Grammar for Grown-ups

The following may be of use to those wanting to take their interest in grammar further. I draw frequently on many of them. There is a separate section at the end with some references on Standard English.

• The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language by David Crystal (Cambridge University Press)

• The Cambridge Guide to English Usage by Pam Peters (Cambridge University Press)

• Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English by Douglas Biber and others (Longman). The condensed version of the magisterial ‘Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English’.

• Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal (Longman)

• Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts by R L Trask (Routledge)

• Linguistics: An Introduction by Andrew Radford and others, (Cambridge University Press)

• Grammar and Vocabulary by Howard Jackson, Routledge

• An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage by Geoffrey Leech and others (Longman)

• The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (Penguin)

• The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher (Arrow Books)

• Language Myths edited by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill (Penguin)

• Language: The Basics by R L Trask (Routledge)

• ‘Think On My Words’ Exploring Shakespeare’s Language by David Crystal (Cambridge University Press)

• An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England by Bruce Mitchell (Blackwell)

• Oxford English Dictionary Online

• Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

• A Guide to English Language Usage (for non-native speakers) by Peter Harvey, Lavengro Books

• The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (sample chapters) by Rodney Huddleston and others (Cambridge University Press)

• Discover Grammar by David Crystal (Longman). Includes exercises.

• Language Matters by Laurie Bauer and others (Palgrave Macmillan)

• The Oxford History of English edited by Lynda Mugglestone (Oxford University Press)

STANDARD ENGLISH

Cheshire, J. and Molloy, J. (1993) ‘Syntactic variation in non-standard dialects’ in Milroy, J. and Milroy, L. (eds) Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles, London, Longman, p. 212

Coupland, N. (1988) Dialect in Use: Sociolinguistic Variation in Cardiff English, Cardiff, University of Wales Press. Quoted in Graddol. D, Leith, D., Swann, J., Rhys, M., and Gillen, J. (eds) Changing English, London, Routledge/The Open University, pp.203-4

Crystal, D. (1995) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Holmes, J. (2001) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (2^nd edn), Harlow, Longman. in Graddol. D, Leith, D., Swann, J., Rhys, M., and Gillen, J. (eds) Changing English, London, Routledge/The Open University (p. 221)

Hudson, R. (2000) Lecture given in Paris on 17 March 2000. The Linguists Association of Great Britain: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/SEhudson.htm (Accessed on 19 November 2009).

Hudson, R. and Pullum G.K. (2001) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 8. Available at http://www.cambridge.org/assets/linguistics/cgel/chap1.pdf (Accessed on 19 November 2009)

Mugglestone, L. (2007) ‘Accent as Social Symbol’ in Graddol. D, Leith, D., Swann, J., Rhys, M., and Gillen, J. (eds) Changing English, London, Routledge/The Open University

Trask, R.L. (2007) Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, Abingdon, Routledge

Trudgill, P (1999) ‘Standard English: what it isn’t’ in Bex, T, and Watts Richard J. (eds.) Standard English: the widening debate. London Routledge, 1999, 117-128. In Jackson, H. Grammar and Vocabulary, Routledge, London, 2002, reprinted 2003, pp. 171-180. Also available at http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/SEtrudgill.htm