'My first English lesson was grammar with the terrifying Mrs Petrie. She spent the entire time marching up and down the classroom, thwacking various items of school furniture with a ruler while she banged on about the ING part of the verb. I sat there, vibrating with fear, desperately trying to figure out what on earth she could mean. Irregular Negative Gerund? Intransitive Nominative Genitive? It was only years later, when I was teaching English to foreign students, that I realised that E...

What is psychology? When did it begin? Where did it come from? How does psychology compare with related subjects such as psychiatry and psychotherapy? To what extent is it scientific?Introducing Psychology answers all these questions and more, explaining what the subject has been in the past and what it is now. The main "schools" of thought and the sections within psychology are described, including Introspection, Biopsychology, Psychoanaly...

Collins Webster’s Easy Learning Grammar is an accessible guide to English grammar and punctuation.With clear, concise explanations on everything from adverbs to word order, and from apostrophes to semicolons, this e-book is indispensable for understanding correct usage.Collins Webster’s Easy Learning Grammar is a uniquely helpful guide to all areas of English grammar and punctuation, providing clear guidance through the intricacies of the English language.Each gramm...

Oxford Modern English Grammar is Oxford's brand new and definitive guide to English grammar. This book has been written by a leading expert in the field, covers both British and American English, and makes use of authentic spoken and written examples. Arranged in four clear parts for ease of use, its comprehensive coverage ranges from the very basic to the most complex aspects of grammar, all of which are explained clearly yet authoritatively. This descriptive source of reference is invalu...

From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical is a book for everyone who loves words and language. Whether it's how letters are arranged on keyboards or Viking runes, textspeak or zip codes, this book will change the way you think about letters for ever.How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adven...

A "monumental" account of the rise and fall of languages, with "many fresh insights, useful historical anecdotes, and charming linguistic oddities" ( Chicago Tribune).Nicholas Ostler's Empires of the Word is the first history of the world's great tongues, gloriously celebrating the wonder of words that bind communities together and make possible both the living of a common history and the telling of it. From the uncanny resilience of Chinese throu...

There aren't any zombies (yet), but the world is still at the brink of destruction: It's 2028 and global warming has led to rising oceans, crazy weather, and resource scarcity. On top of that, someone just turned the Internet off. Seeing as how it's humanity's last chance to turn things around manners are a bit frayed.Bookish etiquette buff Olive O'Malley is busy microfarming her urban property and minding her own business (and her chickens) when the government comes calling. Their...

In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispen...

This file includes seven books: The Antichrist, Beyond Good and Evil, The Case of Wagner/Nietzsche Contra Wagner/Selected Aphorisms,Human All Too Human, Thoughts Out of Season Part 1, Thus Spake Zarathustra, and We Philologists, plus the lecture "Homer and Classical Philology". According to Wikipedia: "Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemp...

In 1960s Colorado, a shy bookseller must reconcile her quiet life with the tantalizing world of her dreams.Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller once loved a doctor named Kevin, but it didn't work out the way she had hoped. Now she leads a quiet life, running a bookshop with her best friend and enjoying the freedom that comes with being single. Then the dreams begin.Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, ...

From bestselling author Kristina McMorris comes an ambitious and heartrending story of immigrants, deception, and second chances.On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard’s only daughter—one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island—has gone missing. Tending the warden’s greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl’s wherea...

The Collins COBUILD Active English Grammar offers intermediate learners of English a quick and easy-to-use reference guide to the most important points in English Grammar.Illustrated by thousands of examples from the Bank of English, the Collins COBUILD Active English Grammar contains easy-to-understand explanations of the important points of English grammar. Warning notes occur throughout the text, giving learners invaluable help with potential problems in English. Supplements to ...