As the superfluity of uninspired, careless, grammatically incorrect, slang-ridden English makes plain, elegant English is English rarely heard, English seldom seen. Countless occasions where elegant English might have been used -- indeed, ought to have been used -- by a president or politician, a novelist or journalist, a luminary or other notable, have passed with bland, if not bumbling, speech or writing.The point of this book is to show that the language can, indeed, be spoken or written with grace and polish -- qualities that much contemporary English is bereft of and could benefit from.Elegant English is exhilarating; it stirs our thoughts and feelings as ably as everyday English blurs them.