Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English

by R.L. Trask

Can anything be described as 'very real'? There are so many obstacles on the way to writing clear, precise ('accurate'?) English ('english'?) that it is a wonder ('wander'?) anyone ('any one' or 'anyone'?) can be understood. Fortunately, all those who have ever feared being shown up by using one of the twenty worst words and phrases to be avoided at all costs, or confusing the complex with the complicated, can now relax and even enjoy a trouble-shooting guide to good writing. Trask's wonderfully readable and authoritative book adjudicates on hundreds of contentious issues from politically correct language to whether to write 'napkin' or 'serviette'.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Language, Writing, Linguistics

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Lawrence "Larry" Trask was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex in England. He was an authority on the Basque language: his book The History of Basque (1997) is an essential reference on diachronic Basque linguistics and probably the best introduction to Basque linguistics as a whole. He was also an authority on historical linguistics, and had written about the problem of the origin of language. He also published two introductory books to linguistics: Language: The basics (1995) and Introducing Linguistics (coauthored with Bill Mayblin) (2000), and several dictionaries on different topics of this science: A dictionary of grammatical terms in linguistics (1993), A dictionary of phonetics and phonology (1996), A student's dictionary of language and linguistics (1997), Key concepts in language and linguistics (1999), The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics (2000) and The Penguin dictionary of English grammar (2000).

He was at work compiling an etymological dictionary of Basque when he died, posthumously published by Max W. Wheeler (Etymological Dictionary of Basque, 2008).

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splitting the infinitive is not a sin! Kudos to you, Mr. Trask. Mind the Gaffe spends an unusual amount of the book explaining the differences between British and American usage, and the work isn't comprehensive by any standard, it's consistently entertaining, and Trask isn't afraid to roundly contradict stubborn grammar pettifoggery. Worth a gander.

[Colin Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splitting the infinitive is not a sin! Kudos to you, Mr. Trask. Mind the Gaffe spends an unusual amount of the book explaining the differences between British and American usage, and the work isn't comprehensive by any standard, it's consistently entertaining, and Trask isn't afraid to roundly contradict stubborn grammar pettifoggery. Worth a gander.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nothing more and nothing less than an interesting dive into the murky world of the English language and of grammar. Trask highlights a number of common mistakes that plague our society, and in this book he explains what makes them wrong and how to fix them.

It’s an interesting enough read if you’re a linguist or if you love the English language, but this definitely isn’t for everyone – it digs pretty deep, and it’s not always easy to follow unless you’re familiar already with a lot of the concepts that you’re supposed to be taught in secondary school. Sure, it can be a dry read, but it also seems like a vital one, at least to me – if you’re an author, you’re always looking to improve your writing, and there’s plenty for you to learn here whether you’re a writer or not.

I’m not sure that there’s much less for me to say about Mind the Gaffe – the concept is simple enough, and the author stretches it out across a full length book. If anything, it feels like it could’ve been a little shorter, but it could also have been a lot longer – there’s a lot to take in and a lot of common mistakes, and even though some of them are more common than others, there are still omissions because there just has to be, by the very nature of this sort of book. The English language is so vast that it would be impossible to encompass it all within the pages of a single book, but Trask has a pretty good go at it. Not a book to be taken lightly, but it’s worth having a copy of it if you’re a writer.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mind the Gaffe is a humorous but useful look at common errors in English and the acceptable differences between American and British English (and sometimes other dialects too). The book is presented in alphabetical order and is very easy to use.

The best part of the book though is Trask's comments on many of the entries. If a rule strikes him as odd, he'll note his feelings. If the rule doesn't have any sensible reason, he'll write: "the word is so spelled."

As with every book I've read that compares American and British culture, I noticed a few inconsistent or incorrect (at least for California) entries but far fewer than I have in other books. I think it must be impossible to write a comprehensive comparison between the two dialects because of the numerous regional differences.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this I'm embarrassed to even call myself a writer...so many subtle mistakes I've made without even realising! Although the tone of the author is a bit harsh in places (and even pretentious at times), it was a real eye-opener into English written styles. Recommended if you want to better your English skills.

[Steve Clark]

Edition: New Ed