Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot, and Left

There is a perception that David Crystal is some sort of woolly-headed liberal who doesn't care how people use language. In fact, he is acutely sensitive to the ways in which people use language, and is far too knowledgeable about the history of disputes about language to take Lynne Truss's foolish and bloody-minded book very seriously. Crystal describes how Truss's bestseller 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is simply the last in a very, very long line of books about English usage that attempt to make rules about the language based more on distinctions between social class, than on actual transparency of meaning. Crystal professes to be baffled about the success of Truss's book, but I think he's just too polite to point out that Truss's book sold to millions of English people because of the comic vividness of its author's persona as a cantankerous cultural snob.

Crystal's book will probably not sell so well, because it advocates intelligence and learning rather than ill-informed class prejudice. It's a better book, though, because it actually teaches you something instead of reinforcing your prejudices. Not the least of its value is in pointing out the basic uselessness of style guides such as Fowler's Modern English Usage - Fowler is an author very close to my heart (I have all three editions of the book) but I have to admit the truth of Crystal's observation that correct English usage can only be properly learned in very early life, and all the style guides in the world will only really be of use later on in certain very rare cases.

Crystal is right; language changes. I regret the fact that 'imply' and 'infer' are coming to mean the same thing, as are 'refute' and 'deny' - but as a writer and editor I can do nothing to stop it from happening. All I can do is wave a flag in the rare cases where this linguistic shift might lead to dangerous confusion. But it doesn't happen very often. Kudos to Mr. Crystal; all his books are good, but this one is especially timely.

In 'The Euthyphro' Socrates exposes the ignorance of a self-proclaimed religious expert. In this book David Crystal offers the same service to those who, for centuries, have set themselves up to tell the rest of us how to speak our own language. It comes as no surprise to learn from this book that they attack each other almost as much as they attack us mortals.

David Crystal has that rare skill of communicating with clarity but without compromising academic rigour. He is respected both by the Academy and John Humphrys; his occasional detractors should keep taking the laxatives.

This book is an attempt by a leading authority on the English language to put down Lynn Truss, who wrote a bestseller deploring the decline in the standard of punctuation and literacy ("Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"). While containing a large number of interesting points about English usage, Crystal's whole outlook on language is in my view fundamentally flawed.

Crystal has always taken the conventional linguist's stance that usage determines what is "correct" when it comes to language. Language is undoubtedly not a static phenomenon. It changes over time. What was once considered bad English is now universally accepted. And users of a language often misunderstand its rules. However, Crystal launches a nasty, pusilanimous (a "he protests too much") attack on Truss for merely calling for some ground rules. These are important if we want to be able to keep communicating with each other. Even more important than allowing usage (however mistaken) to determine everything, it is vital to have some common agreement on spelling and grammar otherwise meaning will be lost. As a liberal academic, a class of people who reject value judgements, Crystal does not understand this, and probably never will do. His intellectual limitations leave him exasperated (he is baffled by the success of Lynn Truss's book). That's his loss.

His book is worth reading if only to see how one can write a withering attack while portraying oneself as a friend of the victim.

Lynne Truss's popular book "Eats Shoots and Leaves" has a sub-title "A Zero Tolerance Approach". David Crystal's book, with a fine blend of humour and a great deal of expertise in the subject, illuminates the fact that grumblings about "proper usage" have a history nearly as long as the language itself. This history is traced from Old English to modern times, meeting with some wonderful characters along the way, and also looks forward to the prospects in the future for the language and the teaching of it to our children. David Crystal does not take the zero tolerance approach of Lynne Truss, but neither does he have (as sometimes accused) an 'anything goes' approach either. In the book he advocates that a standard English is incredibly useful, whilst regional and international variations colour the language to its benefit. The thesis is that context and appropriateness is the thing, and the ability to use language in this manner is the key to shaping the teaching of it in schools.

The book is not a text book, and is more of a wry, sideways look at the subject which appears to be a hot current topic. It is written in a most entertaining way, and blows away the myth that our language is on the verge of collapse. A good fun read on a subject that might appear, on the surface, a little dry. An Antedote to zero tolerance.