Quite Literally

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'' w...