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Books

If ‘incorrect’ English is what’s widely understood, how can it be wrong?

The ‘rules’ of English grammar are often just incoherent prejudices, according to Oliver Kamm’s Accidence Will Happen

7 March 2015

9:00 AM

7 March 2015

9:00 AM

Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English Usage Oliver Kamm

Weidenfeld, pp.301, £12.99

In a cheeringly Dickensian fashion, the names of our supposed experts on grammar imply they want to bind writers (Lynne Truss); send them awry (Kingsley Amis); besmirch their prose (H.W. Fowler); deafen them with moos (Simon Heffer); or snort at their legitimate constructions (John Humphrys).

At first glance, Oliver Kamm appears happy to keep them company.

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