Is Grammar a Goner? When the cartoon to the left appeared on my Facebook page recently, I promptly shared it, as I suspected it would appeal to several friends who, like me, are fascinated by matters grammatical and orthographical. Responses to the cartoon ranged from a teenager’s desperate “Oh gosh, please no” to an adult’s …
The importance of building language on secure foundations. Occasionally, my writing background sees me called upon to tutor Higher English pupils, and I have to confess to feeling ever so slightly nervous about the lack of grammatical knowledge demonstrated by many of these youngsters. It appears that during the early years of secondary school they …
Putting the fun into pedantry. As any pedant will tell you, grammar is a serious business – and, though it pains me to say so, often viewed by others as a very dull business. In fact, the very mention of the word has the power to send the most severe insomniac straight to the Land …
Are you good at what you do? As a copywriter and journalist, I am regularly asked what makes a “good writer”. You’d think the answer would be blindingly obvious, wouldn’t you? However, it’s actually incredibly difficult to define what makes a writer “good”. Why? Well, the main reason is that each individual reader has his …
