This book is an unpretentious attempt at an introduction to Scots, similar to the kind of popular manual aimed at those wishing to acquire a basic knowledge of, say, French or German. It sets out to treat the Lowland Scots vernacular as a modern language rather than an outmoded dialect of Òproper EnglishÓ, which is how it has all too long been regarded.
It is in no way a formal grammar or linguistic treatise, and the reader should not expect to find here a comparative analysis of the various dialects of Scots or a historical study of the older Scottish tongue. There are already numerous books available for those whose interest lies in these fields.
In this book grammatical terms are kept to a minimum and are explained in simple English. The ubiquitous apostrophe which speckles the pages of anthologies of Scots poetry like fly-blow has been all but totally eliminated.