Samuel R. Levin was distinguished professor Emeritus of English and Linguistics at The City University of New York. He is the author of Metaphoric Worlds: Conceptions of a Romantic Nature and Shades Of Meaning: Reflections On The Use, Misuse, And Abuse Of English.

• PrefacePart I: Pragmatic Deviance1. The scope of linguistics2. The issue of deviance3. SummaryPart II: The Problem of Linguistically Deviant Expressions1. The orthodox transformational-generative approach to deviant sentences; some early views2. Weinreich's proposal3. Extensions of Weinreich's proposal: Baumgartner4. AggrammatizationPart III: Modes of Construal1. Semantic representation of The stone died2. Anomalous and contradictory sentences3. The positioning of transfer features4. The six modes of construal5. Comparison of our six modes of construal with the modes of van DijkPart IV: The Construal Rules 1. The semantic component 2. Adjunction and displacement of semantic markers 3. Some differences between construal on N -V and N - V 4. On the relation of the construal rules to the grammarPart V: Comparison of the Theory (T) with Other Theories of Metaphor 1. The theories of Aristotle and Quintilian 2. The problem of encyclopedic knowledge 3. Le groupe , Part VI: Metaphor and Truth 1. Semantic deviance taken literally2. Ryle's position on semantic deviance 3. Indirect evidence for the conceivability of "absurd" states of affairs 4. The implicit context of poems 5. Truth conditions of deviant sentences in a poem Part VII: Poetic Metaphor 1. Linguistic and poetic construal 2.The role of simile 3. Intensional and extensional semantics of metaphor NotesBibliographyIndex