Jeremy Marshall – författare

For anyone who has ever had a question about the English language, this book will prove a delight. Based on letters to the Oxford Word and Language Service, it deals with hundreds of notes and queries from the everyday to the bizarre, including sections on `What is the origin of...?', `Is this correct?', `What does this mean?' and `Is there a word for...?'. Bringing English to life with its enjoyable and often irreverent style, Questions of English is a joy for any lover of the language, and an indispensable source of fun language information for teachers. Includes: Interesting words: triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), apocolocyntosis (turning into a pumpkin) Unusual terms: (an exaggeration of anglers, an ambush of widows) This book is intended for an important reference or browsing book for anyone interested in the language; also an ideal English book for teachers.

The Ring of Words describes the powerful and unique relationship between Tolkien's creative use of the English language in his fictional works and his professional work on the Oxford English Dictionary. Tolkien's earliest employment was as an assistant on the staff of the OED, and he later said that he had 'learned more in those two years than in any other equal period of [his] life'. Here three authors, themselves senior editors of the OED, engage directly with Tolkien's language and his fictional world. Two discursive sections explore Tolkien as a lexicographer and his creativity as a word user and creator. The main section of the book is made up of individual 'word studies' which explore over 100 words found in Tolkien's fiction in terms of their origins, development, and significance in his fictional world. Words such as 'hobbit', 'attercop', 'precious', 'Smeagol', and 'waybread' are explored in fascinating detail. The Ring of Words offers a new and unexplored angle on the creative world of one of our most famous and well-loved writers, presenting new archive material for the first time.