The Dictionary of Worthless Words recognizes that concise writing is paramount. This quick reference enables writers to conquer verbiage, delete pointless words and phrases, and elevate e-mails, essays, memoranda, personal letters, press releases, and speeches to a new level of clarity. The many examples of delete-worthy words will enable writers to avoid them in advance and prevent their prose from becoming clumsy and unclear.
The correct usage for more than 2,500 commonly misused words is provided in this concise and accessible handbook that assures, insures, and ensures that anyone who wants to communicate accurately and effectively chooses the right word every time. Arranged alphabetically in pairs (or threes when appropriate), entries are carefully cross-referenced and explained with a sentence, guaranteeing that readers find boycott, even when they look up embargo first. Two dozen accompanying cartoons humorously clarify confusing distinctions between words, making this a fun reference for all word lovers to enjoy.
The "Dictionary of Worthless Words" recognizes that concise writing is paramount. This quick reference enables writers to conquer verbiage, delete pointless words and phrases, and elevate e-mails, essays, memoranda, personal letters, press releases, and speeches to a new level of clarity. The many examples of delete-worthy words will help writers avoid them in advance and prevent their prose from becoming clumsy and unclear.
Can you drink a glass of balderdash? What do you call the part of a dog's back it can't scratch? And if, serendipitously, you find yourself in Serendip, then where exactly are you? The answers to all of these questions -- and a great many more -- can be found in the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary, the definitive record of the English language. And there is no better guide to the dictionary's many wonderments than the former chief editor of the OED, John Simpson. Simpson spent almost four decades of his life immersed in the intricacies of our language, and guides us through its history with charmingly laconic wit. In The Word Detective, an intensely personal memoir and a joyful celebration of English, he weaves a story of how words come into being (and sometimes disappear), how culture shapes the language we use, and how technology has transformed not only the way we speak and write but also how words are made. Throughout, he enlivens his narrative with lively excavations and investigations of individual words -- from deadline to online and back to 101 (yes, it's a word) -- all the while reminding us that the seemingly mundane words (can you name the four different meanings of ma?) are often the most interesting ones. But Simpson also reminds us of the limitations of language: spending his days in the OED's house of words, his family at home is forced to confront the challenges of wordlessness. A brilliant and deeply humane expedition through the world of words, The Word Detective will delight and inspire any lover of language.
This fascinating, useful, and funny collection of proverbs, curses, maxims, and ribald expressions will teach readers all they ever wanted to know about this remarkable language.
There are a lot of good books available to help people write better. They include dictionaries, usage guides, and various types of writers’ manuals – and professional writers ought to have many of those books on their bookshelves. But most architects and other design and construction professionals are not professional writers. Instead, they are people who spend a large part of their professional lives writing. That’s a big difference, and that’s where this book will help. The Architect’s Guide to Writing has been written not by an English major, but by Bill Schmalz, an architect who knows the kinds of documents his fellow professionals routinely have to write, and understands the kinds of technical mistakes they often make in their writing. This book is designed to meet the specific needs of design and construction professionals. It’s not going to waste their time with the things that most educated professionals know, but it will help them with the things they don’t know or are unsure of. It’s not a Chicago Manual-sized encyclopaedic reference that includes everything any writer would ever need to know, because architects don’t need to know everything. But what they do need to know – and what they use every day in their professional lives – has been assembled in this book.
