Like Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler, The King's English has the capacity to delight the reader and infuriate him at the same time.
English is a live and fluid language, and in an age when understanding of the language can be obscured by the trite generalisations of television, the distortions of politicians and the slipshod writing of many journalists, it is salutary to have the use of so handy a benchmark with which to determine accurate usage.
This edition is the last to be revised by H.W. Fowler himself. It contains cheerful sections on vocabulary, punctuation and 'airs and graces' which will enchant the reader as well as acting as timely reminders against carelessness, and there are more contentious syntactical sections which provide fodder for endless enjoyable linguistic argument.
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