This is a guide to English usage for readers and writers, professional and amateur, established and aspiring, formal trainees and those trying to break in; students of English, both language and literature, and their teachers.

In Quite Literally, Wynford Hicks answers questions like:

• What's an alibi, a bete noire, a celibate, a dilemma?
• Should underway be two words?
• Is the word 'meretricious' worth using at all?
• How do you spell realise - with an s or a z - and should bete be b te?
• Should you split infinitives, end sentences with prepositions, start them with conjunctions?
• What about four-letter words, euphemisms, foreign words, Americanizms, clich s, slang, jargon?
• And does the Queen speak the Queen's English?

The advice given can be applied to both formal speech - what is carefully considered, broadcast, presented, scripted or prepared for delivery to a public audience - and will even enhance your everyday languange too

Practical and fun, whether to improve your writing for professional purposes or simply enjoy exploring the highways and byways of English usage, readers from all walks of life will find this book both invaluable and enjoyable.