Written primarily for AS and A-Level English courses, but of interest to university students on related courses, this book is designed to make an intuitive understanding of language explicit. By focusing on language use in different contexts, it encourages an investigative and interpretative approach. It provides the core theoretical knowledge required for tackling a wide range of tasks and aims to develop awareness of both the nature and the function of language. This revised edition fine-tunes the content, presentation and style of the previous edition, and offers more scope for active reading and experimentation with practical analysis, more relevant examples and additional material that will appeal to contemporary readers.