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Lead book review

How do we greet one another today?

Conversation is a fascinating subject, says Philip Hensher – but very few people get it right

27 June 2020

9:00 AM

27 June 2020

9:00 AM

Let’s Talk: How English Conversation Works David Crystal

OUP, pp.224, 18.99

One of the most striking, and lowering, aspects of lockdown has been the deprivation of human exchange, and especially conversation. We can talk to our immediate families but not properly to a wider range of humanity. The Zoom chat, with so many ordinary conversational features removed, is not the same thing at all.

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