Fully revised and updated, the second edition of this authoritative guide to modern English is a comprehensive, scholarly and systematic review of modern English. In one volume, the book presents a description of both the linguistic structure of present-day English and its geographical, social, gender and ethnic variations.

Covering new developments such as the impact of email on language, and corpus-based grammars, the second edition of this accessible text has been extensively re-written and brings the survey of modern English right up to date. Offering new examples and suggestions for further reading, the book is essential reading for all students of English language and linguistics.