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The King's English
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  • Published: 29 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141961910
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

The King's English




Amis's acerbic guide to the use and abuse of the English language, part of a new series of reissues of his work in Penguin Modern Classics

The King's English is Kingsley Amis's authoritative and witty guide to the use and abuse of the English language. A scourge of illiteracy and a thorn in the side of pretension, Amis provides indispensable advice about the linguistic blunders and barbarities that lie in wait for us, from danglers, four-letter words to jargon and even Welsh rarebit. If you have ever wondered whether it's acceptable to start a sentence with 'and', to boldly split an infinitive, or to cross your sevens in the French style, Amis has the answer - or a trenchant opinion. By turns reflective, acerbic and provocative, The King's English is for anyone who cares about how the English language is used.

With a new introduction by Kingsley Amis's son, the novelist Martin Amis.

  • Published: 29 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141961910
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

About the author

Kingsley Amis

Kingsley Amis has been described as 'the finest English comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century'. Born in 1922, he wrote over twenty novels, including Lucky Jim (1954), winner of the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction, The Old Devils (1986), which won the Booker Prize, and The Biographer's Moustache (1995). He also published several collections of short stories, poetry and non-fiction. Amis was awarded a CBE in 1981 and received a knighthood in 1990. He died in 1995.

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Praise for The King's English

A terrific book ... learned, robust, aggressive, extremely funny

Sebastian Faulks