Showing titles in Words, Language & Grammar

In the tradition of The Elements of Style comes Trish Hall's essential new work on writing well - a sparkling instructional guide to persuading (almost) anyone, on (nearly) anything. In charge of the Op-Ed page for the New York Times, Hall spent years immersed in argument, passion, and trendsetting ideas - but also in tangled sentences, migraine-inducing jargon, and dull-as-dishwater writing. Drawing on her vast experience editing, Hall presents the ultimate guide to writing persuasively for students, job applicants, and rookie authors looking to get published.

Whether we’re aware of it or not, we spend much of our time in this globalised world in the act of translation. Language is a big part of it, of course, as anyone who has fumbled with a phrasebook in a foreign country will know, but behind language is something far more challenging to translate: culture. As a traveller, a mistranslation might land you a bowl of who-knows-what when you think you asked for noodles, and mistranslations in international politics can be a few steps from serious trouble.

To imagine - to see that which is not there - is the startling ability that has fuelled human development and innovation through the centuries. As a species we stand alone in our remarkable capacity to refashion the world after the pictures in our minds. Traversing the realms of science, politics, religion, culture, philosophy and history, Felipe Fernández-Armesto reveals the thrilling and disquieting tales of our imaginative leaps - from the first Homo sapiens to the present day.

China today is one of the world's most powerful nations, yet just a century ago it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, left behind in the wake of Western technology. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu shows that China's most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: to make the formidable Chinese language - a 2,200-year-old writing system that was daunting to natives and foreigners alike - accessible to a globalised digital world.

Teaching your child to read is monstrously important, and there's no better way to do it than with everyday opportunities for laughter and play. Bringing Up Bookmonsters is full of fun ways to build literacy at home - no flashcards or timers required! Feed your budding bookmonster's brain as you: Turn storytime into playtime to build comprehension; get giggling with games and jokes that reinforce spelling; converse at family meals with varied vocabulary; satisfy your bookmonster's cravings with books they are sure to devour; and more!

Writing guides are often full of 'tips' and 'tricks' either too broad to be useful, so specific they don't apply, or frustratingly vague. The On Writing and Worldbuilding series is here to change that. Volume III covers a whole new array of topics with applicable, clear, and practical discussions, be it writing character descriptions, compelling dialogue, or worldbuilding cities and towns. While written with an edge for science fiction and fantasy, the help found in this book applies to all genres. Volume III stands entirely independent of the first two volumes with entirely new discussions.

Our unique audioteach method features the voice of a real tutor, Chris Sykes. He will guide you through your course with over seven hours of audio material, giving you tips and advice based on his many years of teaching and writing experience and helping you to avoid common mistakes and pitfalls. This course takes you from complete beginner or committed amateur to the point where you've completed, edited and redrafted your work and are ready for publication.

The Greatest Speeches of All Time is a collection of the most important and well-known speeches of modern times by US presidents, politicians, and other historical icons. These dramatic speeches changed the course of history and inspired millions worldwide. Included are speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt; Winston Churchill; Harry Truman; John F. Kennedy; Martin Luther King, Jr.; George Patton; Jimmy Carter; Ronald Reagan; Malcolm X; Douglas MacArthur; and others.

Harness the power of context, confidence, and a funny group of writers like the pros do on legendary TV shows like SNL or The Simpsons or at comedy institutions like The Onion. Scott Dikkers will show you how it’s done. He’s cofounder and longest-serving editor in chief of The Onion, the world’s most popular humor publication, and founder of the Onion Training Center at the Second City in Chicago. He’s also a number one best-selling humor author, comedy performer, and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Bodice rippers are some of the most lucrative books in the industry. So what if you write romance that isn't as steamy? I don't know about you, but I love reading and writing kissing scenes. And I don't write explicit scenes with sex. If you're the same way, then you've happened upon the right audiobook. In this brief nonfiction work, I'll cover how to write clean yet scintillating romance in ways you may not have considered.

Through their many best-selling books, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron have done nothing less than deepen the way millions of us experience the art and practice of writing and creativity. Now, with The Writing Life, Cameron and Goldberg join forces for the first time in this revealing dialogue that speaks to our common search for an everyday spirituality.

Holidays in Hell follows P. J. O’Rourke on a global fun-finding mission to the most desperate places on the planet, from the bombed-out streets of Beirut to the stultifying blandness of Heritage USA. P.J.’s unforgettable adventures abroad include storming student protesters’ barricades in South Korea, interviewing Communist insurrectionists in the Philippines, and going undercover in Arab garb at Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock Mosque. Packed with P.J.’s classic riffs on everything from Polish nightlife under communism to Third World driving tips....

This celebrated classic gives a soldier's-eye-view of the Guadalcanal battles; crucial to World War II, the war that continues to fascinate us all. Unlike some of those on Guadalcanal in the fall of 1942, Richard Tregaskis volunteered to be there. One of only two on-location news correspondents, he lived alongside the soldiers: sleeping on the ground - only to be awoken by air raids - eating meager rations, and braving some of the most dangerous battlefields of World War II.

The first book in The Art Of series of books on the craft of writing, fiction writer and essayist Charles Baxter's The Art of Subtext discusses and illustrates the hidden subtextual overtones and undertones in fictional works haunted by the unspoken, the suppressed, and the secreted.

How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the truth-speaker who will tell the story a personal narrative needs to tell? That is the question The Situation and the Story asks—and answers. Taking us on a tour of some of the best memoirs and essays of the past hundred years, Gornick traces the changing idea of self that has dominated the century, and demonstrates the enduring truth-speaker to be found in the work of writers as diverse as Edmund Gosse, Joan Didion, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, or Marguerite Duras.

Patrick Radden Keefe’s work has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US to the Orwell Prize in the UK for his meticulously reported, hypnotically engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker.

The ultimate book on public speaking! If you want to be successful these days, you have to master the art of communication! Only those who present themselves authentically and argue wisely can achieve their goals - whether at work or in their private lives. The book Public Speaking teaches you how to use simple strategies to playfully improve your speaking and persuasion skills in order to finally get what you want in life. This book offers beginners a good start to master communication.

Vietnamese is a beautiful language that is spoken by millions around the world. It is hard to find time to learn a new language, however. Language courses at schools and colleges are routine and boring. Learn Vietnamese for Beginners Easily & in Your Car is perfect for people who have no other time to learn a new language. It contains over 1,000 common Vietnamese phrases and words that will help you in everyday life and travel. Each phrase is pronounced slowly and multiple times so that you can really learn the correct pronunciation.

Bestselling author Kelly Gallagher argues that to think critically, it’s imperative that we teach kids stuff. Lots of it. Why? Because students who know more are able to read more, and read better.

In The Napoleon of Notting Hill, his first novel, G. K. Chesterton creates a witty satire of staid government, set in a London of the future. Auberon Quinn, a common clerk who looks like a cross between a baby and an owl and is often seen standing on his head, is one day told that he has been randomly selected to be His Majesty the King. He decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement - with delightful results.