Q&A with the author
Jesse Karjalainen answers a few questions about his new book.
How did you come to write the book?
The basic of the idea had been kicking about in my head for a while but it wasn't until May of 2009 that I took the step to begin writing it. There had been a round of redundancies at the office and I thought to myself, it's now or never. I knew what I wanted to do so I took a week's holiday and got writing. I even convinced myself that I could do it in a week.
Of course, it took a lot longer. I had finished the first draft by June and was quite pleased with my efforts. I think it was around 10,000 words. After getting some feedback from close colleagues I took to rewriting it and the second draft, completed in September, came in at around 19,000 words. Again, I got more feedback and started really shaping it into the book that I have now. I completed the third draft in late January and I spent a further three or four months polishing it.
The final word count – by the summer of 2010 – was around 50,000 words, which includes more than 1500 correct/incorrect examples.
Tell me about the book. Why did you write it?
Well, what I set out to do was write a book about English that actually helps people – in the sense that a lot of people think they need a "grammar" book to improve their English skills. I would argue that they are better off studying a book about "English usage" instead. The two are not the same.
Essentially, what I did was draw on my experience as a sub-editor and put together a "best of" of the things that people either don't know that they are getting wrong or the things that they have always wondered about but were too afraid to ask.
In many ways, these are 100 of the most common things that I would ending up fixing on a daily basis in other people's work. So I thought, why not put them all into a book?
First off, I have included common errors that we make without even knowing it, such as to spell focused incorrectly as focussed, and per cent incorrectly as percent in British English, which is the US spelling. Another really common one is to write barbeque instead of the correct barbecue. These are things that many people just don't realise that they do.
Also, there are plenty of myths and old wive's tales when it comes to English, things that people believe are true and get spread like rumours but which are not actually true at all. We accept them because we know no better. And if someone is convincing and we don't have an answer, then we often take their word for it.
I am talking about things like, "it is an historic", "never split an infintive" and "I before E, except before C". None of these are true, but people will argue until they are blue in the face that they are. Often, in spite of when you prove to them categorically that the world is, indeed, round and not flat. If the Oxford dictionary and Fowler's state in no uncertain terms that there is nothing wrong with so-called split infinitives – why do people stick to the opposite view simply because a friend of theirs told them so?
But there are plenty of books about English. What is different about yours?
You are quite right in that there are plenty of good books about English – but for those who have the confidence to seek them out. Unfortunately, there are also many, many more that are truly awful and what they invariably end up doing is put people off language rather than encourage.
Equally, a lot of books offer "quick" solutions or make bold claims about how much you are going to benefit – just like the millions of dieting and exercise books out there – but once you've paid your money and start reading the first thing they do is scold you for not already knowing what it is you hoped to learn when you bought the book, and the more you read the worse you feel. And soon you give up, telling yourself that, "it's not for me, I'll never be any good at it so there's no point trying".
Other books are genuinely comprehensive but presume a lot of prior knowledge – like a secret society – and are too intimidating for most people, even when they speak fluent English. These books often over do it on their use of grammatical terms, so put people to sleep, or the books try to include everything and, again, put readers to sleep.
So, to answer your question, what I have done with The Joy of English is take all of the best bits, the most useful and intersting things that give instant, lasting results straight from the start, and present them in plain English as much as possible. I have tried to put the "joy" back into the subject, for it really is a rewarding domain to gain skills in. These are things that anyone can learn. And they are not, "dumbed down", as it were. There are many quite advanced things included in the book, which will surprise even seasoned professionals.
The other main thing that I believe sets The Joy of English apart from other books of a similar type is that I include plenty of examples of both right and wrong. There are no fewer than 1500 examples included in the 100 short chapters, illustrating each point more than once so that everyone can learn by example.
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