Do you find the technical architecture of theoretical syntax intimidating? Are you grappling with a great deal of unfamiliar linguistic examples? This textbook will introduce you to the main aspects of Minimalist syntax through the use of data from a number of varieties of English. In doing so it will equip you with a firm grounding in tools of syntactic analysis, while demonstrating the potential for variationist linguistics and theoretical syntax to feed into each other. Through examples and exercises, this textbook demonstrates that all varieties of language are rule-based and can be observed and described systematically, regardless of how 'standard' or socially valued they are