In this ambitious and wide-ranging textbook Andrew Goatly explores the language of metaphor. Combining insights from relevance theory and functional linguistics, he provides a powerful model for understanding how metaphors work in real communicative situations, how we use them to communicate meaning as well as how we process them. This book: * examines the distinction between literal and metaphorical language * surveys the means by which metaphors are realised in texts * locates the interpretation of metaphor in its social context * contains tasks and suggestions for further work * uses examples from a wide variety of genres, including conversation, popular science, advertising, news reports, novels and poetry.