Quite Literally: Problem Words and how to Use ThemThis is a guide to English usage for readers and writers, professional and amateur, established and aspiring, formal trainees and those trying to break in; students of English, both language and literature, and their teachers. In Quite Literally, Wynford Hicks answers questions like:
The advice given can be applied to both formal speech - what is carefully considered, broadcast, presented, scripted or prepared for delivery to a public audience - and will even enhance your everyday languange too Practical and fun, whether to improve your writing for professional purposes or simply enjoy exploring the highways and byways of English usage, readers from all walks of life will find this book both invaluable and enjoyable. |
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Common terms and phrases
acute accent Adam Nossiter adjective meaning adverbs Advice ambiguity American apostrophe Australian avoid better Britain British English Burchfield celibate clear cliché comma common confused contexts cricket curate's egg dangling modifiers decimate dictionaries distinction Donna Tartt Doris Lessing double negative Elizabeth Jane Howard euphemism example feminine forms fewer formal French fulsome gender grammar Guardian hyphen I/me jargon journalist Kate Burridge language experts Latin literally literary London Review metaphor Michael Pollan mirror words mistake misused non-u noun number agreement Observer opposed ordinary originally particularly person phrase plural verb preposition pristine problem pronounced protagonists quoted readers redundant refer replaced Review of Books rhetorical adverbs rhyming slang rule Salman Rushdie Saul Bellow sense sensual sentence sexual singular speech spelling split infinitive standard English style suggests Sunday term things traditional traditionally Trask trendy u/non-u usage usually woman women word meaning writing wrong Zadie Smith