Reviews
"An awe-inspiring project of breath-taking scope, bringing together a distinguished list of internationally recognized editors and authors." -- Mark Steedman, University of Edinburgh, UK

"This work is vital to all college-level libraries as the most comprehensive language resource of its kind." -- John Aiello, The Electric Review.

"An extraordinary resource, encompassing a comprehensive breadth of major topics in all aspects of language and linguistics, the perspectives of leading scholars, and regional viewpoints from around the world! It does look to be an impressive undertaking, allright." -- Alister Cumming, Professor and Head, Modern Language Centre Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada.

"With over 3,000 articles and 39,000 references, this volume is vital to all college-level libraries as the most comprehensive language resource of its kind. -- John Aiello, The Electric Review, May 2005.

From the foreword:

"From people who enjoy browsing through encyclopedias to specialists who want some basic orientation in an area near their own, readers will find ELL2 to be an outstanding source of information." -- Sarah G. Thomason, William J. Gedney Collegiate Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

This insightful study proposes a unified theory of speech through which conflicting ideas about language might be understood. It is founded on a number of key points, such as the continuum of linguistic behaviour, extensive variation in language features, the importance of regional and social proximity to shared linguistic production, and differential frequency as a key factor in linguistic production both in regional and social groups and in text corpora. The study shows how this new linguistics of speech does not reject rules in favour of language use, or reject language use in favour of rules; rather, it shows how rules can come from language as people use it. Written in a clear, engaging style and containing invaluably accessible introductions to complex theoretical concepts, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, dialectology and corpus linguistics.


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MIRROR 1

Where do dialects differ from Standard English, and why are they so remarkably resilient? This new study argues that commonly used verbs that deviate from Standard English for the most part have a long pedigree. Analysing the language use of over 120 dialect speakers, Lieselotte Anderwald demonstrates that not only are speakers justified historically in using these verbs, systematically these non-standard forms actually make more sense. By constituting a simpler system, they are generally more economical than their Standard English counterparts. Drawing on data collected from the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus (FRED), this innovative and engaging study comes directly from the forefront of this field, and will be of great interest to students and researchers of English language and linguistics, morphology and syntax.

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MIRROR 1

Review
"Upon reading Steps, my students usually comment that they are surprised that they can actually understand an English text."

"Wyrick’s strength lies in her ability to write clear, effective explanations."

"I really like the "user-friendly" style and tone, the humor, and the ability of students to use and understand it."

"The direct, straightforward advice, the student-specific examples, and the engaging professional essays make this textbook stand out from the others."

Description
The informal, student-friendly tone of this rhetorically-organized rhetoric/reader/handbooks provides step-by-step instructions on writing a variety of short, 500-800-word essays. This is a text that both students and instructors can use easily.

Whether you write an occasional professional letter or a daily newspaper column, William Zinsser's On Writing Well should be required reading. Simplicity is Zinsser's mantra: he preaches a stripped-down writing style, strong and clear. He has no patience for excess (most use of adjectives and adverbs, he writes, just adds clutter) or tired phraseology (for instance, he'd like to outlaw all leads involving those "future archaeologists" most often found "stumbl[ing] upon the remains of our civilization"). He recommends that all writers of nonfiction read their work aloud (don't commit something to paper that you wouldn't actually say) and write under the assumption that "the reader knows nothing" (not to be confused with assuming the reader's an idiot). In addition to the chapters on the expected--usage, audience, interviews, leads--Zinsser also focuses on such trouble spots as science and technical writing, business writing, sports, and humor.

Review
"On Writing Well belongs on any shelf of serious reference works for writers." -- --New York Times

Fom the preface
When we speak or write we want to be understood and respected. We want to convey our meaning and we want to do it in a way that will command admiration. To accomplish these ends we must know the meanings of words, their specific meanings and their connotations, implications and overtones, and we must know how to combine words effectively into sentences.
A dictionary can help us to understand the meaning of a word. But the only way to understand a word fully is to see it in use in as many contexts as possible. This means that anyone who wants to improve his vocabulary must read a great deal and must make sure that he understands what
he reads...

This paperback in the Colloquial Language Learning Series is available individually or as part of a pack. For more information, please refer to the cassette pack listing for this language.

New Cambridge Advanced English places a strong emphasis on vocabulary, collocation and idiom. It includes CAE exam-style exercises but is suitable both for exam and non-exam candidates. This is a third edition, differing from the second edition by only one minor change in a reading passage. It can be used with the second edition Teacher's book and audio components.

The now-classic Metaphors We Live By changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind. Metaphor, the authors explain, is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows us to use what we know about our physical and social experience to provide understanding of countless other subjects. Because such metaphors structure our most basic understandings of our experience, they are "metaphors we live by"—metaphors that can shape our perceptions and actions without our ever noticing them.
In this updated edition of Lakoff and Johnson's influential book, the authors supply an afterword surveying how their theory of metaphor has developed within the cognitive sciences to become central to the contemporary understanding of how we think and how we express our thoughts in language.