English Grammar: The Basics offers a clear, non-jargonistic introduction to English grammar and its place in society. Rather than taking a prescriptive approach, this book helps the reader become aware of the social implications of choices they make to use standard or non-standard (regional/dialect) forms.Readers will consider:• what grammar is and how it fits into the structure of language;• how grammar functions in the school curriculum, the press, broadcasting an...

A great, rhapsodic, urgent book full of joy, grief, rage and love . . . A must-read' Helen Macdonald, author of H is for HawkNature has many gifts for us, but perhaps the greatest of them all is joy; the intense delight we can take in the natural world, in its beauty, in the wonder it can offer us, in the peace it can provide - feelings stemming ultimately from our own unbreakable links to nature, which mean that we cannot be fully human if we are separate...

If we could see it as a whole, if they all arrived in a single flock, say, we would be truly amazed: sixteen million birds. Swallows, martins, swifts, warblers, wagtails, wheatears, cuckoos, chats, nightingales, nightjars, thrushes, pipits and flycatchers pouring into Britain from sub-Saharan Africa.It is one of the enduring wonders of the natural world. Each bird faces the most daunting of journeys -navigating epic distances, dependent on bodily fuel reserves. Yet none can refuse....

The moth snowstorm, a phenomenon Michael McCarthy remembers from his boyhood when moths “would pack a car’s headlight beams like snowflakes in a blizzard,” is a distant memory. Wildlife is being lost, not only in the wholesale extinctions of species but also in the dwindling of those species that still exist.The Moth Snowstorm is unlike any other book about climate change today; combining the personal with the polemical, it is a manifesto rooted in experience, a poignant m...

Why take months to learn every button in 3ds Max when you can create great visuals with just a few key tools? Utilize the tool of choice, 3ds Max 2014, for generating realistic environments, seamless CG effects, and jaw dropping games in a matter of hours. You can use the memory-hogging methods that choke your display and take forever to render, or you can get it done quickly and efficiently.Michael McCarthy offers a goldmine of artistic inspiration, timesaving tip...

You ain't gonna like it: bad grammar's not so bad. - The TimesRemember all those grammar rules from school? No? Most of us don't. Mike McCarthy, renowned corpus linguist and co-author of the 900-page Cambridge Grammar of English answers the awkward questions that regularly bother us about English grammar. In this helpful A-Z field guide, McCarthy tells us what the conventional rules are as well as shows us what people are writing or saying now and...

Catholic health care is one of the key places where the church lives Catholic social teaching (CST). Yet the individualistic methodology of Catholic bioethics inherited from the manualist tradition has yet to incorporate this critical component of the Catholic moral tradition. Informed by the places where Catholic health care intersects with the diverse societal injustices embodied in the patients it encounters, this book brings the lens of CST to bear on Catholic health care, illuminating...

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST NATURE BOOKS OF 2020SHORTLISTED FOR THE RICHARD JEFFERIES SOCIETY & WHITE HORSE BOOKSHOP LITERARY PRIZE'Lovely: full of fascinating detail and anecdote, but the undertow of the virus moving in real time beneath its sunlit surface gives it a unique emotional heft.'-The Times'A literary window into the wonderful wild world during lockdown... ...

Finance serves the rich and powerful. We need to democratize it.**Winner of the 2026 Outstanding Contribution to Political Sociology Book Award from the American Sociological Association****Winner of The Theory Prize, American Sociological Association.**Why is democracy so broken and how might it be fixed? In The Master's Tools, award-winning author Michael A. McCarthy argues the answer can be found in the ...

Spoken English: The Basics offers a clear, non-jargonistic introduction to what the study of spoken English entails, ranging from its basic phonology and the grammar and vocabulary of speaking to the role of speaking in society. The book describes and illustrates how spoken English is used in a globalised and technology-led world, using data from a range of contexts.Key features of this book include:• An introduction to the basics of the study of phonology, accents...

This volume gathers the latest fundamental research contributions, innovations, and applications in the field of design and analysis of complex robotic mechanical systems, machines, and mechanisms, as presented by leading international researchers at the 4th USCToMM Symposium on Mechanical Systems and Robotics (USCToMM MSR), held in Irvine, California, USA on May 21-23, 2026. It covers highly diverse topics, including soft, wearable and origami robotic systems; applications to walking, fly...

Everyone likes to make money, but the act of selling can be uncomfortable and even stressful. By focusing on helping your customer rather than selling to them, you can overcome your resistance and turn a potential customer into a lifelong relationship. Even those who are timid, frightened and otherwise distressed by the prospect of selling will find these simple, time-tested methods of seasoned sales professionals easy to understand, implement, and even enjoy!