About a year ago, whilst looking rather casually through the preface to an earlier book, A Measured Life (1994), I came upon this sentence: ‘You could write a book about the English character, warts and all, simply by putting together in thematic groups the traditional cant expressions that lubricate our daily life’.
The A–Z of Correct English is a reference book which has been written for the student and the general reader. It aims to tackle the basic questions about spelling, punctuation, grammar and word usage that the student and the general reader are likely to ask
This book has not been written to be read – at least in the usual sense of starting at the beginning, ploughing on to the end, and then remembering (at best) one or two points. I have written it for a completely different purpose, which has come from my experiences over the past 10 years working with doctors and other health professionals to sort out a wide range of writing problems
The existence of words is usually taken for granted by the speakers of a language. To speak and understand a language means - among many other things - knowing the words of that language
This book has been written for anyone working or training to work in the legal profession, or for anyone whose job requires them to have a working knowledge of legal words and terms. The various exercises throughout the book focus on the key vocabulary that you might be expected to understand and use on a day-to-day basis.