or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
27 used & new from £2.30
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left (Paperback)

by David Crystal (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £4.53 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.46 (35%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Thursday, February 11? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
17 new from £2.31 10 used from £2.30
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £9.99 £6.49 36 used & new from £4.16

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Stories of English by David Crystal

The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left + The Stories of English
Price For Both: £11.52

Show availability and delivery details

  • This item: The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left by David Crystal

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • The Stories of English by David Crystal

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Words Words Words

Words Words Words

by David Crystal
4.5 out of 5 stars (4)  £5.77
Txtng: The Gr8 Db8

Txtng: The Gr8 Db8

by David Crystal
3.6 out of 5 stars (5)  £4.74
The Stories of English

The Stories of English

by David Crystal
4.5 out of 5 stars (10)  £6.99
By Hook or by Crook: A Journey in Search of English

By Hook or by Crook: A Journey in Search of English

by David Crystal
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  £6.74
How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning and Languages Live or Die

How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning and Languages Live or Die

by David Crystal
3.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £6.49
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: OUP Oxford; Reprint edition (12 July 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0199229694
  • ISBN-13: 978-0199229697
  • Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13.4 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 129,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #33 in  Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauri > Usage Guides
    #37 in  Books > Reference > Language > Vocabulary

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review

elegant, accessible, illuminating (Times Education Supplement )

Illuminating --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Guardian(review), 21 October, 2006

Illuminating
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left
73% buy the item featured on this page:
The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
£4.53
The Stories of English
9% buy
The Stories of English 4.5 out of 5 stars (10)
£6.99
The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language
7% buy
The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
£6.46
Txtng: The Gr8 Db8
6% buy
Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 3.6 out of 5 stars (5)
£4.74
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
83 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An Antedote, 10 Nov 2006
By Simon Southwell (Bristol, U.K.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left (Hardcover)
Lynne Truss's popular book "Eats Shoots and Leaves" has a sub-title "A Zero Tolerance Approach". David Crystal's book, with a fine blend of humour and a great deal of expertise in the subject, illuminates the fact that grumblings about "proper usage" have a history nearly as long as the language itself. This history is traced from Old English to modern times, meeting with some wonderful characters along the way, and also looks forward to the prospects in the future for the language and the teaching of it to our children. David Crystal does not take the zero tolerance approach of Lynne Truss, but neither does he have (as sometimes accused) an 'anything goes' approach either. In the book he advocates that a standard English is incredibly useful, whilst regional and international variations colour the language to its benefit. The thesis is that context and appropriateness is the thing, and the ability to use language in this manner is the key to shaping the teaching of it in schools.

The book is not a text book, and is more of a wry, sideways look at the subject which appears to be a hot current topic. It is written in a most entertaining way, and blows away the myth that our language is on the verge of collapse. A good fun read on a subject that might appear, on the surface, a little dry. An Antedote to zero tolerance.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, informed and tough-minded, 14 Aug 2008
By lexo1941 (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
There is a perception that David Crystal is some sort of woolly-headed liberal who doesn't care how people use language. In fact, he is acutely sensitive to the ways in which people use language, and is far too knowledgeable about the history of disputes about language to take Lynne Truss's foolish and bloody-minded book very seriously. Crystal describes how Truss's bestseller 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is simply the last in a very, very long line of books about English usage that attempt to make rules about the language based more on distinctions between social class, than on actual transparency of meaning. Crystal professes to be baffled about the success of Truss's book, but I think he's just too polite to point out that Truss's book sold to millions of English people because of the comic vividness of its author's persona as a cantankerous cultural snob.

Crystal's book will probably not sell so well, because it advocates intelligence and learning rather than ill-informed class prejudice. It's a better book, though, because it actually teaches you something instead of reinforcing your prejudices. Not the least of its value is in pointing out the basic uselessness of style guides such as Fowler's Modern English Usage - Fowler is an author very close to my heart (I have all three editions of the book) but I have to admit the truth of Crystal's observation that correct English usage can only be properly learned in very early life, and all the style guides in the world will only really be of use later on in certain very rare cases.

Crystal is right; language changes. I regret the fact that 'imply' and 'infer' are coming to mean the same thing, as are 'refute' and 'deny' - but as a writer and editor I can do nothing to stop it from happening. All I can do is wave a flag in the rare cases where this linguistic shift might lead to dangerous confusion. But it doesn't happen very often. Kudos to Mr. Crystal; all his books are good, but this one is especially timely.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Language evolves...live with it!, 7 Mar 2009
By I. Holder (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Another great book by David Crystal: informative, edifying and very entertaining. He truly does make language come to life and also a pleasure to learn about. And rather than being a language pedant stuck in an earlier time, it is refreshing to read of an expert who is not afraid to say that language evolves.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Lynne Trussed
This is not the sort of book one grabs and reads from cover to cover, but it makes a lot of interesting points that require digesting.

Published 5 months ago by C. P. Seager

5.0 out of 5 stars A laxative for the ignorant
In 'The Euthyphro' Socrates exposes the ignorance of a self-proclaimed religious expert. In this book David Crystal offers the same service to those who, for centuries, have set... Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2007 by Geoffrey Cockayne

2.0 out of 5 stars Nasty pusilanimous attack by liberal on high standards
This book is an attempt by a leading authority on the English language to put down Lynn Truss, who wrote a bestseller deploring the decline in the standard of punctuation and... Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2007 by Chie Higashino

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Its all a bit difficult to let's not bother 2 December 2007
› See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





















i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.