''The King's English'' is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the brothers
Henry Watson Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler (10 March 1858 – 26 December 1933) was an English schoolmaster, Lexicography, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language. He is notable for both ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' and his wor ...
and
Francis George Fowler and published in 1906;
it thus predates by twenty years ''
Modern English Usage'', which was written by Henry alone after Francis's death in 1918.
''The King's English'' is less like a dictionary than ''Modern English Usage'': it consists of longer articles on more general topics, such as vocabulary, syntax, and punctuation and draws heavily on examples from many sources throughout. One of its sections is a systematic description of the appropriate uses of
''shall'' and ''will''. The third and last edition was published in 1931, by which time ''Modern English Usage'' had superseded it in popularity.
Because all living languages continually evolve, the book is now considered outdated in some respects, and some of the Fowlers' opinions about correct English usage are at times seen as antiquated (yet not incorrect) with regard to contemporary standards. For example, the Fowlers disapprove of the word "concision" on the grounds that it had a technical meaning in theology, "to which it may well be left"; but "concision" is now a common synonym for "conciseness". The Fowlers also criticised the use of ''standpoint'' and ''just how much'' (as in "Just how much more of this can we take?"), describing them as undesirable "Americanisms", but both are now common in British English. The book nevertheless remains a benchmark for usage and is still in print.
See also
*''
Hart's Rules
''Hart's Rules'' is the oldest continuously updated style guide in the English language, providing advice on topics such as punctuation, citation, and typography. Printer and biographer Horace Hart first issued the work in 1893 for the comp ...
''
*
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
Notes
References
*Henry Fowler, Frank Fowler, Matthew Parris (Introduction). ''The King's English'' (Oxford Language Classics Series). Oxford University Press. .
External links
*The full text of the second edition published by Clarendon Press in 1908 i
available onlineon
Bartleby.com
* (Second edition, 1906)
Style guides for British English
1906 non-fiction books
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