A revised and updated edition of a humorous primer on the English language, expanded for an American audience, contains entries on correct and questionable usage, a glossary, and a pronunciation guide.

    This book includes everything you need to prepare for the test. The revised second edition contains three brand new model TKT practice tests, new tips for preparing for the TKT, an additional unit on approaches to language teaching tested in the TKT, completely rewritten tasks in every unit, and revised ELT terms and concepts matching the latest Cambridge ESOL TKT Glossary. This best-selling course has been written in collaboration with Cambridge ESOL by a team of experienced TKT writers. It provides a comprehensive and reliable package for TKT candidates, as well as for teachers preparing for other initial teacher training qualifications and those on in-service training programmes.

    All the tips, techniques, strategies and advice are focused on maximizing students' score by increasing their task-solving speed and efficiency, and preventing typical mistakes.

    Multi-core processors and the increasing demand for maximum performance and scalability in mission-critical applications have renewed interest in functional languages like Erlang that are designed to handle concurrent programming. Erlang, and the OTP platform, make it possible to deliver more robust applications that satisfy rigorous uptime and performance requirements.Erlang and OTP in Action teaches you to apply Erlang's message passing model for concurrent programming--a completely different way of tackling the problem of parallel programming from the more common multi-threaded approach. This book walks you through the practical considerations and steps of building systems in Erlang and integrating them with real-world C/C++, Java, and .NET applications. Unlike other books on the market, Erlang and OTP in Action offers a comprehensive view of how concurrency relates to SOA and web technologies.This hands-on guide is perfect for readers just learning Erlang or for those who want to apply their theoretical knowledge of this powerful language. You'll delve into the Erlang language and OTP runtime by building several progressively more interesting real-world distributed applications. Once you are competent in the fundamentals of Erlang, the book takes you on a deep dive into the process of designing complex software systems in Erlang. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

    The Natural Approach, widely associated with Tracy Terrell, introduces students to language inductively, by exposing them to vocabulary and structures in the context of lively activities. In this communicative approach, grammar explanations and practice are an aid to leaning the language, not an end in themselves. The Natural Approach in general - and Kontakte 3rd edition in particular - are highly communicative and create a spontaneous and low-anxiety classroom atmosphere in which the focus is first on comprehension, then on communication. Kontakte 3rd edition emphasizes culture as well as communication, with a variety of boxes, readings, and interactive culture-based activities. The third edition of Kontakte also includes a new listening comprehension tape that instructors can use in class as well as a new video, new interactive software and additional new supplements.

    As language evolves faster than ever before, what is the future of "correct" writing? When Favilla was tasked with creating a style guide for BuzzFeed, she opted for spelling, grammar, and punctuation guidelines that would reflect not only the site's lighthearted tone but also how readers actually use language IRL.With wry cleverness and an uncanny intuition for the possibilities of internet-age expression, Favilla makes a case for breaking the rules laid out by Strunk and White: A world without "whom," she argues, is a world with more room for writing that's clear, timely, pleasurable, and politically aware. Featuring priceless emoji strings, sidebars, quizzes, and style debates among the most lovable word nerds in the digital media world--of which Favilla is queen--A World Without "Whom" is essential for readers and writers of virtually everything: news articles, blog posts, tweets, texts, emails, and whatever comes next--so basically everyone.

    It tells you about every aspect of writing, from having an idea to getting the idea out into the world (and getting paid for it too). It covers everything from journalism to screen-writing, from speeches to sketches, from sitcoms to novels. With thirty years' experience as an award-winning script-writer, journalist, author and broadcaster David Quantick is ideally suited, as a writer, to write this definitive writer's guide to writing... everything.

    Now this sensational new book strikes back to defend the fascinating, real-life diversity of this most basic human faculty.With the erudite yet accessible style that marks his work as a journalist, Robert Lane Greene takes readers on a rollicking tour around the world, illustrating with vivid anecdotes the role language beliefs play in shaping our identities, for good and ill. Beginning with literal myths, from the Tower of Babel to the bloody origins of the word “shibboleth,” Greene shows how language “experts” went from myth-making to rule-making and from building cohesive communities to building modern nations. From the notion of one language’s superiority to the common perception that phrases like “It’s me” are “bad English,” linguistic beliefs too often define “us” and distance “them,” supporting class, ethnic, or national prejudices. In short: What we hear about language is often really about the politics of identity.Governments foolishly try to police language development (the French Academy), nationalism leads to the violent suppression of minority languages (Kurdish and Basque), and even Americans fear that the most successful language in world history (English) may be threatened by increased immigration. These false language beliefs are often tied to harmful political ends and can lead to the violation of basic human rights. Conversely, political involvement in language can sometimes prove beneficial, as with the Zionist  revival of Hebrew or our present-day efforts to provide education in foreign languages essential to business, diplomacy, and intelligence. And yes, standardized languages play a crucial role in uniting modern societies.As this fascinating book shows, everything we’ve been taught to think about language may not be wrong—but it is often about something more than language alone. You Are What You Speak will certainly get people talking.

    or just learn more about how languages work with the same accurate yet fun approach as the original LCK.

    GET D!RTYNext time you’re traveling or just chattin’ in Italian with your friends, drop the textbook formality and bust out with expressions they never teach you in school, including: Cool slang Funny insults Explicit sex terms Raw swear words Dirty Italian teaches the casual expressions heard every day on the streets of Italy:What's up?Come va?He's a real hottie.Lui è proprio un figo.This pizza's awesome!Questa pizza è buonissima!I'm totally wasted.Soo sbronzo.I gotta piss.Devo pisciare.Hey ref, you're an asshole!Arbitro cornuto!Wanna do it doggy-style?Lo facciamo alla pecorina?

    And yet, we sit idly by as words are banned from television and censored in books. We insist that people excise profanity from their vocabularies and we punish children for yelling the very same dirty words that we’ll mutter in relief seconds after they fall asleep. Swearing, it seems, is an intimate part of us that we have decided to selectively deny.That’s a damn shame. Swearing is useful. It can be funny, cathartic, or emotionally arousing. As linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us, it also opens a new window onto how our brains process language and why languages vary around the world and over time.In this groundbreaking yet ebullient romp through the linguistic muck, Bergen answers intriguing questions: How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout Goddamn! when they get upset? When did a cock grow to be more than merely a rooster? Why is crap vulgar when poo is just childish? Do slurs make you treat people differently? Why is the first word that Samoan children say not mommy but eat shit? And why do we extend a middle finger to flip someone the bird?Smart as hell and funny as fuck, What the F is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to know how and why we swear.

    Whether you're taking a trip to Germany or just want to surprise your German neighbor with a "hi-how-are-you," learning this language will help you see the world and yourself from an entirely different perspective."German For Dummies" uses the renowned Berlitz approach to get you up and running with the language - and having fun too Designed for the total beginner, this guide - with dialogue and pronunciation audio CD included - will introduce you to basic grammar, then speedily have you talking about: Dining outShoppingThe officePlanning a tripRecreationPartyingTrains, planes, and automobilesIn addition to the audio conversations, fun and games sections ease your way into German fluency, while phonetic spellings following expressions and vocabulary improve your pronunciation, and helpful boxes and sidebars cover cultural quirks and factoids. And, in trademark "For Dummies" fashion, you'll go beyond expressions for checking train schedules or buying potatoes to learn: Things never to say in GermanWays to pick up German quicklyPhrases that make you sound GermanHolidays to rememberEmailing and Internet vocabularyGerman TV and movie vocabularyHow to browse and window-shop in Germany with styleWhether you're just looking for a greeting besides "Guten tag," or you want to host a foreign exchange student, or want to become one yourself, "German For Dummies" gives you what you need to learn the language - as much as you like, as fast as you like. Gehen wir (gehn veer) (Let's get going )

    As they argue over the "Missing" flyers they are posting throughout the city - how large of a reward to offer, the best way to phrase the text - they realize that none of them have a recent photograph of Mom. Soon a larger question emerges: do they really know the woman they called Mom? Told by the alternating voices of Mom's daughter, son, her husband and, in the shattering conclusion, by Mom herself, the novel pieces together, Rashomon-style, a life that appears ordinary but is anything but. This is a mystery of one mother that reveals itself to be the mystery of all our mothers: about her triumphs and disappointments and about who she is on her own terms, separate from who she is to her family. If you have ever been a daughter, a son, a husband or a mother, Please Look After Mom is a revelation - one that will bring tears to your eyes.

    when the lights go down?EllieI played because I loved it... it was in my blood.Now I play because it's all I have left. And I'm about to chance it all for him. When the lights go down, and I step off that stage, will he still want me? When he finds out who I really am, what I'm not?LeeHer voice drew me in, her heart is what makes me want to stay. Part of me wants to take care of her, the other wants to break down her walls. I'm not sure I'm ready to risk it all... chasing her down, when I'm struggling to hold on to the only thing I've ever known.

    For Agnes's mother Florence, a fresh chapter is starting as her youngest flies the nest and her marriage settles into a new routine. But she can't help feeling that something is missing. As Agnes travels to London and Florence follows her heart to Europe, both will discover a world of possibilities they never could have dreamed of. Because wherever you are in life, there is always time to finally become the person you were always meant to be.