A seasonal selection of new (and not so new) books about language that are anything but dullBooks about English fall into various categories, mostly offputting ones: the academic, rarely of much interest, and often incomprehensible, to the general reader; the lament for a (mythical) golden age "when everyone knew how to use grammar"; the prescriptions of Dr Grammar (do this, or you are clearly illiterate). Here are some that avoid these traps.Best of the newTaking as its premise that what you say matters less than how you say it, Mark Forsyth's Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase (Icon Books) takes us on an informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric, demonstrating the tricks used by writers as diverse as John Milton and Katy Perry to produce memorable phrases.As in his previous books, The Etymologicon (which dealt with the connections between words) and The Horologicon (which covered obsolete words), the author employs his ingenious trademark of ending one section with a word that starts the next, which I think is a form of anadiplosis. It means you are likely to start off reading a couple of chapters, and end up reading the whole book in one go.Some of the rhetorical devices he discusses are well known, such as alliteration (Pride and Prejudice, Power to the People), but most will be unfamiliar terms. Forsyth's examples bring them immediately to life: for example polyptoton, where you repeat a word in a different... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
Poetry of all tastes and genres should be celebrated, say Angela Croft and Catherine RoomeFurther to the critique in PN Review that you report (Literary world split as poet attacks rise of social media ‘noble amateur’, 24 January), the wonderful thing about the current poetry scene is there is... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We find out so little about a person by watching them on Big Brother or reading their secrets exposed in the Daily MailWe just met half an hour ago. But I'm sitting in a Soho tapas bar, drinking sherry, and telling Josh Cohen my life story. The joke – lost on neither of us – is that he has just... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A seasonal selection of new (and not so new) books about language that are anything but dullBooks about English fall into various categories, mostly offputting ones: the academic, rarely of much interest, and often incomprehensible, to the general reader; the lament for a (mythical) golden age... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 09:56 The economics for booksellers "simply don't work" as they struggle with high costs and low margins, the president of the Booksellers Association has claimed. Jane Streeter was delivering the introduction at the BA Conference at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:52 Setting books within the wider cultural scene and building collaborations are set to be key themes at this year's Book Industry Conference, as organisers revealed the event programme. BIC 2011, which takes place between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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