Featuring timeless, innovative, and concise writing strategies and focused exercises, this book is the ultimate battle plan and more - it's Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" for novelists. Tactics and exercises are provided on idea generation and development, character building, plotting, drafting, querying and submitting, dealing with rejection, coping with envy and unrealistic expectations, and much more.

    An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters. The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kioskfrom Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.

    The techniques he presents in "How to Learn Any Language" will have you speaking, reading, writing and enjoying any foreign language you want to learn - or have to learn - in a surprisingly short time.Without beating your head against verb conjugations or noun declensions, you can follow Farber's principles and glide toward proficiency in your chosen language. His method consist of four ground-breaking but simple concepts hailed by language-teaching professionals:

    The reader is encouraged to toss off words such as ?disestablishmentarianism, ? ?descant, ? and ?autodidactic? ?words that will make the user sound learned, intellectual, and wise. For those who want to improve the quality and sophistication of their speech and writing, this is the book to keep on the nightstan

    Teaching English Grammar aims to combine language information and methodological help in a straightforward, authoritative way and thus help English language teachers prepare and deliver grammar lessons within their syllabus. The book provides teachers with an authoritative and practical handbook on teaching grammar and helps to make preparing grammar lessons easy and straightfoward.KEY FEATURES• Situational presentations of the target grammar structures (with picture representations - giving teachers resources they can reproduce on the board when first presenting the structure) • Explanations of the grammar structures (with timelines and concept questions, where appropriate) • Practice ideas (that can be used in different teaching situations e.g. teenagers, large classes, etc.)

    Taking examples from sources as diverse as Plato and Steven Spielberg, author Julian Baggini presents abstract philosophical issues in concrete terms, suggesting possible solutions while encouraging readers to draw their own conclusions: Lively, clever, and thought-provoking, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten is a portable feast for the mind that is sure to satisfy any intellectual appetite.

    For this special hardcover edition, two new appendixes on locales and standard library exception safety (also available at www.research.att.com/ bs/) have been added. The result is complete, authoritative coverage of the C++ language, its standard library, and key design techniques. Based on the ANSI/ISO C++ standard, The C++ Programming Language provides current and comprehensive coverage of all C++ language features and standard library components. For example:abstract classes as interfaces class hierarchies for object-oriented programming templates as the basis for type-safe generic software exceptions for regular error handling namespaces for modularity in large-scale software run-time type identification for loosely coupled systems the C subset of C++ for C compatibility and system-level work standard containers and algorithms standard strings, I/O streams, and numerics C compatibility, internationalization, and exception safety Bjarne Stroustrup makes C++ even more accessible to those new to the language, while adding advanced information and techniques that even expert C++ programmers will find invaluable.

     In this age of electronic correspondence and self-produced documents, we need a useful and reliable writing guide more than ever. Write Right! covers the essentials of good writing in a concise and easy-to-follow format. The new edition of this classic handbook takes you through the entire writing process, from understanding the parts of speech to constructing a correct sentence to fine-tuning the mechanics. And with clever drawings and amusing quotations to illustrate its points, Write Right! shows that language can be fun as well as an effective communication tool. Whether it's used to find a quick answer to a nagging question or to develop stronger writing skills, this handy reference is the ideal resource for writers of all levels.Includes a resource section with a list of helpful websites and a glossary to quickly define difficult terms.

    Do you find punctuation difficult? Are you puzzled by colons and semicolons? Unsure of where commas should go? Confused by hyphens and apostrophes? If so, then this jargon-free and succinct guide is for you.•Contains precise and up-to-date definitions of every type of punctuation mark and shows how each should be used•Gives numerous examples of good and bad usage•Explains the correct use of capital letters, contractions and abbreviations, italics, boldface and the special characters available on a word processor

    Keeping it teachable and flexible, the material allows for full and innocent immersion as well as raising inductive questions to develop critical and analytical skills. Students will be led to understand poetry as a means of imaginatively extending their own experience and indeed, probing the possibilities of the self. This latest incarnation of the landmark text facilitates a thorough study of poetry.

     The Science Book covers every area of science--astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, math, and physics, and brings the greatest scientific ideas to life with fascinating text, quirky graphics, and pithy quotes.

    New features in this revised edition:-A new chapter on "SELF-DESIGNATION" discusses the names by which countries and people call themselves, as opposed to the names outsiders give them.-A new chapter on "LANGUAGE AND PSYCHOLOGY" covers one of the mysterious areas of language - the connection of words with the mental processes of both the individual and the social group.-Detailed discussion of such additional languages as Vietnamese and the African tongues.-New material on nonlinguistic systems of communication, such as gestural and symbolic language, and animal talk.-Most recent findings on the origin of language and how a child learns to speak.-Coverage of slang (American, British, foreign); underworld cant and professional jargons; government gobbledygook; the language of euphemism, politeness and insult brought up to date.

    Now streamlined and updated, the book that has literally put millions on the highway to greater accomplishment and success can show you how to have maximum impact as a speaker--every day, and in every situation that demands winning others over to your point of view.

    Some of the most prominent professionals in TV broadcasting and at major newspapers and magazines-people who really should know better-are guilty of making all-too-common grammatical errors. In this delightfully amusing, clever guide, Thomas Parrish points out real-life grammar gaffes from top-notch publications such as the New York Times and the New Yorker to illustrate just how widespread these errors are. With red pen in hand, Parrish's fictional friend the Grouchy Grammarian leads the charge, examining the forty-seven most common mistakes in English and imparting the basics of good grammar with a charming mixture of fussiness and common sense. All of which makes The Grouchy Grammarian the most entertaining, accessible how-not-to guide you'll ever read.

    The story begins in 1973, in the offices of The Atlantic Monthly, in Boston, where a young freelance writer named Tracy Kidder came looking for an assignment. Richard Todd was the editor who encouraged him. From that article grew a lifelong association. Before long, Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine, the first book the two worked on together, had won the Pulitzer Prize. It was a heady moment, but for Kidder and Todd it was only the beginning of an education in the art of nonfiction.Good Prose explores three major nonfiction forms: narratives, essays, and memoirs. Kidder and Todd draw candidly, sometimes comically, on their own experience—their mistakes as well as accomplishments—to demonstrate the pragmatic ways in which creative problems get solved. They also turn to the works of a wide range of writers, novelists as well as nonfiction writers, for models and instruction. They talk about narrative strategies (and about how to find a story, sometimes in surprising places), about the ethical challenges of nonfiction, and about the realities of making a living as a writer. They offer some tart and emphatic opinions on the current state of language. And they take a clear stand against playing loose with the facts. Their advice is always grounded in the practical world of writing and publishing.Good Prose—like Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style—is a succinct, authoritative, and entertaining arbiter of standards in contemporary writing, offering guidance for the professional writer and the beginner alike. This wise and useful book is the perfect companion for anyone who loves to read good books and longs to write one.