The American English Compendium is a fun way to explore the nuances of the English language-learn that a group of lions is called a pride; a group of whales, a pod; and a group of owls, a parliament. Distinguish between a quack and a shyster. Learn that "tabling a motion" in a U.S. court has an opposite meaning from the same term in England. This book picks up where other language dictionaries leave off: it includes common proverbs, a sampling of American English versus British English, popular American expressions and slang, acronyms, and varied information on everything from wildlife to currency. In this new edition, the staples have been updated and fresh chapters have been added, with information on pronunciation, oddball English words, and even some of the new Internet terminology, including Twitterspeak.

Mary Norris has spent more than three decades guarding The New Yorker's grand traditions of grammar and usage. Now she brings her vast experience and sharpened pencil to help the rest of us in a charming language book as full of life as it is of practical advice. Between You & Me features Norris's laugh-out-loud exhortations about exclamation marks and emoticons, comma faults and swear words; her memorable exchanges about usage with writers such as Ian Frazier, Pauline Kael, Philip Roth and George Saunders; and her loving meditations on the most important tools of the trade. Readers and writers will find in Norris neither a scold nor a softie but a wise new friend in love with language.

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."

Essential Mandarin Chinese Grammar is a systematic overview of Mandarin grammar, oriented toward self-study, English-speaking students. Through explanations of common mistakes learners make, useful example sentences and exercises with an answer key, this book provides a detailed introduction to the unique grammar structures of the Mandarin language. Ideal for any student who is interested in taking their skills to the next level, this book makes the difficult task of perfecting grammar efficient, interesting and rewarding. Essential Mandarin Chinese Grammar is a perfect tool to help you form correct and natural-sounding sentences, and determine how to best use the grammar you need for reading or writing Mandarin. Each example and exercise is written in both pinyin and Simplified Chinese Characters to accommodate learners with varying levels of character literacy, including those who have learned only to speak but not read.

This all-in-one reference is a quick and easy way for book, magazine, online, academic, and business writers to look up sticky punctuation questions for all styles including AP (Associated Press), MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago Manual of Style.
Punctuate with Confidence--No Matter the Style
Confused about punctuation? There's a reason. Everywhere you turn, publications seem to follow different rules on everything from possessive apostrophes to hyphens to serial commas. Then there are all the gray areas of punctuation--situations the rule books gloss over or never mention at all. At last, help has arrived.
This all-in-one reference from grammar columnist June Casagrande covers the basic rules of punctuation plus the finer points not addressed anywhere else, offering clear answers to perplexing questions about semicolons, quotation marks, periods, apostrophes, and more. Better yet, this is the only guide that uses handy icons to show how punctuation rules differ for book, news, academic, and science styles--so you can boldly switch between essays, online newsletters, reports, fiction, and magazine and news articles.
Style guides don't cover everything, but never fear This handbook features rulings from an expert "Punctuation Panel" so you can see how working pros approach sticky situations. And the second half of the book features an alphabetical master list of commonly punctuated terms worth its weight in gold, combining rulings from the major style guides and showing exactly where they differ. With
"The Best Punctuation Book, Period," you'll be able to handle any punctuation predicament in a flash--and with aplomb.

Die Funktion, die im Leben des Menschen der angeblich prosaischen, aber fur seine Existenz notwendigen Tatigkeit - dem Essen - beigemessen wird, bleibt nicht ohne Einfluss auf die Sprache. Ein bemerkbares Forschungsfeld aus der Schnittstelle des Kulinarischen und der Linguistik bilden kulinarische Namen, die einerseits als Verkoerperung diverser Aspekte des menschlichen Lebens und andererseits als Manifestation menschlicher Denkweise und Aktivitat gelten. UEberdies sind sie ein Zeugnis der kulturellen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung. In dieser Monografie wird ein UEberblick uber diverse linguistische Zugange zu kulinarischen Namen prasentiert. Das Ziel ist es dabei, kulinarische Namen aus der sprachwissenschaftlichen Perspektive moeglichst holistisch und komplex zu beschreiben.

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.