The Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB)

The Language Fact Sheets

Last modified 19 July 2011

This page is no longer maintained, and many of the links no longer work. If you would like to update it, or even to take it over, please let me know. Dick Hudson

There is a separate page about contributing to this collection.

Index

Recommended reading
Some on-line teaching (and other) resources
Facts about language
Facts about English
Facts about other languages
Theories

1. Recommended reading

Books about language

An annotated list of highly recommended popular books.

Does grammar improve writing?

A review of what the research literature says about the effects of formal grammar teaching on children's writing.

How language works

A free online introductory linguistics textbook by Mike Gasser.

2. Some on-line teaching (and other) resources

A free on-line grammar of English, with exercises

This is written for undergraduates but should be useful for teachers who want a solid foundation in grammar. It takes a reasonable stand between traditional grammar and modern research-based grammar. The grammar is also available for about 25 pounds on CD.

A web-site which allows you to search vast collections of English texts

This site allows English Corpora to be searched on-line; it also provides much general information about, and a tutorial on, Corpus Linguistics.

Fun with grammar (especially for schools)

A lovely site built by Sue Palmer. Look out for Vera the hyperactive Verb who finds peace at last by learning to just BE!

The 'Linguistics Olympics'

A site full of brain-teasers in analytical linguistics for older students (secondary or university) which are set as a competition to find the Young Linguist of the Year. The competition started in Russia but has now been adopted by linguists in the USA. (This site is temporarily suspended because the US Olympics Committee has threatened to sue its owner for using their name!!!!!!)