Chapter 1 The World's Language Summary and Analysis

Bryson discusses the place of English in the world, including both successful and unsuccessful use of the language by non-native speakers. 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. English is often the neutral language chosen for international businesses that have workers and management that speak different native languages. English language learning, therefore, is a large industry throughout the world.

Bryson compares and contrasts English to other world languages and discusses the relative merits of the different ways that language is constructed. On one hand, English has a vocabulary that is significantly larger than other languages, allowing speakers to express ideas that are more precise. Similarly, English grammar has some complexities that allow speakers to make distinctions not...