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It's always been my contention that practitioners should know as much about what they do as possible. When I was a teacher, I encouraged my students to read around the subject, not just to read in order to answer examination questions.
I feel the same about writing. I realise that we can't all be experts at everything concerning writing, but having a broad knowledge of language seems to me to be fairly important.
From the title, you might think this book is all about clauses and apostrophes and split infinitives. Nothing of the kind. It includes such diverse topics as how we learn to communicate, spelling rules, slang, texting, dying languages -- the list goes on.
In keeping with everything I've read of David Crystal's, the text is steeped in knowledge without banging you over the head with technicalities.
It's not a new book -- it was published over ten years ago -- and so its chapter on political correctness comes across as slightly dated. Basically, it fails to anticipate the vitriol that is often in evidence these days. It does, however, give a very balanced account of the political correctness minefield, and realistically leaves it to the next generation to decide whether or not it's gone too far.
The chapters appear in an order that lends the book to being read chronologically, but it works equally well just to dip in.
It's a little disappointing that the book doesn't have an index. Nevertheless, it's short, readable and contains a wealth of useful (background) information for any writer.
This review first appeared in my newsletter, Terry Freedman’s Books Bulletin.
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