Edwin Newman on Language

by Edwin Newman

Book Overview

A compilation of two best-selling essays on the deterioration of the English language--Strictly Speaking and A Civil Tongue--argue that the state of the language is a direct reflection on the state of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446974595
• ISBN13: 9780446974592
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.

Customer Reviews

They should be required reading in schools!

My mother urged me to read both of these books when they were first published in the 1970s. Both volumes are entertaining to read and extremely educational. After graduating college and getting a job that required massive numbers of written reports, I found myself incorporating lessons from Mr. Newman's books into my work. Eventually I found myself writing for a living, and those two books played no small part in my use of the English language. Considering the way our language is being butchered today, I wish Edwin Newman's books were required reading in every high school English class.

Simply entertaining

I loved Strictly Speaking by the second chapter. This book is not a scholarly criticism of the English language nor an insufferable rant on its decline. Edwin Newman's understated, good natured, and witty commentary makes for an enjoyable look at English gone awry. If you enjoy the topic, you may laugh out loud as I did at his choice of examples. Don't worry about reviews that complain about technicalities. They completely missed the point. These are both intelligent and entertaining books.