science

The Stories of English

The Stories of English is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Stories of English rather than just read about it. In short: The Stories of English is a 2004 book by British linguist David Crystal; it traces the history of the English language from the invasion of Great Britain by the Angles and Saxons in the 5th Century to the modern splintering of the language into its modern British, American, Indian, Australian, and other dialects. One primary focus of the book is a history of British English, from its Old English beginnings to Middle…

Key takeaways

The Stories of English belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Stories of English to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Stories of English from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Stories of English is a 2004 book by British linguist David Crystal; it traces the history of the English language from the invasion of Great Britain by the Angles and Saxons in the 5th Century to the modern splintering of the language into its modern British, American, Indian, Australian, and other dialects. One primary focus of the book is a history of British English, from its Old English beginnings to Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English. Crystal also argues eloquently for the inclusion of dialects and "non-standard" varieties of English. Even for the Old English period, he shows how the available evidence can be used to determine what dialectal variation existed. Finally, Crystal condemns what he sees as the over-abundance of linguistic prescription in the study of English, especially that which existed from the 18th Century to the 20th. He speaks approvingly of the recent shift of focus in English language education away from prescriptivism.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Stories of English

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Stories of English claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Stories of English before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Stories of English ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Stories of English

In research: The Stories of English appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Stories of English in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Stories of English is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 non-fiction books, Books about the English language, English language stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Stories of English outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Stories of English in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Stories of English means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Stories of English out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Stories of English in simple terms?

Why does The Stories of English matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Stories of English?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Stories of English.