Have You Eaten Grandma?
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  • Published: 4 October 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241352656
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Have You Eaten Grandma?

Formats & editions
EBook
4 Oct 2018
Audiobook
4 Oct 2018
Paperback
1 Dec 2020
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A hilarious lament on the misuse of English grammar from the self-proclaimed punctuation perfectionist Gyles Brandreth

It can be much harder than it seems; commas, colons, semi-colons and even apostrophes can drive us all mad at times, but it riles no one more than the longest-serving resident of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, grammar guru Gyles Brandreth.

In this brilliantly funny tirade and guide, Gyles anatomizes the linguistic horrors of our times, tells us where we've been going wrong (and why) and shows us how, in future, we can get it right every time. Is 'alright' all right? You'll find out right here. From dangling clauses to gerunds, you'll also discover why Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

In Have You Eaten Grandma? he waxes lyrical about the importance of language as, after all, it is what we use to define ourselves and, ultimately, is what makes us human.
  • Published: 4 October 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241352656
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
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About the author

Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth is a writer, broadcaster, veteran of Just A Minute, QI and The One Show, former MP and Government Whip, now Chancellor of the University of Chester and founder of the 'Poetry Together' project bringing schoolchildren and older people together to learn poetry by heart. His many books include the best-selling poetry anthology, Dancing by the Light of the Moon, and the international best-seller about spelling and punctuation, Have You Eaten Grandma? With Susie Dent, the lexicographer from Countdown, he co-hosts the award-winning podcast, Something Rhymes With Purple. With Dame Sheila Hancock he presents Great Canal Journeys on Channel 4. With Dame Maureen Lipman he is a regular on Celebrity Gogglebox.

Gyles is married to writer and publisher Michèle Brown and has three children, seven grandchildren, and lives in London with his wife, his jumpers, and Nala, the neighbour's cat.

Also by Gyles Brandreth

Elizabeth
Dancing By The Light of The Moon
What Goes Up White and Comes Down Yellow?
Prose & Cons
A History of Britain in Just a Minute
Odd Boy Out
Living with the Enemy
See all

Praise for Have You Eaten Grandma?

Best thing ever, laugh-a-lot, spanning everything. Great book, I'm loving this

Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2

Brilliant, clear, entertaining, very funny and often outright silly. Brandreth excels . . . in all his linguistic joie de vivre and amusing self-awareness

Guardian

A witty and well-informed guide to the vagaries of English grammar. Heed his words; you won't regret it

Country & Town House, (Best Books to Go Under the Christmas Tree)

Whether you are obsessed with getting grammar right, baffled by grammar or (like us) just in love with words, you are going to love this. A hilarious and definitive guide to 21st-century language

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

An informal guide to punctuation, spelling and good English for the twenty-first century

Strong Words

This is a grammar guide that only Gyles Brandreth could write! Full of humour throughout, this is his definitive guide to punctuation, spelling and good English for the twenty-first century

Stratford-Upon-Avon Herald

The wordsmith's wordsmith guides us through the delights of the English language

Daily Mail