About the Author

David Crystal is the author of many books on language in general and the English language in particular, such as The Stories of English (2004), The Fight for English (2006), and Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language (2008). His previous lexicographical work includes A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th edn., 2008), and Johnson's Dictionary: an Anthology (2005). His autobiography, Just a Phrase
I'm Going Through: My Life in Language was published in 2009 (Routledge).