Word play

Syntax? Boring. Sub-clauses? Pass the remote. But, how are we, as humans, going to learn how to say exactly what we mean when the very notion of sentence structure is as appealing as, well, being stuck in a Latin lesson?
By using

, Homer Simpson, and Twitter to explain it, of course. The Guardian’s production editor David Marsh decided enough was enough – people were tired of being told they were too stupid to understand how their own language worked and that a quirky grammar book would show that actually yes, language and words can be sexy, appealing, and downright fun.
The Newbury journalist’s book

covers everything from split infinitives to figurative nouns, using a kaleidoscope of cultural references from The Simpsons to Shakespeare to break it down. Fans of The Beatles, The Carpenters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even hip hop group De La Soul, are in for a treat.
“I thought there are a lot of books about grammar, some of them make the subject sound much more difficult than it needs to be, or they make it sound dull and boring, or both.
“I’d like to think there is a middle way that doesn’t condemn but does help people to gain confidence in their use of language.
“It was an opportunity to show grammar is sexy, glamorous and fun. The word ‘grammar’ is related to the word glamour; they both derive from the same word.
“The reason I used music is, if you say ‘pronoun sounds boring’ let's look at the video for

by De La Soul on YouTube; it's really good, it's really funny and it's a great record, and as it happens it’s a very good way of explaining the difference between three types of pronoun – subjective, objective and reflexive; me, myself, and I.
“The band are well aware of that and it's a very funny video where they make it clear it could refer to one or all three.
“I’ve never trained as a teacher, but I would be looking for those kinds of examples to make it more accessible.” Music is one way, but he takes from all areas of entertainment, music, literature, and cinema, to explain how our language works.
“The very title of the book

is a jokey reference to one of John Donne’s famous, very eloquent phrases in one of his mediations ‘ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for me’; a wonderful piece of writing.
“The joke of it is I have dropped whom and made it who, which sounds wrong and colloquial, but then I contrast that with the blues song

, or the

phrase ‘Who you gonna call?’ Whom Do You Love? would sound pompous and preposterous, and for Ghostbusters to say ‘whom you gonna call?’ ... nobody would have gone to see the film. So ‘Who you gonna call?’ is right, for them in that everyday informal context, just as ‘for whom the bell tolls’ was right for Donne, writing in that formal, poetic way, with resonance and eloquence.
“You can't say in every context when who or whom is right.
“That is the way for a lot of language. People think they can open a book and it’s going to tell them exactly what they can do in every situation, and actually you can't.
“What I have tried to do is explain the background to the decisions you have to make and why you make them in a particular way in a particular situation.
“One of the great mistakes people make is they think it is a set of rules, actually that is not the case at all, it is down to the context.”
Using music and lyrics to unlock the mystery of grammar is such a simple device, I found myself grinning as I flicked through the pages, and took it all in. He brushes off the suggestion, but he is an authority on language, and his entire life has been one surrounded by words.
As a youth in Sheffield, he wrote to 100 papers, and the only one that would hire him was 200 miles south, the Kent Messenger. By 29, he was an editor of his own newspaper. In 1986, there was a new national newspaper starting up called

. He helped launch it, and stayed there for 10 years before moving to

, where he has been since 1996. Marsh is also behind the Guardian Style Twitter account @guardianstyle, which dispenses straight-talking grammar advice to those who ask, quotes from which he has used as page footers.
“It's incredible, not quite Justin Bieber, but we have 40,000 followers. I remember when it reached 100, I was terribly excited – 100 people following!
“It’s fun, a lot of people ask questions, it's a two-way thing, followers come up with their own suggestions, and there is quite a lot of humour involved.
“As I say in the book, it has given me more pleasure than anything else I have done in 40 years of journalism.
“For people who don’t know Twitter, I am hoping that they will get some sort of flavour about what it is like. You hear the negative stuff about trolling and people being abused online and it’s quite awful. But it’s important to recognise Twitter can be a positive thing.
“We have great fun with all the followers and there is a lot of knowledge being shared – people link to other blogs and articles you wouldn’t be aware of. It's fantastic the amount of knowledge out there.”
He believes the success of the account led to the commission, however Marsh credits family life, and in particular his young son Freddie, with inspiring him to write the book. I met him in the pub, but he tells me: “Throughout history, endless authors have sought inspiration in bars, but on this occasion I found the fields of Newbury helped provide much of the inspiration for this book.
“My wife Anna and I were both living in London and we separately reached the decision we wanted a better quality of life; to get a dog, get a house, with a bigger garden than we could afford.
“We didn't know much about Newbury, but we looked around everywhere outside of London with a map, travelled around, came to Newbury one day and just immediately decided this would be the place; we absolutely loved it.
"And although at the time we didn’t plan it, we have since got a baby. “That was about three years ago, and it's a lovely town. It's a lovely place to bring up Freddie.
“I had to write it at night while he was asleep, but a lot of the book came to me when I was walking across the Newbury battlefields and along the canal with Lupin [a rescue chocolate Labrador-whippet cross].
“I’d think about what the next chapter would be whilst walking across those fields. “I would hate to have attempted to have written this in London. Those fields really clear your head and I did a lot of that, Lupin played her part, too.”
And if he does the unthinkable and makes a language style guide stylish and sexy, will there be a follow up?
“Well, that depends on Freddie. “I wouldn’t have been watching

, which is quoted in the first chapter, without him.
“When you are with a young child who is learning to speak, and you are writing a book about language, you think ‘where did he pick that up from? Is he learning that from me? Is it innate?’. It was fascinating observing that process. He has helped me in all sorts of ways.”

, by David Marsh, is published by Guardian Faber and is out now.