Fuck the world! (No, not that one.)

Sometimes it seems like I hate myself. Or maybe I just don't like having free time. Or social life.

To make my life as difficult as possible, I decided to apply for 4 universities this spring. This means seven (7 !) entrance exam books. Instead of actually reading them, I shall now waste time on providing you with nonacademic, biased and unhelpful reviews on these delightful pieces of literature.


Changing English (by David Graddol bunch of other intelligent people)

This book has a confusing attitude towards its reader. Well, at least it is very polite at first.

Please read through the extracts which follow.

Oh, I'd love to.

Read now 'The English Language today ' by David Crystal (Reading A).

Well, okay.

Now reread the extract. We don't expect you to understand every word, but we do expect that you'll find it a lot easier the second time.

...



Lost in translation (by someone called Eva, I think, I have lost this book)

A novel. About something. (Probably. It's not like I have read this.)



Ways of Reading - Advanced reading skills for students of English literature (also known as Face of Reading, by too many people)

Dear authors, getting to the point cannot be that hard.



Pragmatics (by George Yule)

more was being communicated than was being said

another example of more being communicated than is said

deictic expressions always communicate much more than is said

it is rather obvious that more is being communicated than is said

they are communicated without being said

more will be communicated than--

YES THANK YOU I GET IT.

English Next (by David Graddol)

Why use words when you can use abbreviation!

economic growth of the BRICs

the proportion of world GDP

This is often aspired to be around IELTS 6.0 but in practice, given the poor starting levels and, at times, indifferent motivation, rarely exceeded FCE/IELTS 5.0.

FDI HSBC TNCs BPO ITO ELFEFLCLIL ETHGJFDGGFKSDGKJDS

Diverse uses of English in Finnish Society: Discourse-pragmatic insights from media, educational and business contexts (by some people from University of Jyväskylä)

I am sure the tittle says it all.

The Study of Language (by George Yule)

This is actually a rather nice and simple book. Unfortunately, it has a chapter on pragmatics.

more is always being communicated than is said

You don't say.