The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage
Books / Hardcover
Books › Language Arts & Disciplines › General
ISBN: 0312186010 / Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, January 1998
Discusses the proper usage of often misused words, including "major," "oblivious," "obscenity," and "all right," with the histories behind each word listed
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Throughout his notable career as a novelist, poet, and literary critic, Kingsley Amis was often concerned - the less understanding might say obsessed - with the use and abuse of English.Do we know what the words we employ really mean? Do we have the right to use them if we don't? Should an "exciting" new program be allowed to "hit" your television screen? Is "disinterest" a word, or is it ignorance? And just when is one allowed to begin a sentence with "and"? The enemies of fine prose may dismiss such issues as tiresome and pedantic, but Kingsley Amis, like all great novelists, depended upon these very questions to separate the truth from the lie, both in literature and in life.A Parthian shot from one of the most important figures in postwar British fiction, The King's English is the late Kingsley Amis's last word on the state of the language.
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