Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare 9780199574094, 019957409X
Using evidence from the world's largest language databank, the Oxford English Corpus, Butterfield uncovers fascinat
360 113 4MB
English Pages 192 pages : some and charts ; 21 x 14 x 1 cm Year 2009;2008
Table of contents :
A sea change: The Corpus --
1. Size matters: How many words? --
2. Your Roman-Saxon-Danish-Norman-English: Where do words come from? --
3. Beware of heard: Why spelling wobbles --
4. Which is to be master? Meaning in context --
5. Words of a feather: Word groupings --
6. Cats and dogs: Idiomatic phrases --
7. Grammar that can govern even kings: What do we mean by grammar? --
8. Style wars: Usages people hate --
Dictionaries then and now --
NOTES --
INDEX.
