After scanning the contents page of this slim volume, I made my way directly to Chapter 17. The title of this chapter, “-ize or -ise”, had set my heart aflutter. What I found there, I knew, would make or break my reaction to Punctuation Without Tears.
I am a staunch defender and user of the “-ize” suffix. When I was a civil servant, I was more than once picked up on this, usually with the admonishment that “-ize” was “American” (said with a tone of disgust only a notch or two above what I might have expected had I suggested publishing a Green Paper in the typeface favoured by the Waffen SS). I knew I had George Orwell, CS Lewis and others on my side, but I usually managed to keep things in perspective and bite my tongue.
