Background
Fisher was born in Lorton, Cumberland, England, the daughter of Henry Fisher, yeoman, of Oldscale.
Fisher was born in Lorton, Cumberland, England, the daughter of Henry Fisher, yeoman, of Oldscale.
Her A New Grammar published in 1745 makes her the earliest published female author on English grammar, with deference to Elizabeth Elstob who published a grammar for English-Saxon in 1715, though not English in the same sense. Together they had nine children and ran a number of businesses, including a ladies" school which Ann ran herself. She died of an asthma attack in 1798, aged 78.
As indicated in the title, A New Grammar with Exercises of Bad English, Ann"s book used examples of poor English to teach grammar.
A New Grammar also attacked the use of Latin rules in the vernacular, and was the first to suggest the pronoun he could be used for both sexes, which may also have helped propel the book to over 30 editions in subsequent years. Her work was often plagiarized and quoted outright by many authors to follow her, showing her efforts were not going unnoticed.