English Language – 190 pages – my copy (paperback) picked up from The Works in St Austell during May 2012 for £1.99.
#48 of 2011-12 / #169 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -
The last few years have seen an explosion of books cashing in on the Christmas and birthday market that hark back on various reminiscent themes. To give a taste, this very book’s publishers are also the home to bland book titles such as I Used to Know That, as well as Remember, Remember: The Fifth of November. The Worm is not a fan of such books; but yet, the Worm read this very edition of My Grammar And I. How did such odd turn of events take shape?
The Worm has a confession: grammar is a particularly poor spot on his list of skills. Regular readers of this blog may have long been frustrated by the various “typos” on display (the polite term, of course, is “typo”; when we all know the real word should be “mistake”). The Worm had problems with the difference between noun and verb, let alone the arrival of other terms: pronoun, adjective, or heaven forbid, preposition! But yet a return to such grammatical terms was needed. No, it wasn’t a matter of life or death, but a question of money (but that, dear reader, is – as they say – another story).
The writers of this slim volume – Taggart and Wines – are the perfect hosts to reacquaint the reader with rules and regulations long since banished from the brain. Rather than be strict disciplinarians, they have fun along the way exposing the ridiculousness of the many conflicting rules in English language. Only if such a manner could be utilised in schools today; or perhaps, appreciation of English language, its subtleties and bizarre functions, perhaps may only be realised in the later decades of life.
Under two hundred pages the reader is given a whistle stop tour of the main parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation and the continuing battle to get to grips with the present and past tenses (especially when using bamboozling terms such as present perfect, present continuous, present simple, present perfect continuous!). It all sounds rather tiresome, but never before has the Worm had a page turner of a book on grammar. The authors, as stated previously, enjoy poking holes into these once seen rigid rules; as shown in the plethora of puns: ‘Definitely indefinite’ and ‘Demonstrate your determination (or, Determiners)’ being just two chapter titles. This short book is filled with interesting facts and a play on language that even the most grammatically opposed of us all – the Worm once being in this camp – can enjoy a reading of these pages.
This is a recommended read for anyone thinking of flirting once more with the grammatical rules of English language. Of course, it will not change your life: but it may very well help give you a fresh outlook on the words we use, their power, their structure, and – perhaps – their very own pointlessness. From this point onwards, the Worm will have to keep a close eye on his sentences; Taggart and Wines would desire no less.*
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Grammar-Should-That-Old-School/dp/1843176572/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342376471&sr=8-2
* For those who spot typos in the article, you can send your grievances to the email address: theWormcaresnotafig@yahoo.com
