'Halliday's investigations into grammatical metaphor take us deeply into the way we construct and expand meanings, starting with representations of concrete experienced events and ending with theoretical worlds populated by abstract entities linked through generalized relations and causalities. He finds these processes most strikingly in the development of the modern sciences that have historically created robust virtual worlds of theory from observable material events. He sees the same processes of grammatical metaphor as children learn to participate in our built symbolic environment, particularly as they are introduced to these meaning systems in schools, an institution designed expressly for that purpose.' Professor Charles Bazerman, University of California, Santa Barbara.

For nearly half a century, Professor M A K Halliday has enriched the discipline of linguistics with his keen insights into the social semiotic phenomenon we call language. This ten-volume series presents the seminal works of Professor Halliday.

  'These four volumes (4, 5, 6 and 7) venture into remarkably diverse fields. How one man could master the minutiae of all these areas of linguistic research is a matter for wonder and admiration. As a linguistic polymath, Halliday far outstrips all contemporaries...One need look for no further explanation of Halliday's current stature as doyen of British linguistics. The publication of Halliday's complete papers is an important contribution to scholarly documentation.'