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.

Publisher description

Words, Words, Words is all about the wonder of words. Drawing on a lifetime's experience, David Crystal explores language in all its rich varieties through words: the very building blocks of our communication. Language has no life of its own: it only exists in the mouths and ears, hands, eyes and brains of its users. As we are guided expertly and passionately through the mysteries and delights of word origins, histories, spellings, regional and social variations, taboo words, jargon, and wordplay, the contribution we all play in shaping the linguistic world around us becomes evident. Words, Words, Words is a celebration of what we say and how we say it. It invites us to engage linguistically with who we are: to understand what words tell us about where we come from and what we do. And as they continually shape our lives, it suggests ways that we can look at words anew and get involved with collecting and coining words ourselves.

The phenomenon returns! Originally published in 1987, The Book of Questions, a New York Times bestseller, has been completely revised and updated to incorporate the myriad cultural shifts and hot-button issues of the past twenty-five years, making it current and even more appealing. This is a book for personal growth, a tool for deepening relationships, a lively conversation starter for the family dinner table, a fun way to pass the time in the car. It poses over 300 questions that invite people to explore the most fascinating of subjects: themselves and how they really feel about the world. The revised edition includes more than 100 all-new questions that delve into such topics as the disappearing border between man and machine—How would you react if you learned that a sad and beautiful poem that touched you deeply had been written by a computer? The challenges of being a parent—Would you completely rewrite your child’s college-application essays if it would help him get into a better school? The never-endingly interesting topic of sex—Would you be willing to give up sex for a year if you knew it would give you a much deeper sense of peace than you now have? And of course the meaning of it all—If you were handed an envelope with the date of your death inside, and you knew you could do nothing to alter your fate, would you look? The Book of Questions may be the only publication that challenges—and even changes—the way you view the world, without offering a single opinion of its own.