A major introductory language/linguistics textbook written specifically for English and Education majors, this book is an engaging introduction to the structure of English, general theories in linguistics, and important issues in sociolinguistics. 

This accessible text provides more extensive coverage of issues of particular interest to English and Education majors.  Tapping into our natural curiosity about language, it invites all students to connect academic linguistics to everyday use of the English language and to become active participants in the construction of linguistic knowledge.

On the cover of this book, you’ll find many questions that you may have asked and wondered about the answers.  How English Works addresses those questions while it introduces you to the structure of English, general theories in linguistics, and important issues in sociolinguistics.  As an English or Education major, or as a student taking the course because the study of linguistics is of interest, you will connect academic linguistics to the everyday use of the English language around you.  The English language is always changing, which leads to new insights about how language, and the English language specifically, works. The authors revised this textbook to keep up both with linguistic scholarship and with the language itself.

New to This Edition:

•  New and updated material on electronically-mediated communication such as texting and the etiquette of instant messaging.
•  A major new section on literature and linguistics with tools for reading and analyzing literary works in relation to speech acts. 
•  A new explanation of where (some) contractions, like I’ll, fit into English word formation4
•  An improved section on “what makes good writing.”