Wilde. After all, even fluent English speakers can be at sixes and sevens when told to pick up the "dog and bone" or "head to the loo," so they can "spend a penny." Wherever did these peculiar expressions come from?British author Christopher J. Moore made a name for himself on this side of the pond with the sleeper success of his previous book, In Other Words. Now, Moore draws on history, literature, pop culture, and his own heritage to explore the phrases that most embody the British character. He traces the linguistic influence of writers from Chaucer to Shakespeare and Dickens to Wodehouse, and unravels the complexity Brits manage to imbue in seemingly innocuous phrases like "All right." Along the way, Moore reveals the uniquely British origins of some of the English language's more curious sayings. For example: Who is Bob and how did he become your uncle? Why do we refer to powerless politicians as "lame ducks"? How did "posh" become such a stylish word?Part language guide, part cultural study, How to Speak Brit is the perfect addition to every Anglophile's library and an entertaining primer that will charm the linguistic-minded legions.

    Describes some of the concepts underlying the Chinese language and writing system, and gives the author's position on a number of ideas about the language.

    Covering all areas of language which students at this level find difficult, this substantially revised and updated book retains the clarity, simplicity and accessibility of the first edition, adding to it new and redesigned units and appendices, modified right-hand page exercises and additional exercises. - Easy to use: 136 two-page units combine clear, accurate language presentation on left-hand pages with thorough, varied practice on facing pages. - New additional exercises offer further practice of grammar points from different groups of units. - Designed for self-study: learners choose and study problematic areas with the help of a new study guide. - Key section contains answers to all exercises and the study guide. - Appendices deal with irregular verbs, tense formation, modals, spelling, short forms and American English.

    But linguist Daniel Everett argues that, like other tools, language was invented by humans and can be reinvented or lost. He shows how the evolution of different language forms—that is, different grammar—reflects how language is influenced by human societies and experiences, and how it expresses their great variety.  For example, the Amazonian Pirahã put words together in ways that violate our long-held under-standing of how language works, and Pirahã grammar expresses complex ideas very differently than English grammar does. Drawing on the Wari’ language of Brazil, Everett explains that speakers of all languages, in constructing their stories, omit things that all members of the culture understand. In addition, Everett discusses how some cultures can get by without words for numbers or counting, without verbs for “to say” or “to give,” illustrating how the very nature of what’s important in a language is culturally determined. Combining anthropology, primatology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and his own pioneering—and adventurous—research with the Amazonian Pirahã, and using insights from many different languages and cultures, Everett gives us an unprecedented elucidation of this society-defined nature of language. In doing so, he also gives us a new understanding of how we think and who we are.

    certainly has, and after forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, he still can't get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates the electricity, the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies, of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is "over the counter."Three and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced Blount's Glossographia, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount's Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels, from Proto-Indo-European roots to your epiglottis. It rejects the standard linguistic notion that the connection between words and their meanings is "arbitrary." Even the word arbitrary is shown to be no more arbitrary, at its root, than go-to guy or crackerjack. From sources as venerable as the OED (in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at whisk) and as fresh as Urbandictionary.com (to which Blount has contributed the number-one definition of alligator arm), and especially from the author's own wide-ranging experience, Alphabet Juice derives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.

    Just such a village -- an isolated Bedouin community in Israel with an unusually high rate of deafness -- is at the heart of "Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind." There, an indigenous sign language has sprung up, used by deaf and hearing villagers alike. It is a language no outsider has been able to decode, until now.A "New York Times" reporter trained as a linguist, Margalit Fox is the only Western journalist to have set foot in this remarkable village. In "Talking Hands, " she follows an international team of scientists that is unraveling this mysterious language.Because the sign language of the village has arisen completely on its own, outside the influence of any other language, it is a living demonstration of the "language instinct," man's inborn capacity to create language. If the researchers can decode this language, they will have helped isolate ingredients essential to all human language, signed and spoken. But as "Talking Hands" grippingly shows, their work in the village is also a race against time, because the unique language of the village may already be endangered."Talking Hands" offers a fascinating introduction to the signed languages of the world -- languages as beautiful, vital and emphatically human as any other -- explaining why they are now furnishing cognitive scientists with long-sought keys to understanding how language works in the mind.Written in lyrical, accessible prose, "Talking Hands" will captivate anyone interested in language, the human mind and journeys to exotic places.

    The arrangement is one verb per page in easy to comprehend table form. Each verb is listed with its principal parts and followed by complete conjugation in all tenses. Additional material includes tables of strong verbs arranged according to pattern of change, and a section on prefix verbs and model auxiliaries. An added feature in this edition is a set of 27 verb tests with answers explained. Language students will also find weather expressions as they are used with impersonal verbs, a selection of German idioms and proverbs, and a concise review of rules for verb tenses and moods. This book, with its emphasis on grammatical form, makes a fine classroom supplement for beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses in German.

    An exceptionally accessible book+audio (CD) course for beginning-level learners of Korean, helping them gain practical communication skills.

    Whether you're on a training course or have already started teaching, this book will help launch your career and give you the confidence and expertise you need to be a brilliant teacher.Make an educated decision - decide between the various courses, qualifications and job locations available to youStart from scratch - plan well-structured lessons and develop successful and effective teaching techniquesFocus on skills - from reading and writing, to listening and speaking, get your students sounding and feeling fluentGet your head around grammar - teach students to put sentences together, recognise tenses and use adjectives and adverbsAll shapes and sizes - tailor your lessons to younger learners, one-to-ones, exam classes and Business English learners Open the book and find: TEFL, TESOL, EFL - what all the acronyms mean The best course books and materials to supplement your teaching Advice on running your class and handling difficulties Lesson plans that you can use in the classroom Activities and exercises to keep your students on their toes Constructive ways to correct and assess your students' performance Ways to inject some fun into your classes Insider information on the best jobs around the world 'An invaluable manual for anyone thinking of embarking on a TEFL journey. Michelle Maxom's step-by-step guide provides practical tips to get you started and offers key advice to help unleash the creative English language teacher within.' - Claire Woollam, Director of Studies & a Teacher Trainer at Language Link London

    A ground-breaking book that sets out to demonstrate that Japanese is “simple, logical and beautiful” and that most of the apparently “arbitrary rules” that you “just have to learn” can be reduced to simple, easily intuitive patterns if you just understand how the language really works.

    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 text is intended for students in colleges or universities who have little or no previous background in grammar, and presupposes no linguistics. It contains exercises, and will provide a basis for introductions to grammar and courses on the structure of English, not only in linguistics departments but also in English language and literature departments and schools of education.

    You are quickly introduced to grammatical rules and concepts in order of importance, which you can build on as you progress through the book. You will also learn more than 300 verbs, chosen by their frequency of use. Numerous exercises and engaging readings help you quickly build your speaking and comprehension prowess.

    This little book aims to give a certain perspective on the subject of language rather than to assemble facts about it. It has little to say of the ultimate psychological basis of speech and gives only enough of the actual descriptive or historical facts of particular languages to illustrate principles. Its main purpose is to show what I conceive language to be, what is its variability in place and time, and what are its relations to other fundamental human interests-the problem of thought, the nature of the historical process, race, culture, art. Contents: Language Define; The Elements of Speech; The Sounds of Language; Form in Language; Grammatical Processes; Form in Language; Grammatical Concepts; Types of Linguistic Structure; Language as a Historical Product: Drift; Language as a Historical Product: Phonetic Law; How Languages Influence Each Other; Language, Race and Culture; and Language and Literature.

    Davidson's remarkable Planet Word.'The way you speak is who you are and the tones of your voice and the tricks of your emailing and tweeting and letter-writing, can be recognised unmistakably in the minds of those who know and love you.'Stephen FryFrom feral children to fairy-tale princesses, secrets codes, invented languages - even a language that was eaten! - Planet Word uncovers everything you didn't know you needed to know about how language evolves. Learn the tricks to political propaganda, why we can talk but animals can't, discover 3,000-year-old clay tablets that discussed beer and impotence and test yourself at textese - do you know your RMEs from your LOLs? Meet the 105-year-old man who invented modern-day Chinese and all but eradicated illiteracy, and find out why language caused the go-light in Japan to be blue. From the dusty scrolls of the past to the unknown digital future, and with (heart) the first graphic to enter the OED, are we already well on our way to a language without words?In a round-the-world trip of a lifetime, discover all this and more as J. P. Davidson travels across our gloriously, endlessly intriguing multilingual Planet Word.John Paul Davidson is a film and television director and producer. After studying at Bristol University and completing his doctoral field work in The University of Malysia, he joined the BBC's Travel and Exploration Unit as their resident anthropologist.Stephen Fry's film, stage, radio and television credits are numerous and wide-ranging. He has written, produced, directed, acted in or presented productions as varied as Wilde, Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Fry's English Delight and QI. After writing many successful books, his recent memoir The Fry Chronicles was a number one bestseller.