Taking the emergence of the organic foods system as a case study, the authors aim to demonstrate both how the discursive richness of the organic foods system offers a challenge to the traditional operations of the market and how activity systems theory as understood in English studies can productively be tied to and enriched by theories of social…

Considers the conventions of quotation marks--or "perverted commas"--and identifies seven uses, including shudder quotes (slang or inappropriate words) and scare quotes (used for attention or emphasis). Notes that quotation marks influence meaning and that finding a personal voice entails using language without quotes. (MM)

Our linguistic environment is so polluted at every level that meaningless, uncritical pseudocommunication is becoming the preferred norm even among the highly educated. (JH)

Analyzes the discussions of participants at a company-faculty forum on energy policy. Reveals the speakers' use and misuse of contradictory rhetoric--the simultaneous appeal to emotions and to reason. (RL)

Outlines how the current work in linguistics and psychology can be joined with rhetoric in the study of cohesion and suggests the ways in which this synthesis leads to both a literary and philosophical sense of form and a practical pedagogy for teachers. (MM)