Reading:
-
More or fewer or less
When it comes to English, I am somewhat caught between two stools. As a student of language, I am of course a descriptivist. No one who has a decent understanding of what language is can think it’s desirable to take a prescriptivist line because we do not speak in accordance with an academy, the Oxford…
-
More about less and fewer
One of the key battles for pedants in their mostly fruitless fight to force English speakers not to speak the English they speak or write the English they write is to restrict the meaning of the word “less”. We all know the rule: you write “fewer” when you mean fewer of a count noun; and…
-
On whether you should write whether
One of my big nits as an editor is the slurring of fhe fields of meaning for words. So it irks me that “therefore” and “thus” are used interchangeably because they can convey different meanings, which makes them more useful tools. (The difference, tout court, is that “therefore” means “because of this” and “thus” means…
-
How am I going to get home tonight
I can hear the scratch of the tyres on gravel, but by the time I reach the window the car has disappeared and through the bars I can see only trees. What did I hope to do? Take his number? Perks is too clever for that. He will have removed the number. For him it…
-
Mapoto Gorge
A few weeks after that, I saw Perks in the street. I hailed him and he stopped to talk. Why Perks, I said, I haven’t seen you since Mapoto Gorge. He looked puzzled. I’m sorry, old chap, it’s not ringing a bell. Mapoto Gorge. Summer of 18—. A battalion of Her Majesty’s finest facing up…
-
Minute
She pushes the suds over the plate. She is looking at it. Soap runs down her arm, drips back on to her shirt. She uses a nail to scrape it, a little something the soap wouldn’t shift. She wipes her hands on a towel. Suds remain, just a few. She runs the cold tap to…