For Who The Bell Tolls

I ordered this while drunk on tequila and when it arrived I was happy, because I can’t stand Ernest Hemingway. But, as a writer, I was interested to learn there were other rules besides “write like Ernest Hemingway.” I did. I still can’t find a publisher for The Sun Also Rises. But here’s grammar.The book sets the tone right from the title. It relies heavily on popular music from standards to up-to-publication pop. The author claims it’s all from his iPod playlist, and I have no basis upon which to challenge him. The real question is whether the gimmick works to enliven a usually dry subject. I think the author’s instincts are correct even if it sometimes comes across like “I won Name that Tune again!” It got on my nerves, but everything does. A straight recitation of grammar rules would have sent me back to my tequila bottle and to whom would the news of the ensuing catastrophe been tolled?The author takes a pretty casual approach where there are two viewpoints, and comes down in favor of clarity and readability. There is some good writerly advice like Twain’s to kill you adjectives “but not utterly.” I’m sure there is some bloodthirsty advice about adverbs from somebody with writing cred. We can all use a grammar refresher. This one may strike the reader as a bit cute, but given the alternative, I’ll take cute.

This excellent book is by definition a very English book,written by an English newspaper editor on the subtle nuances of the English language.By this I mean,the author describes English from a British viewpoint-which Americans may find very different and even Aussies like me less useful.However,the book is well written,often funny and instructive. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to better understand modern English usage and especially to leran how to communicate more and effectively.Or just read it and enjoy!

Great book. I also bought a couple of extra copies for friends who, like myself, are in the literary world.

It was funny and easy to read. Very simple exlanations for non speakers.

Most books about correct grammar are dull and dreary. Marsh's book is definitely not in this category. While it's certainly not a "page-turner" it is fun to read and extremely useful as a reference work. Could be considered as supplemental reading for college-level English classes.

I am stuck on language development and how it has evolved, we are seeing continued alteration of what is considered appropriate and in the next generation it will have evolved yet more whether we like it or not.

He needs adderall.

Marsh's knowledge of our language is impressive. But this book is annoying. first it has to be the most smarmy book I have read in a long time, epitomized by those footnote exchanges on the bottom of each page. Second some of his explanations are ponderous. A few years ago i read a very clear explanation of when to use "that" compared to "which". Marsh's explanation is about 4 times longer, has unnecessary detail, but I suppose does exhibit his extensive knowledge. His chapter on using PC language is High Rant. he names people I've never heard of and froths with denunciation. this is self indulgent.

This is a funny book on what often seems a serious subject. Written in a very entertaining, humorous style by David Marsh, who lives up to his role as style guide guru at the Guardian. I am part of a generation who were taught never to end a sentence with a preposition, never to start one with "and" and to never, ever split an infinitive. I've always enjoyed doing all three, and so happy to know all are fine. For those who enjoy reading the likes of David Crystal, Steven Pinker or Bill Bryson, this is recommended reading. I originally bought it for Kindle, but liked it so much I have purchased the hardcover version to offer as a gift.

Ich lese gerade mit Begeisterung dieses Buch, das mit viel Witz und Humor ein so ernstes Thema wie Grammatik behandelt.Für einen Deutschlehrer und Grammatik-Fan mit viel Sinn für die Spitzfindigkeiten einer Sprache ist die Lektüre ein wahres Vergnügen. So ganz nebenbei frischt man einige Dinge aus lange zurückliegendem Englischunterricht wieder auf.Sehr empfehlenswert!

Words matter. In so many ways, they are the tools with which we chisel the shape of our lives. We use them to fall in love, to give identity to our young, to bury our dead. When we choose them badly, they can start wars; when we find that elusive eloquence, they can seal the peace. It's not just the words themselves are so important; it's also the ways in which we assemble them to achieve precision and clarity. Or, put differently, we achieve also ways in which the clarity and it's assemble them to precision.In an age of incessant digital communication, such considerations have arguably never been more important, but one need only look to social media or the ubiquitous email and text to realise that standards of literacy and coherence may not be keeping pace with the flurry of words.David Marsh stands out from the crowd as someone who recognises this and is prepared to stick his neck out and say it. Not in a preachy, didactic, or bossy way though. He is a gifted, funny, self-deprecating and concise communicator, which is why his pithy @guardianstyle tweet feeds have attracted 45,000 followers and rising. He and his editorial team provide a fascinating and bite-sized grammatical perspective on the flow of daily events, fighting by the second the good fight for clarity in public discourse.The best of those Twitter exchanges sit as footnotes across the bottom of every page of this equally entertaining and equally readable new book that takes the Marsh message beyond social media and into more traditional literary form. It tries to take the fear out of grammar and to replace it with fun. It's good. It's instructive. It's helpful. And it manages to keep a smile on its face even as it takes us through the deep principles of sentence construction that many of us never managed to master in grammar at school, (that's "grammar at school", not Grammar School). Subject-verb-object? Look no further than The Beatles, says Marsh. She Loves You. He turns, at various points, to both Berks and Wankers for help in underlining some of his key messages. The Wankers? They're the linguistic pedants who may have killed your interest in the classroom by being, according to Marsh, "prissy, fussy, priggish and prim". They'll tell you that you should never start a sentence with a conjunction like And. They prefer inflexible rules to evolving language. The Berks are the ones who go too far in the other direction by thinking none of it matters. Hence, he says, they think they can protest things, without actually clarifying what they protest against.In short, this book can help all of us to communicate better. It can do much to help reinforce our confidence in celebrating the good and tackling the bad. If you're both a grammarian and an iconoclast, you'll delight in Chapter 8, in which he lambasts the "Jargonauts" who use weak, dishonest language to manipulate and abuse positions of power and authority.Like its sister book, Guardian Style, this is a text that should move on and off your bookshelf regularly as you consult it in times of need. But it will also repay reading from start to finish. Read the whole thing and you will understand why David Marsh might help his Uncle Jack off his horse, but would never help his uncle jack off his horse. If he were to do that, he would be both a berk and a wanker.

書名から察せられるようにいわゆる分割語法（divided usage）に関する本である。whomを例にとると、この語は古めかしく一般的な書き言葉・話し言葉からほとんど姿を消したが、堅い書き言葉に生き残っているという。それも誤用として。例えば、Responsibility for our behaviour apparently no longer rests on us as individuals but on anyone whom a lawyer can claim was “responsible” for our contact with others.のごとしである。a lawyer can claim は挿入節であるからwas の主語であることを示すwhoを使わねばならない。関係詞連鎖（relative concatenation）と呼ばれるもので文法意識の強い日本人はあまり間違えないが、ネイティブスピーカーはよく間違えるようである。かつてWho are you speaking to ? が誤りとされていた時代には「whom を使うべきところにwhoを使ってはならない」と戒められたが、現在では「whoを使うべきところにwhomを使ってはならない」というのが戒めである。このように著者のMarshは最近の新聞・雑誌に見られる「誤用例」を槍玉にあげ,古今の語法辞典を縦横に引用しながら、分割語法に関して、時にユーモアと皮肉を交えてその原因と解決法を明快に解説する（悲しいことにこの皮肉やユーモアがなかなか理解できない）。共著書であるGuardian Style と合わせて読むとより興味深いだろう。

Ein gut beschriebenes Buch mit etwas Humor beigesetzt.Nur sollte man sich bei einigen Fachausdrücken der deutschen Rechtschreibung auskennen,um es in Englisch verstehen zu können.