Far from the Madding Gerund: And Other Dispatches from Language Log - Softcover

Liberman, Mark; Pullum, Professor Of General Linguistics Geoffrey K

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590280555 ISBN 13: 9781590280553

Publisher: William James & Company, 2006

Synopsis

Mark Liberman and Geoffrey K. Pullum have collected some of their most insightful and amusing material from Language Log, the popular web site started by Liberman. Often irreverent and hilarious, these brief essays take on many sacred cows, showing us--among many things--why Strunk & White is useless, how the College Board can't identify sentence errors in the SAT, and what makes Dan Brown one of the worst prose stylists in the business.There is plenty here to inspire deeper thoughts as well. Why do Pete Rose's statements fall short of saying "I'm sorry," and can we learn how to apologize by analyzing his mistakes? Is there such a thing as mind-reading fatigue? What is the meaning of "pluralism" and "Yankeehood"? Language Log is a site where serious professional linguists go to have fun. There's plenty of fun and plenty to get you thinking about language in new ways in this collection.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

What do linguistics professors do for fun? Savage the SAT, defend “Bushisms,” trash Dan Brown, and show why we must split infinitives—all in witty little essays meant not for specialists, but for everyone interested in how English works. Like Language Log, the site that inspired it, Far from the Madding Gerund is exuberant, tart, and totally addictive.Jan Freeman, language columnist, The Boston Globe Whether it takes their professional expertise or just a healthy dose of common sense, Liberman and Pullum cleverly dismantle the sturdiest language myths.Nathan Bierma, “On Language” columnist, Chicago Tribune This is a lively and insightful collection of observations about language, from real language mavens. Anyone interested in how we talk and write, and what difference it makes to our politics, culture, and science, will enjoy these witty and well-thought-out postings.Steven Pinker, Harvard University Any Linguist is familiar with one of those glum little moments when someone they are talking with says “Oops—I know I better be careful with my grammar around a linguist!” Read this book and find out that not only is grammar policing not what linguists do, but that what we actually do is a lot more fun.John McWhorter, author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language and Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of “Pure” Standard English

About the Author

Mark Liberman obtained Phd in linguistics from MIT and is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.Geoffrey Pullum is a full professor at University of California at Santa Cruz.

Edition details

• Publisher: William James & Company
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1590280555
• ISBN 13: 9781590280553
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 360