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A review by backinyourbox
English for the Natives: Discover the Grammar You Don't Know You Know by Harry Ritchie
5.0
I usually cannot enjoy non-fiction books at all, but this one has been a really fascinating insight into our language - where it came from, how it is used, and why, and written in a really enjoyable style that makes you wonder how on earth you know all the things you don't know you know.
As an example here is one of my favourite passages from one of the latter sections on phrasal verbs (I didn't even know what they were)
"...Hence the British Rail verb for leaving a train - not 'get out' but 'alight'. (Alight? When, in all honestly, have you ever used the verb 'alight'?) 'Alight here for connections to Manchester...' It may be a strange verb for us to cope with, but how much worse for non-natives, left to flick hastily through their dictionaries while under the vague impression that they've just been told to set themselves on fire."
As an example here is one of my favourite passages from one of the latter sections on phrasal verbs (I didn't even know what they were)
"...Hence the British Rail verb for leaving a train - not 'get out' but 'alight'. (Alight? When, in all honestly, have you ever used the verb 'alight'?) 'Alight here for connections to Manchester...' It may be a strange verb for us to cope with, but how much worse for non-natives, left to flick hastily through their dictionaries while under the vague impression that they've just been told to set themselves on fire."