Over a million copies sold Writing with Style offers a fresh, up-to-date insight into the principles and tools we can all deploy when it comes to expressing ourselves better when we write. Its leaner, cleaner form ranges widely - from grammar and punctuation to using numbers and how to edit. It also tackles some of the key linguistic issues we face today, like balancing plain speech with sensitivity, and knowing when to use jargon. The result is a clear guide to making the most of the written word: conversational but authoritative; accessible, yet comprehensive.

Language is a wild animal: rough, ambiguous, inconsistent in countless ways. But that just makes it all the more tempting to tame it. Many have tried, from sticklers for supposedly correct grammar to inventors of supposedly perfect languages; from software engineers working on machine translation to governments that see language management as politics by another means. But when you enter the lair of a wild beast, you can be lucky to escape with your wits.

Join Lane Greene on a journey of discovery into the deep strangeness of language. Learn why grammar rules can never capture the extraordinary variety of ordinary usage. See what happens when you try to design a language that really makes sense. Find out why, for all the talk of decline in English, no language in recorded history has ever gone to the dogs, or ever could. And learn the fate of those bold individuals who, through heroism or ignorance, ventured to teach their tongue some new tricks.