David Crystal's 50 questions about English usage / David Crystal ; consultant and editor Scott Thornbury.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crystal, David, 1941- author.

Series:

Cambridge handbooks for language teachers

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Usage.

English language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 112 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

David Crystal's fifty questions about English usage

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

David Crystal answers fifty questions about language usage, from general enquiries to specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom, and style. In this compact, user-friendly book, David Crystal draws on his extensive knowledge and experience to answer questions from English language teachers and learners from around the world. The book covers topics ranging from general enquiries about the language as a whole to specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom and style. The author's responses are illustrated by personal anecdotes, placed within historical and literary context and supported by research and corpus data to provide unique, authentic insights.

Contents:

Cover Page

Halftitle Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgements and Thanks

Why I wrote this book

A: Words and idioms

1 How many words are there in the English Language?

2 How many new words come into English every year?

3 Why is English vocabulary so varied?

4 Why do I hear two forms used in a sentence like Talk among(st) yourselves?

5 What's the difference between a cup and a mug?

6 Why do people say phonetic and grammatical and not phonetical and grammatic?

7 I hear people adding -ish to words a lot. What does it mean?

8 What should we call the meal in the middle of the day: lunch or dinner?

9 Why is everyone these days saying you're welcome in response to thanks?

10 What does it mean when someone adds at all at the end of a question?

11 Why do English speakers sometimes use pidgin English, as in long time no see?

12 Is it all right to say she looks well in a black dress rather than looks good?

13 Why do people say the same thing twice, as in it takes what it takes?

14 What is happening in new expressions like well good?

B: Grammar

15 Can a be used before an uncountable noun?

16 Why is the article dropped before some nouns, as in look what baby's doing?

17 Why do some teachers tell me I shouldn't begin a sentence with and?

18 Why do we say I am, am I and I'm not, but aren't I instead of amn't I?

19 Are the conjunctions because, since, as and for interchangeable?

20 Why do we see the past tense of some verbs spelled in two ways, such as burned and burnt?

21 Why is go being used these days instead of say in reporting speech?

22 I've just seen a film called Marley and Me. Shouldn't it be Marley and I?

23 Why do people say whatever on its own?

24 What will be the result? or What will the result be? Which should I use?.

25 I keep coming across Team GB. Shouldn't it be the GB Team?

26 Why is went the past tense of go? (And was the past of am and is?)

27 Is there a difference between I liked the story which you told and ...that you told?

28 Is the third person singular -s going to disappear?

29 Why is a possessive sometimes used before an -ing form, and sometimes not?

C: Pronunciation

30 Where did RP (Received Pronunciation) come from?

31 Have English accents changed in Britain in recent years?

32 What is this 'Estuary English' that I read about?

33 Why do some people say afternoon and some say afternoon?

34 Why do people drop the final -g when they say good morning?

35 Why am I hearing so many high rising tones on statements these days?

D: Spelling and punctuation

36 Why is English spelling so irregular?

37 Why is encyclopaedia sometimes spelled encyclopedia?

38 Why do we see a verb sometimes spelled with -ise and sometimes with -ize?

39 Should I write words with accents, like cliché and naïve?

40 Should I write Past Perfect or past perfect (and for other names of tenses)?

41 Why is there so much variation in the use of the apostrophe?

42 I've seen both red, white and blue and red, white, and blue. Which should I use?

43 Can I use an exclamation mark along with a question mark to add emphasis to a question, as in What?! or What!?

44 Are hyphens going out of fashion?

E: Genres

45 Why is Shakespeare difficult to read?

46 How has English changed in the last 400 years?

47 Has internet technology changed English?

48 Will text messaging harm learners' English?

49 Why are transcripts of spoken language so difficult to read?

50 Can I use grammar to identify online phishing?

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jun 2021).

ISBN:

1-108-95919-9

OCLC:

1257403451