience show – happiness is impossible. Therefore: happiness depends at least partly on good grammar.'

So writes Mr Gwynne in his small, but perfectly formed new book. Mr Gwynne believes passionately that we must regain our knowledge of the lost science of grammar before it is too late.

Formerly a successful businessman, Mr Gwynne has for many years been teaching and tutoring just about every sort of subject to just about every sort of pupil in just about every sort of circumstance. His teaching methods are very much the traditional, common-sense ones, refined over the centuries, that were almost everywhere until they were abolished in the 1960s.

Being disappointed in the standards of grammar he encountered in his pupils, Mr Gwynne, over time, wrote this wonderful, succinct and yet comprehensive little book – because nothing quite as suitable already existed.

This edition also includes Strunk’s classic guide to style, explaining how to write well and the main pitfalls to avoid.

Beautifully designed, easy to understand and a joy to read, Gwynne's Grammar may be the best little book you will ever have in your life.

Reviews

...a collection of words you never knew you needed before

—— Huffington Post

Charming illustrations and sheer linguistic delight

—— Maria Popova , Brainpicker

words you never knew you needed but now can’t live without

—— Saga Magazine

...a fantastic collection of words without English counterparts

—— Entertainment Weekly

… will make you think, laugh and discover situations you never knew there was a word for

—— ELLE Canada

'An absorbing read...reminding us that oppression is not always conducted abroad or by the sword and that, when a remedy is sought, it will often be found'.

—— Sean Cosgrove , Morning Star

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into a historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic.He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

—— David Ross , The Glasgow Herald

One thing that makes Gowers such an engaging figure is that he isn't prissy, priggish or prim. As far as he is concerned, language is a living thing that is constantly changing - and this is just as it should be

—— Sunday Telegraph

Still the best book on English and how to write it ... Unhappy with versions rewritten by others, Rebecca Gowers, Sir Ernest's great-granddaughter, has produced a new edition ... The result is splendid ... Gowers wrote with wit, humanity and common sense ... [his] central advice should be taped to the screen of anyone sitting down at a computer keyboard

—— Michael Skapinker , Financial Times

The book has been modernized but preserves all its original charm ... There is arguably a greater need for its circulation among the general public [than ever before]

—— Big Issue

The zeal with which Sir Ernest uncovers error is matched only by the wit with which he chastises it

—— Evening Standard

I am glad that attention should be continually drawn to copies of this book ... I am in full sympathy with the doctrine laid down by Sir Ernest Gowers

—— Sir Winston Churchill

A delight, a classic of its kind

—— John o'London's Weekly

Great fun to read

—— Economist

Brilliant

—— New Statesman

A sweetly reasonable and wholly admirable guide

—— The Times

It will delight far wider circles than those to whom it is primarily addressed

—— Observer

Personal and affectionate tribute

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.

—— The Catholic Herald

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