This fascinating dictionary explores the development of meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of over 25,000 English words. Over 30,000 detailed entries trace words back to their Proto-Germanic or Indo-European roots, and include words borrowed from other languages, as well as the sources and dates of their first recorded use. For many years academics, wordsmiths, crossword lovers, and language enthusiasts of all stripes have turned to this celebrated volume as their reference of choice in lexical matters. First published as the Barnhart Etymological Dictionary, the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology offers a unique combination of approachability and authoritativeness in an accessible single-volume format, making it an essential etymological resource for the expert, and a fascinating reference for the general reader. Sample entry from the Chambers Etymological Dictionary: blarney n. flattering, coaxing talk. 1766, Lady Blarny (for Blarney), a smooth-talking flatterer in Goldsmith's the Vicar of Wakefield, her name being a literary contrivance in allusion to Blarney Stone, a stone in a castle near Cork, Ireland. Anyone kissing the stone is supposed to become skillful in flattering and coaxing. The word is used in its general sense in a letter of Sir Walter Scott (1796).

    At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently.  He didn’t learn them in school -- who does? -- rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources. In Fluent Forever Wyner reveals what he’s discovered.   The greatest challenge to learning a foreign language is the challenge of memory; there are just too many words and too many rules. For every new word we learn, we seem to forget two old ones, and as a result, fluency can seem out of reach. Fluent Forever tackles this challenge head-on. With empathy for the language-challenged and abundant humor, Wyner deconstructs the learning process, revealing how to build a foreign language in your mind from the ground up.  Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You'll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you'll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery, rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language.  And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you'll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. Soon, you'll gain the ability to learn grammar and more difficult abstract words--without the tedious drills and exercises of language classes and grammar books.  This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.

    Pretending to work? That’s fudgelling, which may lead to rizzling if you feel sleepy after lunch, though by dinner time you will have become a sparkling deipnosophist.From Mark Forsyth, author of the bestselling The Etymologicon, this is a book of weird words for familiar situations. From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.

    Practicing what you have learned is easy with the CD-ROM that contains more than 4,000 audio files, including recordings of speech from southern and northern U.S. cities, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, New Zealand, other forms of English, and scores of other languages.

    The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language -in the case of monolinguals- or languages -in the case of bilinguals- have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading.Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science.

    With clear text, appealing cartoons, and a focus on common errors and how to correct them, this little volume is a real gem that should find a permanent place with companies, universities, and anyone seeking a user-friendly guide to style and usage.

    The series presents a variety of words that cover a large percentage of the words that can be found in many spoken or written texts. Thus, after mastering these target words, learners will be able to fully understand vocabulary items when they encounter them in written and spoken form. Each unit presents 20 words which are defined and used in sample sentences. The activities in the books are designed to present the words in different uses so that learners can fully see how they can be utilized. Also at the end of each unit there is a story whch contains the unit's target words to give learners further examples of the words in use. Each level properly prepares the learner for the next which progressively challenges the learner with more sophisticated vocabulary and stories. Key features include: (1) Clear, easy to understand definitions and examples; (2) Various activities to reinforce target vocabulary; (3) Progressive development of vocabulary across levels; (4) Original stories which utilize target words; (5) Useful color images that illustrate each target word; and (6) Free downloadable supplemental audio recordings of target word lists and stories to aid in listening and pronunciation.

    In the 1st edition, published in 1962, he spoke to that perennial reader he gently called "the troubled layman." His opening paragraph revealed his sympathy: "Why is this supposed to be art?" he quoted rhetorically. "How often have we heard this question asked--or asked it ourselves, perhaps--in front of one of the strange, disquieting works that we are likely to find nowadays in the museum or art exhibition?" Keeping that curious, questioning perspective in mind, he wrote a history of art from cave painting to Picasso that was singularly welcoming, illuminating & exciting. Sojourning thru this book, a reader is offered every amenity for a comfortable trip. Because he never assumes knowledge on the part of the reader, a recent immigrant from Mars could comprehend Western art from this text. The only assumption the Jansons have made is that with a little guidance everyone can come to understand the artifacts that centuries of architecture, sculpture, design & painting have deposited in our paths. Countless readers have proven the Jansons right & found their lives enriched in the process.

    Anna Karenina, Clarissa Dalloway, Daisy Buchanan...each seems to live on the page through celebrated artist Samantha Hahn's evocative portraits and hand-lettered quotations, with the pairing of art and text capturing all the spirit of the character as she was originally written. The book itself evokes vintage grace re-imagined for contemporary taste, with a cloth spine silk-screened in a graphic pattern, debossed cover, and pages that turn with the tactile satisfaction of watercolour paper. In the hand and in the reading, here is a new classic for the book lover's library.

    Grammar for English Language Teachers provides an accessible reference for planning lessons and clarifying learners' problems. It includes a typical difficulties section in each chapter, which explores learners' problems and mistakes and offers ways of overcoming them.

    Includes new and extended problem sets in every chapter, all of which have been annotated for level and skill type Features three new chapters on advanced topics including vP shells, object shells, control, gapping and ellipsis and an additional chapter on advanced topics in binding Offers a brief survey of both Lexical-Functional Grammar and Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar Succeeds in strengthening the reader's foundational knowledge, and prepares them for more advanced study Supported by an instructor's manual and online resources for students and instructors, available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/carnie

    This makes it especially suitable if you are a trainee teacher or a practising teacher working independently to develop your professional knowledge. It is written in a clear, readable style without unnecessary technical jargon - this has helped to make it a standard text for trainee teachers throughout the world.There are evaluations and case studies throughout the book so that you can see a practical context for the research ideas you are reading about. Many of these examples are taken directly from real first and second language classrooms. There are also a number of opportunities for you to practise some of the observation and analysis techniques which are used in the research described in the book.The book is organized into seven chapters:Chapter 1: 'Language Learning in early childhood' (Includes a new section on childhood bilingualism.)Chapter 2: 'Explaining second language learning' (Includes new material for the 3rd edition on skill learning, connectionism, and the 'noticing hypothesis'.)Chapter 3: 'Individual differences in second language learning' (Topics covered include: intelligence, aptitude, learning styles, personality, motivation and attitudes, identity and ethic group affiliation, and learner beliefs.)Chapter 4: 'Learner language' (Describes the features and sequence of language development and includes discussion of how second language learning is affected by the student's first language)Chapter 5: 'Observing learning and teaching in the second language' (Looks at different learning environments and then discusses ways of observing and reporting on them.)Chapter 6: 'Second language learning in the classroom' (Contains six practical proposals for classroom teaching based on research findings and insights.)Chapter 7: 'Popular ideas about language learning revisited' (The authors list and give their personal perspective on some commonly held beliefs about language learning.)There is a Glossary to explain new and technical terms used in the book. There is also a list of suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, as well as a full bibliography at the end of the book.

    Harry Evans has edited everything from the urgent files of battlefield reporters to the complex thought processes of Henry Kissinger. He's even been knighted for his services to journalism. In DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?, he brings his indispensable insight to us all in his definite guide to writing well.The right words are oxygen to our ideas, but the digital era, with all of its TTYL, LMK, and WTF, has been cutting off that oxygen flow. The compulsion to be precise has vanished from our culture, and in writing of every kind we see a trend towards more--more speed and more information but far less clarity. Evans provides practical examples of how editing and rewriting can make for better communication, even in the digital age. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? is an essential text, and one that will provide every writer an editor at his shoulder.

    Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather. Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.

    As such it has the difficult task of mediating between academic expertise and lived experience, attempting to reconcile opposed interests and perspectives. This clearly written introduction provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the most pressing and controversial issues surrounding contemporary language use today, including intercultural communication, political persuasion, new technologies, the growth of English, language in education, and foreign language teaching and learning.