A compact, user-friendly book authored by David Crystal which draws on his extensive experience and knowledge of the English language. David Crystal regularly receives questions about usage from all over the English-teaching world. In this book he gives his answers to fifty of the topics that are often raised, ranging from general enquiries about the language as a whole to very specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom, and style.

A compact, user-friendly reference book, investigating current trends in ELT. Trends are wide-ranging and include topics such as: plurilingualism, wellbeing, digital literacies, metacognition, flipped learning, gamification, mediation, and critical thinking, amongst others. The book considers how and why each trend has become important in ELT; explores how the trends are reflected in current practices; and evaluates the trends, looking at their relevance to different ELT contexts and their grounding in research.

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

In this book, David Crystal confronts the foe of many : grammar. Once taught relentlessly to all students in the English-speaking world, grammar disappeared from most school curricula, so terms such as "preposition" and "conjunction" now often confound children and adults alike. In this breezy, entertaining book, Crystal proves that grammar needn't make us uneasy--we can all make sense of how we make sense. -- Provided by publisher.

Why do we all employ filler phrases like sort of and you know? what is the difference between attractive and not attractive? when is a preposition the correct word to end a sentence with? and can it ever be acceptable to boldly split an infinitive?