Founding Grammars
Subtitle: How Early America's War Over Words Shaped Today's Language
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: May 12, 2015
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781250046123
Description: "Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious -- capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's earliest days, an era when most families owned only two books -- the Bible and a grammar primer. Along the way, she investigates colorful historical characters on both sides of the grammar debate in her efforts to unmask the origins of contemporary speech." --
Notes: Source title: Founding Grammars: How Early America's War Over Words Shaped Today's Language