Similarly, English grammar has some complexities that allow speakers to make distinctions not. On one hand, English has a vocabulary that is significantly larger than other languages, allowing speakers to express ideas that are more precise. The Mother Tongue - Chapter 1 The World's Language Summary & Analysis Bill Bryson This Study Guide consists of approximately 29 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Mother Tongue. English language learning, therefore, is a large industry throughout the world.īryson compares and contrasts English to other world languages and discusses the relative merits of the different ways that language is constructed. In late summer, they met to discuss Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue (William Morrow, 1990), a fun-fact-packed, boisterous embrace of the English language and its history. English is often the neutral language chosen for international businesses that have workers and management that speak different native languages.

Los Angeles TimesWith dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. English words and phrases have entered the vocabularies of many other languages around the world, reflecting the power that English has in the modern world. Vastly informative and vastly entertainingA scholarly and fascinating book. Chapter 1 The World's Language Summary and Analysisīryson discusses the place of English in the world, including both successful and unsuccessful use of the language by non-native speakers.

The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson