Publisher's Synopsis
Encyclopaedia of the Linguistic Structure of Modern English: Structure and Functions focuses on the facts of language rather than on any of the various contemporary theoretical approaches to the study of those facts. The presentation is that of fairly traditional grammar and philology, so as not to require students to master a new theoretical approach at the same time they are exploring the intricacies of language history. 1660 to 1700 is called the Restoration period because the Parliament, on the public urge, restored the mon¬archy under Charles II. The period between 1700 and 1750 is called the 'Augustan Age of English litera¬ture' because the English writers of this period tried to capture the soul of the Latin literature of the period of King Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), which was considered the peak of the development of Latin literature when Virgil, Horace and Ovid produced their masterpieces. In fact, since the 13th century, every century had its reformers of the English language. The vocabulary of English language is a mixture of Germanic (Old English and Scandinavian), Greek, Latin and French where almost half of it is Germanic and Greek and half is Latin and French with some of the words from almost all of the notable languages of the world as it had taken free admission from everywhere. The grammarians of the 18th century like Robert Lowth and James Buchanan etc. took a critical view and spent a lot of time in correcting the shortcomings and the improprieties of the English language that were commonly in use.
