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Fixing English

Author: Anne Curzan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107020751
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Anne Curzan presents a pioneering new definition of prescriptivism as a linguistic phenomenon.

Fixing English

Author: Anne Curzan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107020751
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book

Book Description
Anne Curzan presents a pioneering new definition of prescriptivism as a linguistic phenomenon.

Fixing English

Author: Anne Curzan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139952285
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Over the past 300 years, attempts have been made to prescribe how we should and should not use the English language. The efforts have been institutionalized in places such as usage guides, dictionaries, and school curricula. Such authorities have aspired to 'fix' the language, sometimes by keeping English exactly where it is, but also by trying to improve the current state of the language. Anne Curzan demonstrates the important role prescriptivism plays in the history of the English language, as a sociolinguistic factor in language change and as a vital meta-discourse about language. Starting with a pioneering new definition of prescriptivism as a linguistic phenomenon, she highlights the significant role played by Microsoft's grammar checker, debates about 'real words', non-sexist language reform, and efforts to reappropriate stigmatized terms. Essential reading for anyone interested in the regulation of language, the book is a fascinating re-examination of how we tell language history.

Fixing Babel

Author: Rebecca Shapiro
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
ISBN: 1611488109
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
We all think we know what a dictionary is for and how to use one, so most of us skip the first pages—the front matter—and go right to the words we wish to look up. Yet dictionary users have not always known how English “works” and my book reproduces and examines for the first time important texts in which seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dictionary authors explain choices and promote ideas to readers, their “end users.” Unlike French, Spanish, and Italian dictionaries compiled during this time and published by national academies, the goal of English dictionaries was usually not to “purify” the language, though some writers did attempt to regularize it. Instead, English lexicographers aimed to teach practical ways for their users to learn English, improve their language skills, even transcend their social class. The anthology strives to be comprehensive in its coverage of the first phase of this tradition from the early seventeenth century—from Robert Cawdrey’s (1604) A Table Alphabeticall, to Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755), and finally, to Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). The book puts English dictionaries in historical, national, linguistic, literary, cultural contexts, presenting lexicographical trends and the change in the English language over two centuries, and examines how writers attempted to control it by appealing to various pedagogical and legal authorities. Moreover, the development of dictionary and attempts to codify English language and grammar coincided with the arc of the British Empire; the promulgation of “proper” English has been a subject of debate and inquiry for centuries and, in part, dictionaries and the teaching of English historically have been used to present and support ideas about what is correct, regardless of how and where English is actually used. The authors who wrote these texts apply ideas about capitalism, nationalism, sex and social status to favor one language theory over another. I show how dictionaries are not neutral documents: they challenge or promote biases. The book presents and analyzes the history of lexicography, demonstrating how and why dictionaries evolved into the reference books we now often take for granted and we can see that there is no easy answer to the question of “who owns English.”

Fixing Language

Author: Herman Cappelen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192546295
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Herman Cappelen investigates ways in which language (and other representational devices) can be defective, and how they can be improved. In all parts of philosophy there are philosophers who criticize the concepts we have and propose ways to improve them. Once one notices this about philosophy, it's easy to see that revisionist projects occur in a range of other intellectual disciplines and in ordinary life. That fact gives rise to a cluster of questions: How does the process of conceptual amelioration work? What are the limits of revision? (How much revision is too much?) How does the process of revision fit into an overall theory of language and communication? Fixing Language aims to answer those questions. In so doing, it aims also to draw attention to a tradition in 20th- and 21st-century philosophy that isn't sufficiently recognized. There's a straight intellectual line from Frege and Carnap to a cluster of contemporary work that isn't typically seen as closely related: much work on gender and race, revisionism about truth, revisionism about moral language, and revisionism in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. These views all have common core commitments: revision is both possible and important. They also face common challenges about the methods, assumptions, and limits of revision.

English at Work

Author: Ellen Jovin
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1529384656
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
This Grammar Guru will solve the world's problems. Or, at least, help you figure out when to use an Oxford comma. - The New York Times Put your English skills to work for you! This book is ideal for intermediate and advanced (CEFR B1-C1) nonnative speakers of English seeking to increase their communication confidence and effectiveness in the workplace. Improve your precision and professionalism so your ideas shine! The book consists of 50 short quizzes which include the most common English errors made by nonnative speakers in professional environments. This fun format allows you to find your own frequent errors and fix them. You will test your skills quickly, daily, and build your language awareness and accuracy in writing and speaking English. Short, clear explanations after each quiz help you improve your knowledge of the grammar rules. Complementing the quizzes are Ellen says boxes with the same practical advice on good communication etiquette and habits that Ellen has been sharing for years with large corporate clients in New York City and beyond. Witty and humorous drawings illustrate confusing language and common misunderstandings. The focus of the exercises is on fixing your grammar and word-choice problems. Examples are pulled from every industry: finance, law, consulting, publishing, real-estate, retail, technology, energy, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, education, advertising, government, insurance, non-profit, and more. Whatever your profession or interest, you will benefit from the exercises contained in this book. If you are just looking to sharpen your English, this book is for you, too. This India-specific edition includes a special section of the most common English errors made in the Indian workplace and their standard equivalents, as well as a downloadable reference guide of frequently confused and misused words and expressions. You will be learning from a professional writer with two decades of experience teaching executives in a business setting. A language-learner herself who has studied some two dozen languages, Ellen Jovin has written this book to help motivated working adults advance their business English on their own time and at their own pace.

The Big Ten of Grammar

Author: William B. Bradshaw
Publisher: BookPros, LLC
ISBN: 098423585X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Have you ever hesitated when choosing between I or me? Have you had trouble figuring out tricky pronouns like who or whom? What about those always-troublesome commas-do they go before or after the quotation marks? If you're anything like the rest of us, you struggle with these age-old grammatical issues. In this practical and easy-to-understand handbook, Dr. William B. Bradshaw identifies the ten most common errors in English grammar and helps you to recognize and correct these mistakes, enabling you to write and speak with greater clarity in your personal and professional life. The Big Ten of Grammar is the perfect guide for students, teachers, and professionals to use in brushing up on their grammar.

How English Works, Books a la Carte Edition

Author: Anne Curzan
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780321946270
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description