...Otto Jespersen, 1946, 'Standards of Correctness', in Mankind, Nation and Individual, Ch. 5 8:39 I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations. Samuel Johnson, 14 March 1752, The Rambler,...

...was obvious even in his lighter passages. Concluding The Rambler, Johnson stated that he had labored "to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations." If this had been the only achievement of...

...inherited this Renaissance concern with linguistic purity; we can hear it clearly in Johnson's declaration that he has "laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations.'"7 As England began searching for its own...

...final sentence of mankind, I have at least endeavoured to deserve their kindness. The Rambler. I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations. Something, perhaps, I have added to the...