What's an alibi, a bete noire, a celibate, a dilemma? Should underway be two words? Is the word meretricious worth using at all? How do you spell realise - with an s or a z - and should bete be bete? Should you split infinitives, end sentences with prepositions, start them with conjunctions? What about four-letter words, euphemisms, foreign words, cliches, slang, jargon? And does the Queen speak the Queen's English?
In "Quite literally," Wynford Hicks answers questions like these. This is a guide to English usage for readers and writers, professional and amateur, established and aspiring, formal trainees and those trying to break in; students of English, both language and literature, and their teachers.
It concentrates on writing rather than speech. But the advice given on how to use words in writing can usually be applied to formal speech - what is carefully considered, broadcast, presented, scripted or prepared for delivery to a public audience - as opposed to informal, colloquial speech.
The book is intended to be practical - and also fun. Whether you want to improve your writing for professional purposes or simply enjoy exploring the highways and byways of English usage, you will find this book invaluable.

This study makes an important contribution to the theory of language change by analyzing the evolution of the French modal system from its origins in Late Latin through francais classique, based on newer textual corpora and using the framework of a modal semantic approach. These developments are compared to those of other Romance languages, with the Italian modal system serving as a foil to emphasize contrast."

Published in 1969 and in print ever since, this was the first specialist collection of tongue twisters and is still a great tool for warming up and improving general articulation.

The German Linguistic Studies Series is a comprehensive and outstanding forum in its field. It has borne the name of its subject in its title since the foundation of the series in the eighth decade of the last century. The series is comprehensive in the broad spectrum of topics covered (language levels, varieties, communication forms, epochs) in the range of research perspectives (theoretical and empirical studies, fundamental research and applications, interdisciplinarity with psychology, the social sciences etc.) and methodologies (the sole criterion is quality), in the rhythm of research (trends are perceived and also set, achievements are secured) and in the forms of presentation (monographs, textbooks, collected volumes, dictionaries). Professorial theses, outstanding doctoral theses, pioneering research findings from wider contexts, but also the surprising 'stroke of genius' set the standards for inclusion in the series. Call for Book Proposals: https://blog.degruyter.com/call-for-book-proposals-reihe-germanistische-linguistik/

Increasingly, writing handbooks are seen as over-produced and overpriced. One stands out: The Broadview Guide to Writing is published in an elegant but simple format, and sells for roughly half the price of its fancier-looking competitors. That does not change with the new edition; what does change and stay up-to-date is the content of the book. The seventh Canadian edition brings a substantial re-organization of the contents under three headings: Writing Processes, Writing Mechanics, and Writing Contexts. Coverage of the MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles of documentation has been substantially revised to reflect the most recent updates, including the 2020 APA and 2021 MLA changes. As in earlier editions, the Broadview Guide offers wide ranging coverage of academic argument; of writing and critical thinking; and of writing about literature. Coverage of personal and informal writing is included for the first time-as is a sample literary essay in MLA style (in addition to the sample MLA interdisciplinary essay). The 'How to be Good with Words' chapter (on issues of gender, race, religion etc.) has been extensively revised, as has the material on electronic etiquette.

This is the complete beginning-level course for spoken Mandarin Chinese designed to have you speaking quickly and accurately! The Basic Mandarin Chinese series offers a complete introductory Chinese language course specifically designed for native English speakers. These books teach spoken and written Chinese separately, allowing you to focus on the area most important to you, and to learn the spoken and written forms of Chinese at different speeds depending on your available time and interest. The free audio and video recordings included with this book reinforce the content and make the learning process easy. Whether you're learning Mandarin for work, travel or other reasons--the Basic Mandarin Chinese approach of having two separate but integrated "tracks" helps you to learn the language more efficiently and more successfully. Key features of this Chinese textbook and discs include: Clear and detailed pronunciation, grammar and cultural explanations Exercises and activities based on real-life experiences in China Hours of video recordings filmed on location featuring dozens of native speakers in various parts of China and beyond Six hours of native-speaker audio recordings for all the book's dialogues and exercises Special software allowing you to interact with the recordings. This Mandarin textbook is designed to be used with its separately available workbook, Basic Mandarin Chinese--Speaking & Listening Practice Book which provides a range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your spoken proficiency and improve your Chinese language skills. This book is a new edition of Basic Spoken Chinese. All disc content is alternatively accessible on tuttlepublishing.com/downloadable-content.

The punctuation workout for sticklers and rookies alike. The punctuation panda is back! Armed with a permanent marker, a smidgen of confidence, and a copy of 'Can You Eat, Shoot and Leave?', everyone now has the chance to become a member of the punctuation elite. Established punctuation sticklers: Fine-tune existing skills, taking guilty pleasure from testing your (already somewhat unsettling) seventh sense. Confused novices: Never again inflict flawed and perplexing punctuation on your innocent readers. The only official workbook for the international bestseller 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves.' Introductory Cosmo-style questionnaire helps readers identify their level of punctuation prowess. Mirrors the structure and light-hearted style of Lynne Truss's hugely popular 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves'. Topics include apostrophes, commas, colons and semicolons, hyphens and more. Each chapter concentrates on one particular punctuation mark. Origin, usage rules and their exceptions introduce the entertaining activities which have a 'challenge-yourself' format. The bite-sized exercises in each chapter and longer texts in 'The Final Challenge' put punctuation skills to the test.