A welcome book which provides a wealth of data and potentially interesting ideas on some which can be used to help linguists and language teachers understand the differences between different L1 and L2 groups. It prompts questions about whether some is a device that L2 speakers use to avoid more complex and linguistically demanding explanations or whether they use some to cover gaps in their lexical stores.

Journal of Pragmatics

The book reveals the elasticity of 'some' in language communication and the importance of Elasticity Theory in the studies of vague languages by the corpus-based linguistic and pragmatic approaches to the elasticity of 'some' in English uses in three different cultural/educational settings. It fills the gap in the existing literature by bringing new insights to the study of some and beyond.

Wu Shixiong, Professor of Linguistics, Fujian Teachers University, China.

Solidly grounded in a mixed-methods approach in its research design, Nhu Nguyet Le and Grace Qiao Zhang's book provides a wealth of insight into how the vague item 'some' is used by both American English speakers as well as Chinese and Vietnamese learners of English. Drawing on insight from Grace Zhang's intellectually stimulating theory of 'vague language elasticity', the book throws light on how 'some' can be used in pragmatically elastic ways by culturally diverse interactants. If you are researching vague language use, Le and Zhang's book has a lot to offer.

Vahid Parvaresh, Lecturer in Linguistics, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

By a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the mixed resources of the vague word some, Nhu Nguyet Le and Grace Qiao Zhang are making their further contribution to the elasticity of natural languages. If you are in any way concerned with demystifying how human beings configure the world and communicate it economically, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Robin Hongshen Zhang, Deputy Dean of School of Humanities, Fujian University of Technology, China

This impressive and engaging book by Nhu Nguyet Le and Grace Qiao Zhang is the first to provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of some through the fresh elasticity theory. The authors look at the versatile pragmatic functions as well as lexical and syntactic roles this vague item performs in spoken educational contexts. Adopting a mixed-methods approach for the readers' profound understanding of the functions of some in L1 versus L2, this insightful book can serve an invaluable resource for all involved in pragmatics and intercultural communication.

Peyman G.P. Sabet, ESL teaching academic, Curtin University, Australia