Download or read book Story of English written by Robert McCrum and published by . This book was released on 1993-06-30 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Story of English in 100 Words written by David Crystal and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising. In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering).
Download or read book The Story of English written by Philip Gooden and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has grown to become the linguistic equivalent of a superpower, and is now sometimes described as the world's lingua franca. Worldwide, some 380 million people speak English as a first language and some 600 million as a second language. A staggering one billion people are believed to be learning it. English is the premier international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, and diplomacy and also on the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945. It is considered by many good judges to be well on the way to becoming the world's first universal language Author Philip Gooden tells the story of the English language in all its richness and variety. From the intriguing origins and changing definitions of common words such as OK, berserk, curfew, cabal, and pow-wow, to the massive transformations wrought in the vocabulary and structure of the language by Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquest, through to the literary triumphs of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales and the works of Shakespeare. The Story of English is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social and cultural transformation, and one that is accessibly and authoritatively told by an author in perfect command of his material.
Download or read book The Story of English written by Robert McCrum and published by . This book was released on 1988-12-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now revised, The Story of English is the first book to tell the whole story of the English language. Originally paired with a major PBS miniseries, this book presents a stimulating and comprehensive record of spoken and written English-from its Anglo-Saxon origins some two thousand years ago to the present day, when English is the dominant language of commerce and culture with more than one billion English speakers around the world. From Cockney, Scouse, and Scots to Gulla, Singlish, Franglais, and the latest African American slang, this sweeping history of the English language is the essential introduction for anyone who wants to know more about our common tongue.
Download or read book The Story of English written by Joseph Piercy and published by Michael O'Mara Books. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Story of English illustrates the compelling history of how the relatively obscure dialects spoken by tribes from what are now Denmark, the Low Countries and northern Germany, became the most widely spoken language in the world, and of how that language evolved during the last two millennia. Chronologically ordered and divided into six main sections covering pre-Roman and Latin influences, the ascent of Old English, and the succession of Middle English, Early Modern and then Late Modern English to today's global language, this fascinating book also explores such factors as the history of the printing press, the works of Chaucer, the evolution of The American Dictionary of the English Language - commonly known as Webster's - and the magisterial Oxford English Dictionary, to the use of slang in today's speech and the coming of electronic messaging: language for a post-modern world.The Story of English is a great book for any lover not just of English, but of the history and development of language.
Download or read book The Stories of English written by David Crystal and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2005-09-06 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking history of worldwide English in all its dialects, differences, and linguistic delights: “Informative . . . distinctive . . . a spirited celebration.” —The Guardian In this “well-informed and appealing” work (Publishers Weekly), David Crystal puts aside the usual focus on “standard” English, and instead provides a startlingly original view of where the richness, creativity, and diversity of the language truly lies—in the accents and dialects of nonstandard English users all over the world. Whatever their regional, social, or ethnic background, each group has a story worth telling, whether it is in Scotland or Somerset, South Africa or Singapore. He reminds us that for several hundred wonderful years, there was no such thing as “incorrect” English—and traces the evolution of the language from a few thousand Anglo-Saxons to the 1.5 billion people who speak it today. Moving from Beowulf to Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens and the present day, Crystal puts regional speech and writing at center stage, giving a sense of the social realities behind the development of English. This significant shift in perspective enables us to understand for the first time the importance of everyday, previously marginalized, voices in our language—and provides an argument too for the way English should be taught in the future. “A work of impeccable scholarship [that] could easily serve as a standard textbook for students of linguistics, but Mr. Crystal, reaching out to a more general audience, recognizes that even the most avid reader might flinch at the sections on Old Norse grammatical influence. Cleverly, he has sprinkled the book with little digressions, set apart in boxes, that address historical mysteries, strange loanwords, interesting etymologies and the like.” —The New York Times “Learned and often provocative . . . demonstrates repeatedly that common conceptions about language are often historically inaccurate—split infinitives bothered no one until recently (likewise sentence-ending prepositions).” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Simply the best introductory history of the English language family that we have. The plan of the book is ingenious, the writing lively, the exposition clear, and the scholarly standard uncompromisingly high.” —J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Download or read book The Story of English in India written by N. Krishnaswamy and published by Foundation Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With globalization, English has become an economic necessity and Indians have realized that they have the 'English advantage' over many other countries like China and Japan. India has shed its colonial complexes towards English and has come to terms with the language; Indians have separated the English language from the English. The Story of English in India presents historical facts in a socio-cultural framework. The book is a must for all teachers and students of English; it will be useful for all those interested in the politics of language and education in India. Key issues discussed: - Are we indebted to the British for introducing English in India? - What was the role of English during India's struggle for freedom? - Has English united India? - Has English divided India into two - the English knowing classes who govern and the non-English knowing masses who are governed? - Will English ever become an Indian tongue spoken in the great Indian language bazaar? - What will be the future of major Indian languages in the wake of the English onslaught? Will it end in linguistic imperialism and cultural colonialism?
Download or read book The Story of Australian English written by Kel Richards and published by NewSouth. This book was released on 2015-03-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The English language arrived in Australia with the first motley bunch of European settlers on 26 January 1788. Today there is clearly a distinctive Australian regional dialect with its own place among the global family of ‘Englishes’. How did this come about? Where did the distinctive pattern, accent, and verbal inventions that make up Aussie English come from? A lively narrative, this book tells the story of the birth, rise and triumphant progress of the colourful dingo lingo that we know today as Aussie English.
Download or read book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue written by John McWhorter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-10-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar Why do we say “I am reading a catalog” instead of “I read a catalog”? Why do we say “do” at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history. Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English— and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it’s not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition).
Download or read book The Inside Story on English Spelling written by Paquita Boston and published by DoctorZed Publishing. This book was released on 2014-01-03 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever wondered why ‘his’ doesn’t have a Z? Or what on Earth is O doing in ‘won’? Ever asked why GH is in through? Or what is the point of silent letters? At last a book which spills the beans on English spelling. English spelling has rules and lots of them. Paquita Boston explains why English spelling is so difficult, much harder than spelling in most other languages. Boston also reveals the various codes that govern English spelling and describes how these codes are keys to hidden treasure, the cultural inheritance of all English speaking people. Boston treats spelling as a game as serious as any sport, with as many rules and as many game changes. After reading this book you’ll actually enjoy spelling and no longer view English as a ‘funny language without many spelling rules’. Instead, you will want to share the inside story on English spelling with young and old.
Download or read book The Story of English written by Robert McCrum and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Story of English is the extraordinary tale of a language that came from nowhere to conquer the world. The essential introduction for student and general reader alike. 'A first-rate introduction to one of the most fascinating of subjects.' New York Times 'One of the most readable and democratic books ever written about the language.This is something of a watershed in both the study and presentation of English to the world.' English Today
Download or read book The English Language written by David Crystal and published by Panpac Education Pte Ltd. This book was released on 1988 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Different Class written by Duncan Stone and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the Cricket Writers Club 'Book of the Year' 2022 and the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 'Cricket Book of the Year' 2023 In telling the story of cricket from the bottom up, Different Class demonstrates how the "quintessentially English" game has done more to divide, rather than unite, the English. In 1963, the West Indian Marxist C.L.R. James posed the deceptively benign question: "What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?" A challenge to the public to re-consider cricket and its meaning by placing the game in its true social, political and economic context, James was, all too subtly, attempting to counter the game’s orthodox history that, he argued, had played a key role in the formation of national culture. As a consequence, he failed, and the history of cricket in England has retained the same stresses and lineaments as it did a century ago — until now. In examining recreational rather than professional (first-class) cricket, Different Class does not simply challenge the widely accepted orthodoxy of English cricket, it demonstrates how the values and belief systems at its heart were, under the guise of amateurism, intentionally developed in order to divide the English along class lines at every level of the game. If the creation of opposing class-based cricket cultures in the North and South of England grew out of this process, the institutional structures developed by those in charge of English cricket continue to discriminate. But, as much as the exclusion of Black and South Asian cricketers from the recreational mainstream is the most obvious example, it is social class that remains the greatest barrier to participation in what used to be the national game.
Download or read book The Adventure of English written by Melvyn Bragg and published by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the English language traces its evolution from a Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern form, noting the influence of such groups and individuals as early Anglo-Saxon tribes, Alfred the Great, and William Shakespeare.
Download or read book Who is Our Friend written by Jade Mathieson and published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rhino, Crocodile, Giraffe and Zebra all live together in Africa. They also share a common best friend? Can you guess who it is? Learn about the natural world and the most unlikeliest of friendships in this charming story from Jade Mathieson. 'Who Is Our Friend?' (English), written by Jade Mathieson, illustrated by Gerhard Van Wyk, published by Book Dash (© Book Dash, 2016) under a CC BY 4.0 license on StoryWeaver. Read, create and translate stories for free on www.storyweaver.org.in
Download or read book The Cambridge History of the English Short Story written by Dominic Head and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-14 with total page 1082 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge History of the English Short Story is the first comprehensive volume to capture the literary history of the English short story. Charting the origins and generic evolution of the English short story to the present day, and written by international experts in the field, this book covers numerous transnational and historical connections between writers, modes and forms of transmission. Suitable for English literature students and scholars of the English short story generally, it will become a standard work of reference in its field.
Download or read book The Day Punctuation Came to Town written by Kimberlee Gard and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There's a new family in town: the Punctuations! When Exclamation Point, Question Mark, Period, and Comma join the letters at school, they form words like Wow! and Why? and Yes. But Comma isn't sure where he belongs. He just seems to get in the way. Is he really important? Kids, parents, and teachers will enjoy this latest installment in the Language Is Fun series. With colorful illustration and clever wordplay, The Day Punctuation Came to Town is a wonderful introduction to punctuation and the important role it plays in language.
