David Crystal

This is the definitive survey of the English language—in all its forms. Crystal writes accessibly about the structure of the language, the uses of English throughout the world, and finally he gives a brief history of English. The book has been fully revised and there is a fascinating new chapter on "The effect of …

Weve all been taught that this sentence--"Driving in from the airport, the flags flapped furiously"--is wrong, wrong, wrong. But is it, asks David Crystal. Everyone knows what this sentence means. No one actually thinks that the flags were driving the car. Is this sentence really incorrect. In The Fight for English, …