The Complete Plain Words is the essential guide for anyone who needs to express themselves clearly, fluently and accurately in writing. Whether you are working on a paper or on a computer, this invaluable reference work will lead you through the intricacies, problems and pleasures of the English language with wit, common sense and authority.
It looks like just another week ahead. Then out of the blue Ramble's husband ends their marriage over lunch and disappears. With no rent money and her world in shreds, she is forced to reconsider everything she's ever been taught by her screwy relatives, unreliable friends and wayward criminal connections. Should she hide in life's slipstream, or has the moment come to break free?
Kit, a work-obsessed literature student, decides on a whim to go to a dance class. And for a while it looks like Joe, the shadowy figure she meets there, may tempt her to put her books aside and live a little.
"Nothing inflames the language gripers like a misplaced disinterested, an illogical irregardless, a hideous operationalisation. To a purist these are 'howlers' and 'non-words', fit only for scorn. But in their rush to condemn such terms, are the naysayers missing something? In this provocative and hugely entertaining book, Rebecca Gowers throws light on a great array of horrible words, and shows how the diktats of the pedants are repeatedly based on misinformation, false reasoning and straight-up snobbery. The result is a brilliant work of history, a surreptitious introduction to linguistics, and a mischievous salute to the misusers of the language. It is also a bold manifesto asserting our common rights over English, even as it questions the true nature of style."