The words ‘English grammar’ have the ability to make even the most fanatical of language pedants yawn in stultified flaccidity. Tenses, clauses and participles might sound like exercises a sadistic personal trainer instructs, yet they’re essential components of a grammatical work-out. Over the centuries, style guides have remained archaic and humdrum; rote learning an embittered English [...]

Please excuse my sanctimonious acridity, but who didn’t see this coming? The social networking and 140-character display of exhibitionism and self-aggrandisement (I’m guilty as charged), Twitter has taken this year’s top word from the Global Language Monitor. The annual survey of the English language saw that ‘Twitter’, follwed by ‘Obama’, ‘H1N1′, ‘stimulus’ and ‘vampire’ were the most [...]