Working with Texts

Book excerpt: Working with Texts: A Core Book for Language Analysis provides a basic foundation for understanding aspects of English language crucial in the analysis of text. The major topics covered include writing, the sound system of spoken English, words, sentence grammar and discourse construction. The wide range of texts examined include literary extracts from prose fiction (Jeanette Winterson, Anne Tyler), poetry (D. H. Lawrence, Margaret Atwood), drama (John Godber) and graphic novels (Neil Gaiman), but also a huge diversity of texts from contemporary media: newspaper articles, advertisements (Gap, Kelloggs), political speeches and original authentic materials (children's writing, signs, everyday conversation). Student-friendly features include: * Activities showing how language works in texts and their contexts * Commentaries which follow each activity, highlighting main points of language use * Wide coverage of different genres: literary texts, notes, memos, signs, advertisements, leaflets, speeches, conversation * Suggestions for further reading and additional self-study exercises * Key words highlighted and a full index of terms Ideal for introductory courses to English Language and Literature and Linguistics. Also of interest to students of media and communication studies.