In this text Ronald Carter addresses the discourse of "English" as a subject of teaching and learning. The topics investigated include: grammar; correctness and standard English; critical language awareness and literacy; and language and creativity.

Part I Language, Discourse and ‘English’; Introduction1 Introduction to Part I; Chapter 1 The text of this Chapter was first delivered as an inaugural lecture at the University of Nottingham on 3 December 1992. Some of the characteristics of the spoken discourse of its delivery have been retained in this written version; the Chapter is also a modified version of a paper published in English in Education, 27, 3 (1993).; Chapter 2 This Chapter was first published in Carter, R. (ed.) Knowledge about Language and the Curriculum: The LINC Reader (Hodder and Stoughton, Sevenoaks, 1990).; Chapter 3 This Chapter is a modified version of a paper of the same title in Hasan, R. and Williams, G. (eds) literacy in Society(Longman, 1996). It was originally delivered as a plenary paper to the annual conference of the Australian Applied Linguistics Association, Sydney, July 1992.; Chapter 4 This Chapter is an extensively revised version of a paper entitled ‘Standard Englishes in speech and writing’ previously published in Hayhoe, M. and Parker, S. (eds) Who Owns English? (Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 1994).; Chapter 5 This Chapter has not previously been published. It is based on a plenary paper delivered at a conference on ‘Language and Knowledge’ at the National University of Singapore in September 1996.; postscripts1 Postscripts and Prospects; Part II Literature, Discourse and ‘English’; Introduction2 Introduction to Part II; overview Overview: ‘Lang’ and ‘Lit’: Interpreting Discourse; Chapter 6 This Chapter is a re-edited version of a paper with the same title in Steele, R. and Threadgold, T. (eds) Language Topics: Essays Presented to Michael Halliday, Vol. 2 ().; Chapter 7 This Chapter is a rewritten version of a paper entitled ‘Clines of metaphoricity and creative metaphors as situated risk taking’ first published in Journal of Literary Semantics, 17, 2 (1988). The original paper was co-written with Rukmini Bhaya and Michael Toolan and I am grateful to my co-authors