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.

    With this essential guide in hand, any writer can learn to communicate with the clarity and professionalism for which the Associated Press is famous. Fully revised and updated, this edition contains over 5,000 A to Z entries--including more than 50 new ones--laying out the AP's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, and word and numeral usage. Comprehensive and easy to use, The AP Stylebook provides the facts and references necessary to write accurately about the world today: correct names of countries and organizations, Internet language and search techniques, language to avoid, common trademarks, and the unique guidelines for business and sports reporting. The final word on media law, The AP Stylebook also includes an invaluable section dedicated to crucial advice on how writers can guard against libel and copyright infringement. The veritable "journalist's bible," this is the one reference that working writers cannot afford to be without.With more than 50 new entries plus updates of more than 100 others, The AP Stylebook includes such features as: An A to Z listing of guides to capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, numerals, and usage* Internet guidelines* Sports guidelines and style* Business guidelines and style* A guide to punctuation* Supreme Court decisions regarding libel law* Summary of First Amendment rules* The right of privacy* Copyright guidelines* Proofreaders' marks

    This text is a guide that explains how to write and communicate information clearly.

    Bringing new insight to the comprehensive HODGES' HARBRACE HANDBOOK, Fifteenth Edition, rhetorician Cheryl Glenn and linguist Loretta Gray add their expertise to this market-leading handbook.

    Now, for the first time ever, bestselling author and writing teacher, Jessica Brody, takes the beloved Save the Cat! plotting principals and applies them to the craft of novel writing in this exciting new “workshop style” guide, featuring over 20 full beat sheets from popular novels throughout time.Whether you’re writing your first novel or your seventeenth, Save the Cat! breaks down plot in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step method so you can write stories that resonate! This book can help you with any of the following:Outlining a new novelRevising an existing novelBreaking out of the dreaded “writer’s block”Fixing a “broken” novelReviewing a completed novelFleshing out/test driving a new idea to see if it “has legs”Implementing feedback from agents and/or editorsHelping give constructive feedback to other writersBut above all else, SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL will help you better understand the fundamentals and mechanics of plot, character transformation, and what makes a story work!

    Little’s exploration of “word travel” includes:• Shona, a language lacking distinct words for “blue” or “green”• Why Icelandic speakers must decide if the numbers 1-4 are plural• Which language is the only one lacking verbs• Just what, exactly, the Swedish names of IKEA products meanFully illustrated with hilarious sidebars, Biting The Wax Tadpole also addresses classic cases of mistranslation. For example, when Chinese shopkeepers tried to find a phonetic written equivalent of Coca-Cola, one set of characters they chose were pronounced “ke-kou ke-la.” It sounded right, but it translated literally as “bite the wax tadpole.” Not quite what Coke had in mind, but in this off-kilter ode to the words of the world, it’s just another example of language taking you someplace interesting.

    This updated sixth edition retains the structure and style of the popular previous editions, and includes two new, much-requested texts: Wulf and Eadwacer and Judith.The book consists of two parts. Part One comprises an introduction to the Old English language, including orthography and pronunciation, inflexions, word formation, an authoritative section on syntax. This is followed by an introduction to Anglo-Saxon studies, which discusses language, literature, history, archaeology, and ways of life. Sound changes are treated as they become relevant in understanding apparent irregularities in inflexion. Part Two contains verse texts, most of them complete, which fully reveal the range that Old English poetry offers in mood, intensity, humor, and natural observation. Full explanatory notes accompany all the texts, and a detailed glossary is provided.The new edition of this highly-acclaimed Guide will be welcomed by teachers and by anyone wanting to gain a greater understanding and enjoyment of the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxons.

    Brimming with examples, quotes, and case studies that include an illuminating discussion of Max Perkins's editorial collaboration with F. Scott Fitzgerald on The Great Gatsby, this book proves how fundamental editing is to great writing. Bell also offers strategic tips and exercises for self-editing, and a series of remarkable interviews, that take us into the studios of established authors such as Michael Ondaatje, Tracy Kidder, and Ann Patchett to learn from their various approaches to shaping their work after its initial creation. Much more than a manual, The Artful Edit inspires readers to think about both the discipline and the creativity of editing and how editing can enhance their work. A vigorous investigation into the history and meaning of the edit, this book, like The Triggering Town and The Elements of Style, is a must-have companion for every writer.

    Once students have understood the terms and concepts in their own language, it is easier for them to understand their textbook. With simple explanations and numerous examples, this brief handbook compares English and Spanish grammar and points out the similarities and differences.

    She investigates a specific element of craft - Image, Voice, Character, Setting and Story - from a perspective that crosses various genres.

    HEre, collected for the first itme, are some of the most fascinatin, funniest, and strangest pieces that first debuted in its pages.With reputable contributors such as Richard Lederer, Jesse Sheidlower, Joew Queenana, Frederic Cassidy, and Bryuan Garner, as well as language "experts" of dubious distinction, VERBATIM is a smart and sassy collection for anyone seeking the highly scholarly or the completely frivolous. From the roots of medieval words to teh componenets of a British soccer chant, VERBATIM will offere seomething for every language lover and word nerd to enjoy.

    Firmly based on current learning theory, its emphasis is on the practical needs of the learner. It aims not only to present and explain words but to demonstrate how to use them and how to work out rules for using them. Vocabulary is explained and presented on left-hand pages with a wealth of innovative follow-up activities opposite. * 100 units, covering approximately 3,000 new vocabulary items * offers learners the opportunity to consolidate and expand existing vocabulary * promotes invaluable learning techniques * gives study tips and suggests follow-up tasks * contains a comprehensive key with additional helpful comments * includes a detailed index and phonetic transcription

    The story of how that code came into being is a fascinating one, and Man is the ideal writer to tell it." Times Educational Supplement "A richly absorbing exploration, from B.C. to PCs, of the evolution of the most fundamental characters of our cultural history, the alphabet we so much take for granted. John Man writes with a compellingly restless curiosity and immediacy. The ever surprising, exotically detailed narrative in his informative book makes it as undryly enjoyable as a successful archaelogical dig of one of Alan Moorehead s colorful histories of African exploration." David Grambs, author of The Describer s Dictionary and The Endangered English Dictionary "Text that is crisp, taut, and as clear as a bell.... A fascinating story with many a beguiling subplot along the way." New Scientist "Letter perfect the best histories and mysteries of our ABC s!" Jeff McQuain, author of Never Enough Words and Power Language

    For example:The word adamant came into English around 855 C.E. as a synonym for 'diamond,' very different from today's meaning of the word: "utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion."Before the year 1200, the word silly meant "blessed," and was derived from Old English saelig, meaning "happy." This word went through several incarnations before adopting today's meaning: "stupid or foolish."In Semantic Antics, lexicographer Sol Steinmetz takes readers on an in-depth, fascinating journey to learn how hundreds of words have evolved from their first meaning to the meanings used today.

    Popular phrases, words, and expressions accompany the complete conjugation of common Spanish verbs.