This is the 1990 edition which uses a selection of essays, stories and poems to demonstrate the use and development of the English language. The authors argue that over the last ten years the political and sexual landscapes have been transformed, gendered language and Standard English have been challenged and mass communications have reached even further into our lives. What we say and the way we say it has altered and is constantly being developed in contemporary society. English is not only crucial to the author's work but also provides a sensitive record of the ways in which individuals think and feel about the world of the 1990s. Christopher Ricks is the author of "Milton's Grand Style", "Tennyson", "The Force of Poetry" and "TS Eliot and Prejudice" and Leonard Michaels is the author of "Going Places", "I Would Have Saved Them If I Could" and "The Men's Club".