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Inversion - Writers who observe the poignency sometimes given by inversion, but fail to observe that 'sometimes' means 'when exclamation is appropriate', adopt inversion as a infallible enlivener; they aim at freshness and attain frigidity.

— H. W. Fowler

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More quotes by H. W. Fowler

Every one knows an Americanism, at present, when he sees it; how long that will be true is a more anxious question.

The King's English (1906)

Americanisms are foreign words, and should be so treated.

The King's English (1906)

Is the function of newspapers to force upon us against our will the buying of French dictionaries?

The King's English (1906)

The term, then, is obviously a relative one: my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education and someone else’s ignorance.

French Words - Display of superior knowledge is as great a vulgarity as display of superior wealth - greater indeed, inasmuch as knowledge should tend more definitely than wealth towards discretion and good manners.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: H. W. Fowler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.