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Founding Grammars

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Release : 2015-05-12
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 283/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Founding Grammars by : Rosemarie Ostler

Download or read book Founding Grammars written by Rosemarie Ostler. This book was released on 2015-05-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who decided not to split infinitives? With whom should we take issue if in fact, we wish to boldly write what no grammarian hath writ before? In Founding Grammars, Rosemarie Ostler delves into the roots of our grammar obsession to answer these questions and many more. Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious - capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's earliest days, an era when most families owned only two books - the Bible and a grammar primer. Along the way, she investigates colorful historical characters on both sides of the grammar debate in her efforts to unmask the origins of contemporary speech. Linguistic founding fathers like Noah Webster, Tory expatriate Lindley Murray, and post-Civil War literary critic Richard Grant White,all play a featured role in creating the rules we've come to use, and occasionally discard, throughout the years. Founding Grammars is for curious readers who want to know where grammar rules have come from, where they've been, and where they might go next.

Founding Grammars

Download Founding Grammars PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2015-05-12
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 122/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Founding Grammars by : Rosemarie Ostler

Download or read book Founding Grammars written by Rosemarie Ostler. This book was released on 2015-05-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious -- capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's earliest days, an era when most families owned only two books -- the Bible and a grammar primer. Along the way, she investigates colorful historical characters on both sides of the grammar debate in her efforts to unmask the origins of contemporary speech." --

The United States of English

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Release : 2023-08-01
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 316/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The United States of English by : Rosemarie Ostler

Download or read book The United States of English written by Rosemarie Ostler. This book was released on 2023-08-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of how English became American -- and how it became Southern, Bostonian, Californian, African-American, Chicano, elite, working-class, urban, rural, and everything in between By the time of the Revolution, the English that Americans spoke was recognizably different from the British variety. Americans added dozens of new words to the language, either borrowed from Native Americans (raccoon, persimmon, caucus) or created from repurposed English (backwoods, cane brake, salt lick). Americans had their own pronunciations (bath rhymed with hat, not hot) and their own spelling (honor, not honour), not to mention a host of new expressions that grew out of the American landscape and culture (blaze a trail, back track, pull up stakes). Americans even invented their own slang, like stiff as a ringbolt to mean drunk. American English has continued to grow and change ever since. The United States of English tells the engrossing tale of how the American language evolved over four hundred years, explaining both how and why it changed and which parts of the "mother tongue" it preserved (I guess was heard in the British countryside long before it became a typical Americanism). Rosemarie Ostler approaches American English as part of the larger story of American history and culture, starting with what we know about the first colonists and their speech. Drawing on the latest research, she explores the roots of regional dialects, the differences between British and American language use, the sources of American slang, the development of African American English, current trends in political language, and much more. Plentiful examples of the American vernacular, past and present, bring the language to life and make for an engaging as well as enlightening read.

The Hidden History of Coined Words

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Release : 2021-02-19
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 782/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Hidden History of Coined Words by : Ralph Keyes

Download or read book The Hidden History of Coined Words written by Ralph Keyes. This book was released on 2021-02-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Successful word-coinages--those that stay in currency for a good long time--tend to conceal their beginnings. We take them at face value and rarely when and where they were first minted. Engaging, illuminating, and authoritative, Ralph Keyes's The Hidden History of Coined Words explores the etymological underworld of terms and expressions and uncovers plenty of hidden gems. He also finds some fascinating patterns, such as that successful neologisms are as likely to be created by chance as by design. A remarkable number of new words were coined whimsically, originally intended to troll or taunt. Knickers, for example, resulted from a hoax; big bang from an insult. Casual wisecracking produced software, crowdsource, and blog. More than a few resulted from happy accidents, such as typos, mistranslations, and mishearing (bigly and buttonhole), or from being taken entirely out of context (robotics). Neologizers (a Thomas Jefferson coinage) include not just scholars and writers but cartoonists, columnists, children's book authors. Wimp originated with a book series, as did goop, and nerd from a book by Dr. Seuss. Coinages are often contested, controversy swirling around such terms as gonzo, mojo, and booty call. Keyes considers all contenders, while also leading us through the fray between new word partisans, and those who resist them strenuously. He concludes with advice about how to make your own successful coinage. The Hidden History of Coined Words will appeal not just to word mavens but history buffs, trivia contesters, and anyone who loves the immersive power of language.

An Introduction to an English Grammar: containing I. A compendious way to master any language in the world. II. A particular account of those eastern and northern tongues, grammars of which are not publish'd in the collection to which this attempt belongs ... III. A dissertation on the Saxon. IV. A grammar of it. Being number X., of the Complete Linguist, etc

Download An Introduction to an English Grammar: containing I. A compendious way to master any language in the world. II. A particular account of those eastern and northern tongues, grammars of which are not publish'd in the collection to which this attempt belongs ... III. A dissertation on the Saxon. IV. A grammar of it. Being number X., of the Complete Linguist, etc PDF Online Free

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Release : 1726
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis An Introduction to an English Grammar: containing I. A compendious way to master any language in the world. II. A particular account of those eastern and northern tongues, grammars of which are not publish'd in the collection to which this attempt belongs ... III. A dissertation on the Saxon. IV. A grammar of it. Being number X., of the Complete Linguist, etc by : John HENLEY (called “Orator Henley.”.)

Download or read book An Introduction to an English Grammar: containing I. A compendious way to master any language in the world. II. A particular account of those eastern and northern tongues, grammars of which are not publish'd in the collection to which this attempt belongs ... III. A dissertation on the Saxon. IV. A grammar of it. Being number X., of the Complete Linguist, etc written by John HENLEY (called “Orator Henley.”.). This book was released on 1726. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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