The Comic English Grammar

The Comic English Grammar (1903) by Richard Bentley – Methuen

ISBN: None
Condition: Good
Published: 1903
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There was a time when English grammar was considered a matter of national importance, split infinitives were treated with the suspicion normally reserved for foreign spies, and the incorrect deployment of a semicolon could ruin an otherwise respectable gentleman’s social prospects.

Fortunately, somebody eventually realised that the whole business was rather ridiculous.

Welcome to The Comic English Grammar, a splendidly irreverent examination of the peculiar rules, eccentric conventions and bewildering inconsistencies of the English language. Originally associated with the comic literary tradition of the nineteenth century, this delightful work demonstrates that grammar need not be an exercise in intellectual punishment, particularly when approached with sufficient humour and a healthy disregard for solemnity.

Here we encounter the familiar apparatus of grammatical instruction: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, participles and all those other indispensable components of language that generations of schoolchildren have struggled to distinguish while secretly wondering whether anybody outside the classroom actually cared.

But rather than treating grammar as a sacred institution whose commandments must never be questioned, the book approaches linguistic instruction through wit, parody and comic observation.

The result is a refreshing reminder that the English language has always been an extraordinarily disorderly affair, notwithstanding the determined efforts of grammarians to persuade everyone otherwise.

After all, this is a language in which spelling and pronunciation are frequently unrelated, identical words can mean entirely different things, and rules are routinely accompanied by exceptions apparently devised for the amusement of foreign students.

This 1903 Methuen edition is particularly attractive as an Edwardian literary curiosity. Its traditional blue cloth binding, paper spine label and understated appearance belong to an age when even humorous books were expected to present themselves with a certain degree of academic respectability.

There is something especially appealing about a comedy of grammar published at the beginning of the twentieth century, when formal English remained firmly entrenched in education, commerce and polite correspondence. One imagines schoolmasters approaching the volume with considerable suspicion, fearful that pupils might discover the revolutionary possibility of enjoying a lesson.

Condition: Good. A respectable antiquarian hardback showing the natural effects of more than a century of age, handling and previous ownership. The blue cloth boards display some fading and wear, while the original paper spine label retains its pleasing period character.

Naturally, there is no ISBN. In 1903, books were identified using actual words rather than numerical codes, an arrangement that presumably delighted grammarians while inconveniencing nobody in particular.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where grammatical correctness is encouraged but not enforced, dangling participles are permitted to dangle freely, and customers are under no obligation to identify the subjunctive mood before completing a purchase.

A charming collectible for enthusiasts of English literature, linguistic history, Edwardian humour and the apparently inexhaustible human capacity to argue about punctuation.

Proof that while grammar may be important, taking it too seriously is an entirely different kind of mistake.

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