Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language
Why is there such a striking difference between English spelling and English pronunciation? How did our seemingly relatively simple grammar rules develop? What are the origins of regional dialect, literary language, and everyday speech, and what do they have to do with you?
Seth Lerer's Inventing English is a masterful, engaging history of the English language from the age of Beowulf to the rap of Eminem. Many have written about the evolution of our grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, but only Lerer situates these developments in the larger history of English, America, and literature.
Grammar of Old English by Eduard Sievers (Rare Book Collection)
Hitherto, Old English grammars have virtually been founded upon the language of the poetical texts. This is to be deplored, especially when we consider that the manuscripts in which they are contained are uniformly late; that the texts themselves were composed at an earlier period, and frequently in another dialect; and that in our present versions ancient forms are almost hopelessly jumbled with more modern ones, and specimens of the most widely separated dialects are occasionally united in the same composition.
In the present treatise, on the other hand, the language of the older prose writings has, to a greater extent than heretofore, been chosen as the basis of grammatical investigation, since it is safe to assume that they represent in some measure a single dialect. Besides the characterization of the West Saxon, which is everywhere made the most prominent, an attempt has also been made to give, though in the most concise terms, the chief variations of the other dialects.
A High School English Grammar by George Mallory Jones, Lewis Emerson Horning and John D. Morrow (Rare Book Collection)
The aim of the authors of this book has been to treat concisely all the grammar that they think should be studied in the High School, while nothing important has been omitted, many distinctions and names that have had a time-honoured place in High School Grammars, have been omitted as unnecessary, or useless.
Hackers TOEFL Vocabulary With Definictions by David Cho
This Coursebook provides a resource for students studying towards the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam, which is a requirement for entry for non-native speakers of English at over 6,000 universities in 100 countries worldwide. It includes a range of fun activities to help students build and improve their English vocabulary at TOEFL level, and is suitable for both self-study and classroom use.
