The Handbook of Permissive Englishis the first grammatical and syntactical guide ever published with a non-snob purpose. This book – I mean this one here – is to help you write like everybody. If you use it good, the boss will never read one of your reports and say the deadly, ‘Why he/she writers better than me!’

Just like our having sex has been freed up from the no fun ideas of old fashioned ancient times, writing and talking needs to be freed up from it to. The Handbook of Permissive Englishdoes it. Permissive English is just exactly like permissive sex, except not so much fun and/or worrying.

a, anOne of those Ant Annie distinctions that is rapidly starting to be dead. (See who, whom,its worse.) If your going to be a Ant Annie about it, at least be consistent all the time. Use anbefore all the words that start with a H. Like this: ‘An hotel, an herpes case, usage as an hole.’

amateursPeople that do what they do do out of love. The other way is hookers. (See prose.)

among/betweenPuzzling because one way means among two people and the other one means between three or even more than that. But no one can remember which one is the other one. The solution is to write them both like here, with a slash. (See slash.) In the middle. Like this: ‘Just among/between you and myself …’

and/orPeople that have not got their shots for enough Progressive English say and/oris silly because if you say and or for the slash. (See slash.) It's and and or or. It's not because the slash in and/oris upside down (pretend like). So what it really is is and or and or. It means one and/or the other one to. For instance, if a menu has got on it ham and/or eggs, it means that if you just only want ham or eggs you can get it. (See slash.)

ante-bellumAgainst the civil war, especially Southern bellums like Scarlet O'Hara.

apostropheA comma upside-down at the top. It's most common usage is for making plurals. Like this ‘The 9's stick in this typewriter.’ ‘I am Mr. Hopkins's's secretary, Senior and Junior both.