Time and again we read reports of the decomposing body of some poor soul being discovered in the house where they have lived for ever and a day. Shock, horror. “How could this happen in this modern day and age?” goes the cry. Why the surprised reaction? Rather than express shock that such events could…
The question for today (and unfortunately almost every working day) is: how can a person progress through the education system to degree level and beyond and still not know how to use an apostrophe? This query has been provoked by tackling an enthralling and extremely well-researched biography focussing on a major player in a major…
A disclaimer: I was not the anonymous author of a submission to Sunday Telegraph agony aunt Graham Norton seeking the answer, other than hibernation, to coping with Christmas. But I might well have been. Every word of “Anon” rang clear. He/she admitted actively loathing this time of year in every way – “the food, the…
Oh the terrible things the bureaucrats and politicians do to the English language. They are now talking of “enhanced interrogation”. Which is what the rest of us call “torture”. Such pussy-footing around with words shows how scared they are of calling a spade a spade.
The message used to be, keep it simple. Now perhaps we should rephrase that to, keep it short. Global best-seller Patricia Cornwell reckons it is increasingly hard for a novelist to keep their readers engaged and interested. Attention spans have shrunk. Which is why she has reduced the number of pages in each chapter to…
Once more I ponder the age-old question: what is it about apostrophes that so many people fail to understand? I am wading my way through a book edit in which two-thirds of the corrections require the deletion, placement or shifting of an apostrophe. In case you are among the perplexed masses, apostrophes do not denote…
My letterbox – such an old-fashioned device in these days on inboxes and outboxes – is becoming more cluttered than ever. Perhaps I should be pleased for this increased influx consists mainly of seasonal greetings. I am being wished all manner of goodwill, bonhomie and success by so many people. Well, not so much people,…
Well, that was some book. And for once it lived up to all the hype and praise highlighted on its covers and frontispiece. Having earlier devoured the superb The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (and now looking forward to the much-praised stage version in a few months time), I have been even…
A message came from a client who has written (compiled?) a 140,000-word manuscript that is in severe need of revision and correction: “I will do a bit of research on apostrophes etc as I dont (sic) know much about that stuff,” she wrote. Why are apostrophes such a big problem for so many people? Why…
The blackberry season is almost over. It came with great abundance and lingered long beyond its usual span. But now the fruit is squishy on the bramble and almost too fragile to pluck. Thus another blackberrying season has come and gone without the involvement it merits. The promise to oneself to carry containers on the…