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The Stranger in the Story
Most anecdotal ledes are fine in themselves. But the device seems rote and shopworn if a reader encounters one story after another with the same approach. There are many, many ways to start a non-straight-news story; we should look harder for alternatives. After Deadline http://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/the-stranger-in-the-lede-2/
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10 grammar books to read before you die of boredom | Mind your language
A seasonal selection of new (and not so new) books about language that are anything but dull Books about English fall into various categories, mostly offputting ones: the academic, rarely of much interest, and often incomprehensible, to the general reader; the lament for a (mythical) golden age “when everyone knew how to use grammar”; the […]
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Why it’s ‘Ukip’, not ‘UKIP’, and why I find that amusing
It’s one of the weirdest ongoing arguments that rages in the comments underneath Telegraph Blogs – more heated, at times, than whether or not Muslims are behind the global warming scam, or if the moderators are in the secret pay of Brussels. The argument is: is it Ukip, or UKIP? Underneath Ambrose’s piece published a […]
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Does speaking German change how I see social relationships?
LAST week’s column was about the languages that have both formal and informal pronouns for you. It seems that, at least in the European languages, the informal pronouns are ascendant. But they are a far from gone, and their persistence brings to mind another topic. That is the idea that languages shape thought in profound […]
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The Slang Patrol
Slang and colloquialisms have their place, for special effect or to deliberately convey an informal, conversational tone. But otherwise, they can seem trite or hackneyed, and can undercut the serious and literate tone we seek. After Deadline http://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/the-slang-patrol-2/
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Open door: The style guide editor on… peer pressure and using people’s proper names
Our policy on referring to lords and ladies is impossible to apply consistently and credibly. So, should we drop titles altogether? Which of these (hypothetical, I emphasise) sentences do you think works better? Baron Hall of Birkenhead has invited The Lord Lloyd-Webber, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho and Baron Foster of Thames Bank to star in […]