My grandfather loved English. So did his son, Maurice, and so does his grandson – me! In 1918 my grandfather, who came from Gibraltar, bought a book called ‘Commercial Correspondence and Commercial English’. The short guide offered ‘advice on composition for the commercial student and business man’ (note the separation of ‘business’ and ‘man’.)

I have the book at home. Whilst I agree with forty per cent of the advice given, I disagree with the rest, not because of any personal claims to being smarter than the book, but because English today has moved on.
However, many questions regarding English remain if not the same, then certainly very similar.

In this chapter I offer the answers to the oldest questions in my grandfather’s little red book.