The king's English

The Fowler brothers, Henry Watson and Francis George, write about grammar with the schoolmaster’s instinct to add a dash of whimsical humor to their lesson. Drawing from every day examples of incorrect usage found in newspapers, The King’s English appeared in London bookstalls in May 1906. Although reader response was favorable, reviewers for publications from which the Fowlers had drawn examples of ignorance and illiteracy for obvious reasons were less inclined to enthusiastically promote the manual. Still, many of the errors discussed in the Fowlers’ text have survived nearly a century of corrective efforts by countless teachers of grammar and composition.