The (1) 'never judge a book by its cover' could not be more true for Ridiculous Rules by Marjorie Allen. The cover is completely blank, whereas the book is (SAY)

crammed full of wonderful examples and anecdotes. Allen is an (2) critic of much of what is taught to native and non-native speakers of English, and has(SPEAK)

issued a (3) of war against textbooks and style books which tell lies. (DECLARE)

Take the ridiculous and (4) rule of never ending a sentence with a preposition. The lovely - if famous - story goes, that Winston Churchill, well known for (MEAN)

his numerous (5) as well as for being British Prime Minister during (WRITE)

the Second World War, received a manuscript back from an ignorant (6) (EDIT)

, who had told him rather rudely that he had to (7) a sentence which ended with a preposition. Churchill responded by making the simple yet forceful (PHRASE)

(8) in the margin: 'This is an impertinence up with which I will not (STATE

put.' - the (9) being that not to end a sentence with a preposition often sounds ridiculous in English. Sadly, Allen informs us that the story is probably mere (IMPLY)

(10) , and that Churchill may have actually only written 'rubbish!' in the margin. (HEAR)