First ed. 1982

Includes bibliography and index

. Is this Shakespeare's language? 2. The expanding vocabulary. 3. The uses of vocabulary. 4. The new syntax; Loosening the structures. 5. Some uses of grammar; Register and style. 6. Some Shakespearean styles; Four plays - Henry V, As You Like It; Macbeth; The Winter's Tale.

Professor Hussey looks at the vocabulary, syntax and register of Renaissance English, following this with a more detailed analysis of particular kinds of language in the plays such as prose, verse, rhetoric and the soliloquy. For this new edition, the text has been revised throughout with, in particular, a completely new chapter providing detailed readings of selected plays, illustrating the ways particular aspects of language can be studied in practice.