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The Story of English
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The Story of English (1986) (edit title/settings)

by Robert McCrum (Author), Robert MacNeil (Author), William Cran (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Now revised, The Story of English is the first book to tell the whole story of the English language. Originally paired with a major PBS miniseries, this book presents a stimulating and comprehensive record of spoken and written English-from its Anglo-Saxon origins some two thousand years ago... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - Why is English the most widely spoken language in the world? Read this book to find out this and more cool facts!
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “The rise of English is a remarkable success story. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain over two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Five hundred years later, Englisc, incomprehensible to modern ears, was probably spoken by about as few people as currently speak Cherokee—and with as little influence. Nearly a thousand years later, at the end of the sixteenth century, when William Shakespeare was in his prime, English was the native speech of between five and seven million Englishmen and it was, in the words of a contemporary, “of small reatch, it stretcheth no further than this island of ours, naie not there over all.””
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  • “Four hundred years later, the contrast is extraordinary. Between 1600 and the present, in armies, navies, companies, and expeditions, the speakers of English—including Scots, Irish, Welsh, American, and many more—traveled into every corner of the globe, carrying their language and culture with them. Today, <1986> English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue. Some estimates have put that figure closer to 1 billion. Whatever the total, English at the end of the twentieth century is more widely scattered, more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.”
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First Sentence edit see section history

Twenty years ago, when I was working with William Cran and Robert MacNeil on the research and development stage of the television series that, initially, accompanied the book, not one of us suspected that the linguistic phenomenon were analysing - global English - was on the brink of becoming a worldwide sensation.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Table of Illustrations
Introduction: Speaking of English
Chapter 1: An English-Speaking World
Chapter 2: The Mother Tongue
Chapter 3: A Muse of Fire
Chapter 4: The Guid Scots Tongue
Chapter 5: The Loaded Weapon
Chapter 6: Black on White
Chapter 7: Pioneers! O Pioneers!
Chapter 8: The Echoes of an English Voice
Chapter 9: The New Englishes
Chapter 10: Next Year’s Words
Notes and Sources
Selected Bibliography
Table of Maps

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Robert McCrum (Author)
  2. Robert MacNeil (Author)
  3. William Cran (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1986
ISBN: 0670804673
Page Count: 384

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PE1075 .M58 1986
  • Dewey: 420.9

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