Binding: Hardcover
Description: Maybe you've been speaking English all your life or maybe you learned it later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business done or you're an expert with a red pen who never omits a comma or misplaces a modifier you must have noticed that there are some things about this language that are just weird. Perhaps you're reading a book and stop to puzzle over absurd spelling rules (Why are there so many ways to say - gh'?) or you hear someone talking and get stuck on an expression (Why do we say " How dare you" but not " How try you"?) or your kid quizzes you on homework (Why is it "eleven and twelve" instead of "oneteen and twoteen"?). Suddenly you ask yourself " Wait why do we do it this way?" You think about it try to explain it and keep running into walls. It doesn't conform to logic. It doesn't work the way you'd expect it to. There doesn't seem to be any rule at all. There might not be a logical explanation but there will be an explanation and this book is here to help. In Highly Irregular Arika Okrent answers these questions and many more. Along the way she tells the story of the many influences - - from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers - - that made our language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send - up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English Highly Irregular is essential reading for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.
Title: Highly Irregular Why Tough Through And Dough Don't Rhyme And Other Oddities Of The English Language
Author(s): Okrent Arika (Linguist And Author Of In The Land Of Invented Languages Linguist And Author Of In The Land Of Invented Languages), O'neill, Sean (Illustrator And Writer, Illustrator And Writer)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Barcode: 9780197539408
Pages: 272 Pages, 150 Illustrations
Publication Date: 7/1/2021
Category: Language Teaching & Learning (Other Than Elt)