No-one was more surprised and delighted than me when the editors at Michael O'Mara Books asked me to write a book entitled Everyday English. I thought I knew a bit about the language, about writing and speaking and how to inspire people to enjoy their language. As it turned out, the subject was even more vast, more interesting, more exciting and more complicated than I had realized and I had a very short time in which to make sense of it all.
Luckily for me, and for everyone interested in the subject, there are some wonderful, inspiring books on the shelves; unluckily for me, they all have different names for similar things - not just across the Atlantic, but from author to author. There was so much material to discover and so much of it said different things!
Thanks to some wonderful editing, the addition of some great illustrations and a very talented designer, it looks as if we are ready to hit the shops in May.
What I would like to do with this blog is to share some of the strange and fascinating aspects of the English language and to demonstrate that grammar does not have to be a grind.
Over time, this blog may take us into new regions, some of them unconnected with language, but for the time being, watch this space and let's enjoy the richest, most extraordinary gift that we, as English speakers, have been blessed with: the English language.
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