Strictly English: The Correct Way to Write . . . and Why It Matters

As an unashamed linguistic pedant, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a welcome antidote to the sloppy English we encounter in the press, in university examination scripts and indeed in virtually every shop window. I've found that the book has had an immediate effect on my own writing in that I question the need for every adjective and adverb I write - or intend to utter. I pause to point out that my overuse of adjectives and adverbs in this review has been deliberate; delete them all, except "linguistic" and the meaning and impact are unaffected.Note also the absence of the passive voice; thanks, Mr Heffer, for confirming the preference for the active voice. This book occupies the same place in my affection as "Eats, shoots and Leaves" and "Between you and I" and is required reading for all family and colleagues younger than 40.

Completely satiusfied.

I bought this book for an American friend. It is better than a dull grammar book and has ample examples of English usage in practice. It does not however entirely escape some personal idiosyncrasies and the reader may feel that exactitude in expression needs to be tempered by more colliquial terms. However the burden of his argument is that one needs to know and recognise good and correct English before taking liberties with it. I see US reviews are less enamoured with the book. It is decidedly written by a British rather than American speaker and whilst not disparaging American English usage entirely he is decidedly sniffy about it at times. A useful book; one to pick up and use for reference rather than to read from cover to cover all at once.

Great introduction to the English language (its set-up), and description as to how words should be arranged. While the author looks at both the English/American divide, the text is generally posed towards those 'English' than those else-wise. Still, it's a great book to be read!

The author’s pompous and condescending tone is almost too much to bare. Not as educational as it was him parading his clear superiority complex about how he uses the English language. This book reeks of upper-class snobbery.

Simon Heffer is a stickler for good English. Many may baulk at his assertion that Britain is an old country, with an established class system, therefore sloppy written and spoken English will lead one to be judged unfavourably by others. But it is true nonetheless.This is an old school grammar book, traditional in scope and advocating a strictly conservative approach to grammar and spelling. Not for Heffer is the coinage of street neologisms, grocers' apostrophies, and loose spelling that infects so much contemporary English.Heffer might sound like one of those Tory grandees who uses precise language and terminology as a stick to beat the lower orders (there is a long chapter on the precise use of titles). But like so many who give out strict advice, he often fails to adhere to it himself. For example a chapter commanding us not to use passives where possible begins with the use of one: 'The passive voice of a transitive verb is used...'; he instructs us to keep sentences as short as possible but many of his run to over twenty words; the distinction between words he approves of as opposed to those he doesn't sometimes seems to rest on the sole logical basis of whether the Heff approves or not.Old school traditionalists will like this book, stylishly covered in a Garrick Club pale green dust jacket, and packed full of specific grammatical injunctions. Whether it will educate its readers to write better prose or not is open to doubt. Personally, I much prefer Orwell as a stylist (lauded throughout in this book) as he had the human sympathy and ear for clean English prose that is far more euphonious than Heffer's haughty, hidebound commands.

My Kindle version has ridiculously long indents at the start of each paragraph, at least twice what is normal (and what is in the print edition). Is it really that difficult for these publishers to check that the electronic versions of their books are correct?It's just astounding to me that publishers want to charge money for a product which they cannot be bothered to spend literally 5 minutes looking at themselves. It's a pervasive problem on Amazon amongst smaller publishers, but this is a major publisher. Hint to publishers: Before selling something, check that it's right.Another minor oddity is that there are spaces around em-dashes, a practice that Gwynne specifically condemns in his magnificent essay on grammar. Indeed, it was Gwynne's recommendation that led me to download Heffer's book. This space-separated em-dash formatting is also used in the print edition, however, and thus I suppose it's a matter of typographical taste.The bad indents are very distracting however. It is well beyond what should be permissible in a book by a major publisher.

I can't understand how anyone can get a book published on a subject they clearly know nothing about.

A very decent guide to writing good English. What makes this guide special is the traditional/conservative approach of standard and proper English. A no-nonsense approach.

It should be noted that the style of presentation is essentially journalistic. However, it has the fundamentals laid down in an instructional voice which does not bore. Should come handy to people wanting to proofread their writing. May I mention that the paper and binding quality is as nice as one should ask for.

I like to improve my english and in my opinion, this book tells the english grammar as if it were a novel. A very interesting aspect for a book.

さまざまな語法が論じられ、「誤った」語法にはその対抗策が論じられている。一例だけ示すと、著者は政治的妥当性（political correctness）の精神は受け入れるが、その精神を言語に反映させる方法には異論があるという。たとえば、Anyone may swim if he has a costumeだと女性を排除するので「総称の」heを用いることには反対、しかしAnyone may swim if he or she has a costume は冗長なので反対、Anyone may swim if they have a costumeは非文法的なのでこれにも反対である。最上の策はAnyone wearing a costume may swimのように書き換えて、問題が生じないようにすることであるという。いろいろ議論があろう。英語は大きな変化を遂げつつある。この変化の背後には文化があり社会がある。文法・語法を論じる上で有益な書である。

Pensavo di saper scrivere in inglese...fino a quando non ho letto questo libro.Un pò complicato per un non madrelingua, ma da tenere accanto al dizionario.