When I was a boy, cricket was very, very English. Anyone who spoke English and anyone from a big town could play. And that was it.
Despite centuries of English literature, the most famous split infinitive in all of history comes from Star Trek.
I come from not just a household but a country where the finesse of language, well-balanced sentence, structure, syntax, these things are driven into us, and my parents, bless them, are great custodians of the English language.
In France we have a saying, 'Joie de vivre,' which actually doesn't exist in the English language. It means looking at your life as something that is to be taken with great pleasure and enjoy it.
So many of the bands that influenced me growing up were English, even if I didn't realise it. English pop ruled the world in the '80s!
The top 10 verbs in the English language are all irregular, even though irregular verbs make up only 3 per cent of the language.
The most meaningless term in the English language is 'I take full responsibility.' When a politician utters those words it means absolutely nothing.
Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
English doesn't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
More has been screwed up on the battlefield and misunderstood in the Pentagon because of a lack of understanding of the English language than any other single factor.
I have an English identity and a French identity. When I'm in France, I'm more outgoing. And the French part of me cooks, whereas the English part of me writes.
Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why.
My dog is vicious to the uninvited guest, lavishly affectionate to the invited one, and so freakishly acute that he has mastered the English language.
Almásy: You're wearing the thimble. Katharine Clifton: Of course, you idiot. I always wear it; I've always worn it; I've always loved you.
Almásy: This... this, the hollow at the base of a woman's throat, does it have an official name? Madox: Good God, man, pull yourself together.
Almásy: I once heard of a captain who wore a patch over a good eye. The men fought harder for him.
I love English, though I now call it 'Anglo- American' because we no longer speak British English due to globalization and America's economic power.
My first language is both English and Spanish. My mom was raised in Los Angeles, so with her we spoke English, but my father was born in Cuba, so with him we spoke Spanish.
America is remarkable, don't you think so? When I came to Washington, I was twelve years old. I spoke English with an English accent. It was assumed that it would go on in that way.
Occasionally I write a small piece or the odd lecture in English, and I teach in English, but my fiction is always written in German.
