Author:R L Trask
Can anything be described as 'very real'? There are so many obstacles on the way to writing clear, precise ('accurate'?) English ('english'?) that it is a wonder ('wander'?) anyone ('any one' or 'anyone'?) can be understood. Fortunately, all those who have ever feared being shown up by using one of the twenty worst words and phrases to be avoided at all costs, or confusing the complex with the complicated, can now relax and even enjoy a trouble-shooting guide to good writing. Trask's wonderfully readable and authoritative book adjudicates on hundreds of contentious issues from politically correct language to whether to write 'napkin' or 'serviette'.
The Scots tongue, like most of the world's minority languages, is under pressure and Billy Kay in this excellent and cogent survey draws together the strands of our concern
—— Daily ExpressKay is the best writer on his own language I have read since Burchfield on English; his book should be put in schools, for it is capably seditious
—— The HeraldMoving, delightful, even inspiring
—— Edinburgh ReviewIt is not the kind of dry academic tome so cherished by linguistic nitpickers, but a bright, radical examination of the language which is at the heart of our existence
—— Aberdeen Press and JournalA fresh and invigorating overview of a fascinating subject
—— Stirling ObserverWell written . . . provocative
—— The New York TimesAttuned to pop culture as well as to scholarship, Abley proves a deft social anthropologist
—— The Daily Telegraph
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