Fundamentals of ACADEMIC WRITING

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It  is the newest addition to the Longman Academic Writing Series. Fundamentals provides beginning-level students with the essential tools they need to master basic academic writing by integrating sentence structure, paragraph organization, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, and the writing process. Fundamentals leads students to build strong academic writing skills that will last them throughout their academic careeers.

Relative Clauses

Teaching Reading and Writing: Improving Instruction and Student Achievement

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What's the connection between reading and writing, and how should they be taught—both together and separately? Discover the answers in this cutting-edge research volume, ideal for use as a graduate-level text or a trusted professional reference. Featuring groundbreaking contributions from a who's who of top-level researchers, this important volume gives educators the foundational knowledge they'll need to plan and deliver high-quality, evidence-based reading and writing instruction aligned with Common Core State Standards. Educators will fully explore the link between reading and writing, learn how they complement and enhance each other, and discover promising instructional approaches that can strengthen all students' literacy skills and reduce achievement gaps.

The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms

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The cat will never get your tongue once you have The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. This book defines nearly 10,000 idioms — expressions consisting of two or more words whose combined meaning is different from the literal meaning of the individual words. Each entry has both a definition and a sentence showing the idiom used in context. Most entries offer an explanation of the idiom’s origin and indicate when the expression first appeared in English.

Practical Phonetics and Phonology

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Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students.

Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings―all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible ‘two-dimensional’ structure is built around four sections―introduction, development, exploration and extension―which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.

Revised and updated throughout, this third edition of Practical Phonetics and Phonology:

• presents the essentials of the subject and their day-to-day applications in an engaging and accessible manner
• covers all the core concepts of speech science, such as the phoneme, syllable structure, production of speech, vowel and consonant possibilities, glottal settings, stress, rhythm, intonation and the surprises of connected speech
• incorporates classic readings from key names in the discipline including David Abercrombie, David Crystal, Dennis Fry, Daniel Jones, Peter Ladefoged, Peter Trudgill and John Wells
• includes an audio CD containing a collection of samples provided by genuine speakers of 25 accent varieties from Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore and West Africa
• gives outlines of the sound systems of six key languages from around the world
• contains over a hundred activity exercises, many accompanied by audio material
• is accompanied by a brand new companion website featuring additional guidance, audio files, keys to activities in the book, further exercises and activities, and extra practice in phonemic transcription

New features of this edition include an additional reading on teaching pronunciation, phonetic descriptions of three more languages (Japanese, Polish and Italian), expanded material on spelling/sound relationships, more information on acquiring the pronunciation of a foreign language, additional suggestions for further reading and much new illustrative material.

Written by authors who are experienced teachers and researchers, this best-selling textbook will appeal to all students of English language and linguistics and those training for a certificate in TEFL.

How to write a short story

A short story is a work of fiction. It is a product of the author’s imagination. Every short story has a beginning, a middle part and an ending.

Development of a short story requires careful thought and planning. Not every writer employs the same techniques in writing a short story. Some start with the plot and then create the characters. Others start by creating characters and then allow them to interact. From this interaction, the plot takes shape. Here are a few tips for writing a short story. Note that these are not meant for a seasoned writer who has already mastered the art of story-telling. Nonetheless, a beginner with little or no experience in writing a short story should find these tips helpful.

Step 1: determine the plot

The theme is what the story is about. A theme sometimes conveys a moral. If you have read the Aesop’s Fables you should know what I mean. All of those stories have a message. Some stories are written just for the purpose of conveying a message. The message could be any of the following:

The victory of virtue over vice

Sportsman spirit: It is not about winning; it is about how you play the game

The righteous may have to face huge hardships

Honesty is the best policy

You don’t really have to state the message at the end of the story. As the story develops and ends the reader should be able to comprehend the message.

Step 2: outline the plot

Every story requires a plot. Actually, the story develops from the plot. You can indicate the plot in the opening lines and then develop it gradually. As the plot unfolds characters will appear on the scene and start interacting with one another.

Complications and conflicts

These are an integral part of the plot. Complications and conflicts don’t have to be really complicated. Minor complications will do just fine – it depends upon the plot. Think about events that lead to the conflict. What are the problems that the characters encounter? You can develop complications and conflicts out of the interactions of the characters. Sometimes, destiny can play a role in making your characters’ life complicated.

Develop the crisis

What are the results of the conflict? How do they lead to additional, more complicated conflicts? The conflict or complications should lead to what is called the ‘rising action’. The rising action will create more complications and tension and will raise the story up to the crisis. The crisis is the turning point. It leads to the climax. The climax is the highest point of interest.

Bring the story to an end

Once you have reached the climax, you can’t climb any higher. The conflict and crisis needs to be resolved in the climax. Think about the outcome of the events that lead to the climax. Do these events change the characters or the way they interact with others? Do they learn any lessons? Once the conflict and crisis are resolved the story comes to an end. This final outcome is called the denouement.

Tech Talk Elementary

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