Book picks similar to
High School English Grammar and Composition by P.C. Wren
english
grammar
1
non-fiction
501 Spanish Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses in a New Easy-To-Learn Format Alphabetically Arranged
Christopher Kendris - 1963
Popular phrases, words, and expressions accompany the complete conjugation of common Spanish verbs.
Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide
Ronald Carter - 2006
A major reference grammar from the world's leading grammar publisher. It offers clear explanations of spoken and written English based on real everyday usage. The clear two-part structure makes the book particularly user-friendly. The accompanying CD-ROM makes the Cambridge Grammar of English even more accessible with: The whole book in handy, searchable format. Audio recordings of all the examples from the book. Links to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary online for instant definitions of new vocabulary.
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus (21st Century Reference)
Barbara Ann Kipfer - 1992
This process of linking words together mirrors the way we actually think. With its innovative Concept Index, this thesaurus enhances the traditional function of thesauri; the simple replacement of one word with another. The Concept Index enriches users' understanding of meaning and usage by grouping together main entry words that share a similar idea or property - achieving broad connections of language between such categories as: ACTIONS, CAUSES, LIFE FORMS, QUALITIES, SENSES, etc. The essential reference for the 21st century, this is the most up-to-the-minute thesaurus of American English today. students, professionals and general users will love its easy-to-use dictionary format and will find its reliable, accurate word choices indispensable.
Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
Ammon Shea - 2014
English is a glorious mess of a language, cobbled together from a wide variety of sources and syntaxes, and changing over time with popular usage. Many of the words and usages we embrace as standard and correct today were at first considered slang, impolite, or just plain wrong. Filled with historic and contemporary examples, the book chronicles the long and entertaining history of language mistakes, and features some of our most common words and phrases. This is a book that will settle arguments among word lovers—and it’s sure to start a few, too.
The Careful Writer
Theodore M. Bernstein - 1977
It is perhaps the liveliest and most entertaining reference work for writers of our time—delighting while it instructs and amusing even as it scolds and cajoles the reader into skillful, persuasive, and vivid writing. The Careful Writer, Mr. Bernstein’s major work on usage, is an indispensible desk reference, and a perennial source of continuing reading pleasure.
English Grammar: 100 Tragically Common Mistakes (and How to Correct Them)
Sean Williams - 2019
Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still (Like, Literally)
John McWhorter - 2016
We understand that new words must be created for new things, but the way English is spoken today rubs many of us the wrong way. Whether it’s the use of literally to mean “figuratively” rather than “by the letter,” or the way young people use LOL and like, or business jargon like What’s the ask? -- it often seems as if the language is deteriorating before our eyes.But the truth is different and a lot less scary, as John McWhorter shows in this delightful and eye-opening exploration of how English has always been in motion and continues to evolve today. Drawing examples from everyday life and employing a generous helping of humor, he shows that these shifts are a natural process common to all languages, and that we should embrace and appreciate these changes, not condemn them.Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant “blessed”? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn?McWhorter encourages us to marvel at the dynamism and resilience of the English language, and his book offers a lively journey through which we discover that words are ever on the move and our lives are all the richer for it.
The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us
James W. Pennebaker - 2011
In the last fifty years, we've zoomed through radically different forms of communication, from typewriters to tablet computers, text messages to tweets. We generate more and more words with each passing day. Hiding in that deluge of language are amazing insights into who we are, how we think, and what we feel.In The Secret Life of Pronouns, social psychologist and language expert James W. Pennebaker uses his groundbreaking research in computational linguistics-in essence, counting the frequency of words we use-to show that our language carries secrets about our feelings, our self-concept, and our social intelligence. Our most forgettable words, such as pronouns and prepositions, can be the most revealing: their patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints.Using innovative analytic techniques, Pennebaker X-rays everything from Craigslist advertisements to the Federalist Papers-or your own writing, in quizzes you can take yourself-to yield unexpected insights. Who would have predicted that the high school student who uses too many verbs in her college admissions essay is likely to make lower grades in college? Or that a world leader's use of pronouns could reliably presage whether he led his country into war? You'll learn why it's bad when politicians use "we" instead of "I," what Lady Gaga and William Butler Yeats have in common, and how Ebenezer Scrooge's syntax hints at his self-deception and repressed emotion. Barack Obama, Sylvia Plath, and King Lear are among the figures who make cameo appearances in this sprightly, surprising tour of what our words are saying-whether we mean them to or not.
How to Speak and Write Correctly
Joseph Devlin - 1910
Poverty thrust them forward instead of keeping them back. Therefore, if you are poor make your circumstances a means to an end. Have ambition, keep a goal in sight and bend every energy to reach that goal. A story is told of Thomas Carlyle the day he attained the highest honor the literary world could confer upon him when he was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University. After his installation speech, in going through the halls, he met a student seemingly deep in study.
Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings
Robert C. Solomon - 1989
Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings, Eighth Edition, insists both that philosophy is very much alive today and that it is deeply rooted in the past. Accordingly, it combines substantial original sources from significant works in the history of philosophy and current philosophy with detailed commentary and explanation that help to clarify the readings. The selections range from the oldest known fragments to cutting-edge essays in feminism, multiculturalism, and cognitive science. At the end of each chapter is a summary, a list of review questions, a glossary, and a bibliography with suggestions for further reading. Important philosophical terms are carefully introduced in the text and also summarized at the end of each chapter, and brief biographies of the philosophers are provided at the end of the book. New to the Eighth Edition * Addressing the needs of a new generation of students, Robert C. Solomon has included for the first time more than 300 study and review questions. Appearing throughout the text and at the end of each chapter, these questions require immediate feedback from students. They encourage students to articulate the central ideas of what they have just read, instead of just "passing through" on the way to the next reading. * New selections expand and update the chapters on religion, knowledge, mind and body, freedom, ethics, justice, and beauty. The selections include work by Charles Hartshorne, Paul Davies, Cory Juhl, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sextus Empiricus, Edmund L. Gettier, David Braddon-Mitchell and Frank Jackson, John R. Searle, Colin McGinn, Daniel Dennett, Harry Frankfurt, Gilbert Harman, Emma Goldman, and Arthur C. Danto. * A companion website at www.oup.com/us/solomon8e features 300 study and review questions (100 multiple-choice, 100 true-or-false, and 100 fill-in-the-blank), discussion questions, chapter overviews and summaries, topical links, suggestions for further reading, and PowerPoint lecture aids.
The Elements of Editing
Arthur Plotnik - 1982
It's a concise introductory manual that is helpful for anyone wishing to brush up on their editing.
Garner's Modern American Usage
Bryan A. Garner - 1998
With more than 23,500 copies sold, this witty, accessible, and engaging book has become the new classic reference work praised by professional copyeditors as well as the general public looking for clear advice on how to write more effectively. In 1999, Choice magazine named it an Outstanding Academic Book and the American Library Association dubbed it an Outstanding Reference Source. With thousands of succinct entries, longer essays on key issues and problematic areas, and up-to-the-minute judgments on everything from trendy words to the debate over personal pronouns, GMAU is approachable yet authoritative. Since the book first appeared in 1998, Bryan Garner has diligently continued tracking how we use our language. The second edition includes hundreds of new entries ranging from Dubya to weaponize (coined in 1984 but used extensively since 9/11) to foot-and-mouth, plethora (a highfalutin equivalent of too many), Slang, Standard English, and Dialects. It also updates hundreds of existing entries. Meanwhile, Garner has written a major essay on the great grammar debate between descriptivists and prescriptivists. Painstakingly researched with copious citations from books and newspapers and newsmagazines, this new edition furthers Garner's mission to help everyone become a better writer, and to enjoy it in the process.
Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish
James Scott Bell - 2004
Award-winning author James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including: Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and endsEasy-to-understand plotting diagrams and chartsBrainstorming techniques for original plot ideasThought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapterStory structure models and methods for all genresTips and tools for correcting common plot problemsFilled with plot examples from popular novels, comprehensive checklists, and practical hands-on guidance, "Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure" gives you the skills you need to approach plot and structure like an experienced pro.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Lynne Truss - 2003
She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. Using examples from literature, history, neighborhood signage, and her own imagination, Truss shows how meaning is shaped by commas and apostrophes, and the hilarious consequences of punctuation gone awry.Featuring a foreword by Frank McCourt, and interspersed with a lively history of punctuation from the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes a powerful case for the preservation of proper punctuation.
Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
I.S.P. Nation - 2001
It contains descriptions of numerous vocabulary learning strategies which are justified and supported by reference to experimental research, case studies, and teaching experience. It also describes what vocabulary learners need to know to be effective language users. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language shows that by taking a systematic approach to vocabulary learning, teachers can make the best use of class time and help learners get the best return for their learning effort. It will quickly establish itself as the point of reference for future vocabulary work.