Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.

At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects.

Word books traditionally focus on unusual and quirky items. They tend to ignore the words that provide the skeleton of the language, without which it would fall apart, such as 'and' and 'what,' or words that provide structure to our conversation, such as 'hello.

Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.

Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.

It took three years to put Shakespeare's words together, there were a lot of words to be studied and a lot of words to be sorted out, and it proved to be a major project.

A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.