Hi again, Anton! This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

I have requested MODERN AMERICAN USAGE from the public
library. :-)

Make sure it is the original edition, because even the
most zelaus

|zealous ("zeal" + "-ous", rhymes with "jealous"

descriptivists agree that later editors betrayed the
dead Fowler and ruined his dictionary.

What I had in mind there was not FOWLER'S, but the work of an author
from the US. Because I don't speak US English I saw little need for it until I became curious about why Americans do what they do with, e.g., "of" and thought I'd best consult a USAian expert.... :-)

But you can have some Fowler for free on Bartleby:

https://www.bartleby.com/116/
[King's English]

Ah... thankyou. I'd heard of it, but as yet I haven't read it. :-)

which, to me, has the advantage of being a coherent book

That's what I enjoyed about Lynne Truss's book EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES
as well. It's a good read if one is simply open to new ideas.... :-)

instead of a set of disjoined articles in alphabetical
order.

WRT disjointed articles in alphabetical order, I find it challenging
at times to locate the information I need when somebody asks about a particular topic because I feel as if I'm searching a filing cabinet where unless you know what was going on in the secretary's mind you have no hope of finding anything. I don't give up very easily when I &/or one of my students really wants to know about something in particular, however... with the result that over the years I have honed my skill. Recently Dallas & I watched a series about Queen Victoria in which the actress said (when HM was 8 1/2 months
pregnant & was not allowed, by the standards of the day, to do as she wished) said "I'm bored of this". At a similar stage I was reminded of people who had built a ship in the basement & wondered how they'd ever get it out... and when I asked Dallas to help with the vacuuming I got a new vacuum cleaner almost immediately. But when I exclaimed, "What... Queen Victoria wouldn't have said that!?" the 1998 edition of FOWLER'S confirmed my suspicion that "bored of" emerged well over a century later. :-))

Some topics merely touched in MEU are expouned in great
deatail in "King's English". The chapter on "will" and
"shall" is a masterpiece (which I understood upon a fouth
re-reading :-).

Perhaps I should refresh my memory in that regard. Although some of
us probably learned about it at school, North Americans in general don't make a distinction between "will" and "shall". I think much of the power & sublety of the language is lost when folks try too hard to simplify or naturalize it. :-)

The usage of "shall" and "will" and "should" and "would" by
Agatha Christie and Anthony Hope is now much clearer to me.

While I know very little about Anthony Hope, I think I know what you
mean WRT Agatha Christie. She could speak volumes about a man by saying he was wearing spats & riding in a first-class railway compartment... in much the same way as the photograph I saw of her wearing pearls while eating breakfast on the patio of her country estate spoke volumes. When you understand the fine
points of grammar &/or the upper-middle class customs of the day you'll understand far more than the kids whose chief ambition is to fit in with their age mates. :-Q




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* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Ardith Hinton:

What I had in mind there was not FOWLER'S, but the work
of an author from the US. Because I don't speak US
English I saw little need for it until I became curious
about why Americans do what they do with, e.g., "of" and
thought I'd best consult a USAian expert.... :-)

Ah, that meow... I mean MEU.

Recently Dallas & I watched a series about Queen
Victoria in which the actress said (when HM was 8 1/2
months pregnant & was not allowed, by the standards of
the day, to do as she wished) said "I'm bored of this".
At a similar stage I was reminded of people who had
built a ship in the basement & wondered how they'd ever
get it out... and when I asked Dallas to help with the
vacuuming I got a new vacuum cleaner almost immediately.
But when I exclaimed, "What... Queen Victoria wouldn't
have said that!?" the 1998 edition of FOWLER'S confirmed
my suspicion that "bored of" emerged well over a century
later. :-))

Then you might enjoy "The Witch" (or "The VVitch") -- a
splendidly depressing horror movie where the actors are
speaking the true English of the witch-hunting period in New
England. Watching it from a Bluray via a projector, with
good Soviet loudspeakers was to me a shocking experience!
Don't try it alone.

Perhaps I should refresh my memory in that regard.
Although some of us probably learned about it at school,
North Americans in general don't make a distinction
between "will" and "shall". I think much of the power &
sublety of the language is lost when folks try too hard
to simplify or naturalize it. :-)

Well, it is not nearly as hard as conscious care of one's
language. Recall the second law of thermodymamics, which
says the chaos increases by itself, whereas maintaining
order takes effort. "The only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," and it is!

While I know very little about Anthony Hope, I think I
know what you mean WRT Agatha Christie. She could speak
volumes about a man by saying he was wearing spats &
riding in a first-class railway compartment... in much
the same way as the photograph I saw of her wearing
pearls while eating breakfast on the patio of her
country estate spoke volumes. When you understand the
fine points of grammar &/or the upper-middle class
customs of the day you'll understand far more than the
kids whose chief ambition is to fit in with their age
mates. :-Q

Count me with the kids, then. I needed extensive
annotations to understand Aldous Huxley's "Crome Yellow".

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* Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)

I wrote:

Then you might enjoy "The Witch" (or "The VVitch") -- a
splendidly depressing horror movie where the actors are
speaking the true English of the witch-hunting period in
New England.

Or should it be "speak" instead of "are speaking"?

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* Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)