Spell It Out
Format: Hardcover
ISBN13: 9781846685675
Hardcover|9781846685675
✨ Featured Offer
Overview
Why is there an 'h' in ghost? William Caxton, inventor of the printing press and his Flemish employees are to blame: without a dictionary or style guide to hand in fifteenth century Bruges, the typesetters simply spelled it the way it sounded to their foreign ears, and it stuck. Seventy-five per cent of English spelling is regular but twenty-five per cent is complicated, and in Spell It Out, our foremost linguistics expert David Crystal extends a helping hand to the confused and curious alike. He unearths the stories behind the rogue words that confound us, and explains why these peculiarities entered the mainstream, in an epic journey taking in sixth century monks, French and Latin upstarts, the Industrial Revolution and the internet. By learning the history and the principles, Crystal shows how the spellings that break all the rules become easier to get right.
| ISBN-13 | 9781846685675 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 1846685672 |
| Weight | 0.99 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.43 x 1.26 x 8.03 In |
| Format | Hardcover |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 224 pages |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Published On | 2012-09-06 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
✨ Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Free delivery by: 28 Mar 2026