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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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Mandela and me: how our chance encounter influenced my research
Bumping into Mandela on her return to South Africa inspired expat academic Candi Miller to make a difference With the death of Nelson Mandela – Madiba to South Africans – I’ve wondered if a chance encounter with him almost 20 years ago wasn’t in some way responsible for my academic career and research interest. I […]
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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 […]