HAVE YOU EATEN GRANDMA?

Another handbook for those who love precision in language and who are not going gentle into that good night.

Brandreth, a British radio personality, former Member of Parliament, and author of the Oscar Wilde mystery series (Oscar Wilde and the Return of Jack the Ripper, 2019, etc.), skates lightly across the ice of his subject, offering some occasional humor (see the title). Like other books on the subject, this one assumes that most people care about being “correct” (do they?). The author writes in such a way that readers who already understand grammar, usage, and punctuation will best comprehend his lessons about subordinate clauses, restrictive and nonrestrictive modifiers, the use of apostrophes, and the like. On some issues, Brandreth stands rather firm (“alright” is not all right); on others, he feels the winds of change and realizes the end is near for, say, the difference between “who” and “whom.” The author pauses occasionally to comment on the differences between English in the U.K. and in America. His text also features long lists of various sorts: the meanings of prefixes and suffixes, the differences between spelling in British and American English, words that writers can confuse (“affect” and “effect,” “complement” and “compliment”), and common internet acronyms. Brandreth spends an inordinate amount of time on spelling, perhaps a superfluous endeavor in a time when many people are carrying around unabridged dictionaries on their phones. He urges his readers—especially those who wish to write—to increase their vocabularies and to read a lot (good advice). He concludes the main part of his text with some advice from some notable writers, including George Orwell, Martin Amis, William Safire, and Gyles Brandreth. In a postscript, the author provides a brief grammar lesson, explaining such things as parts of speech, misplaced and dangling modifiers, and transitive and intransitive verbs.

Hope mixes with despair in this bittersweet cocktail of a writing/grammar guide.