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Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English Usage

Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English Usage

by OliverKamm (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2015

    $3.25
Synopsis

Are standards of English alright - or should that be all right?
To knowingly split an infinitive or not to?
And what about ending a sentence with preposition, or for that matter beginning one with 'and'?

We learn language by instinct, but good English, the pedants tell us, requires rules. Yet, as Oliver Kamm demonstrates, many of the purists' prohibitions are bogus and can be cheerfully disregarded. ACCIDENCE WILL HAPPEN is an authoritative and deeply reassuring guide to grammar, style and the linguistic conundrums we all face.

$3.25

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 320
 Publisher: W&N
Published: 12 Feb 2015
ISBN 10: 0297871935
ISBN 13: 9780297871934
Book Overview: Oliver Kamm takes on the pedants in this witty, authoritative and sometimes provocative guide to the use and abuse of the English language.

Media Reviews
Entertaining and refreshing... [Kamm's] book is a welcome corrective to the notion that there is an objective standard we should strive for, and a celebration of a language in flux -- Ian Critchley * THE SUNDAY TIMES *
Kamm's case against the pedants is compelling ... and he really does manage to make pedants look ridiculous -- Tom Payne * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH *
Kamm's tolerance is certainly more preferable to the bigotry of sticklers who treat grammatical lapses as crimes or sins -- Peter Conrad * THE OBSERVER *
[Kamm's] case against the pedants is compelling: peddling made-up rules, they either stray into contradiction or are forced to denounce Milton as sloppy * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
A joyous and joyously liberating assault on the 'rules' of grammar which are little more than a hodgepodge of contradictory superstitions. Kamm's weapons are erudition and raw polemical vigour ... It is the most sensible style guide I have read, not least because Kamm always puts clarity first. I have only had ACCIDENCE WILL HAPPEN for a week, and have already referred to it dozens of times. If this book is a bestseller, as it may well be, its monument will be the liberated prose of the writers Kamm has freed. -- Nick Cohen * THE SPECTATOR *
Kamm is strongly influenced by Chomsky and is a reformed stickler ... his book delights by its puncturing of pomposity ... and its identification of pronouncements that have no foundation in scholarship. It leaves the reader clear that debate in print about English usage is a branch of both entertainment and politics -- Glyn Paflin * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
'This book came as a great relief. Although I feared I had a shaky grasp of formal grammar, Kamm reassures me that I have - in fact - acquired mastery as a native English speaker. With bracing confidence, he lays into pedants, sticklers and prescriptivists everywhere. Nevertheless, he's no anarchist: this book provides invaluable advice on writing with style, wit and verve' -- Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor, University of Reading * TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT *
ACCIDENCE WILL HAPPEN ... is a superb book, and I challenge any pedant to read it and not emerge with a more liberal view on usage -- John Rentoul * INDEPENDENT *
ACCIDENCE WILL HAPPEN ... is informed by astonishing erudition on the history and grammar of the English language -- Steven Pinker * OBSERVER *
Kamm is particularly good on the disproportionate tone of so much popular pedantry ... offering A Level English Language students a neat insight into the overarching metaphors of the prescriptive mindset. It's a clear an well-informed dismantling of some of the most frequent pedantic peeves. Part two of the book is much more of a reference work, offering a usage guide with plenty of clear and well-sourced examples ... a handy book for anyone teaching English -- Dan Clayton * TEACHING ENGLISH *
Author Bio

Oliver Kamm is a chief leader writer and columnist for THE TIMES. As a self-confessed reformed pedant he is the newspaper's unofficial expert on language and style, a subject he tackles in his long-running immensely popular weekly column, 'The Pedant'.
View his profile at www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/profile/Oliver-Kamm and follow him on Twitter: @OliverKamm