Category Archives: Uncategorized

  Introduction    Many students, even at an advanced level, express futurity in English in less than natural ways. This is frequently caused by conflicting ideas they have picked up during their learning careers from course books, grammars – and … Continue reading →

I consider that, for practical purposes, the subjunctive mood is dead in BrE. I am sometimes taken to task by other teachers for making this statement, and in a recent discussion on an English site elsewhere on the net I … Continue reading →

If we have no context for the short utterance: “I am going to work”, it is very difficult to say exactly what message the speaker is trying to convey. In today’s blog, I shall look at three of the possible … Continue reading →

As a teacher-trainer, I have been accused of being pedantic when I refuse to accept such written forms as: I think John should of done it; I have been accused of lowering standards when I have said that trainees should … Continue reading →

I originally started this blog with the idea of publishing my ramblings and of answering questions from students and teachers on abstruse points of grammar. There seemed to be lots of places on the net where prescriptive pedants were telling … Continue reading →

As readers of this blog are only too aware, the shall/will problem is a hobby horse of mine. In my fourth post I quoted from that ‘supremely well qualified’ former secondary school headmaster and teacher of English, Cedric Astle BA … Continue reading →

On a recent visit to England, I picked up a test yourself book in a second-hand bookshop: “How good is your English? by a  certain Cedric Astle BA [Hons]  who, ‘as a former secondary school headmaster and teacher of English … Continue reading →

The next (chronologically) grammar on my bookshelf is Wallis, John (1653) Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae. While this went through many editions over the next century or so, and was apparently quite influential, it does not reach my top ten of grammars … Continue reading →

Before I have even started properly on the blog, I have changed my mind about what it is; consistency was never my greatest attribute. I have now decided that on this blog I shall simply present my random musings. My … Continue reading →

Hello and wecome If you are interested in the grammar of English, need to learn something about it, or have a question to ask or comment to make, this blog will be the place. With EJ’s help I hope to … Continue reading →