ABSTRACT
In Britain towards the end of the 1980s there was an extraordinary outbreak of public concern about the teaching of English, especially English grammar. At the height of the hysteria, almost every day seemed to bring forth some new and more intemperate manifestation: among those who favoured the public with their views were academics, politicians, columnists and leader writers, novelists, denizens of obscure right-wing think-tanks, union leaders, peers of the realm and —inevitably-Prince Charles, whose remarks in praise of grammar confirmed its new status at the centre of a national crusade. Passions ran high and were slow to subside; between 1987 and 1994 Secretaries of State for Education came and went, Margaret Thatcher’s administration gave way to that of John Major, but grammar remained stubbornly on the political agenda.
