A book to help build vocabulary, understand the meaning, and learn how to use them in a full sentence. Also includes synomyms, antonyms and other related words to aid in the understanding of the main words, as well as to further increase your vocabulary.

In the most reliable and readable guide to effective writing for the Americans of today, Wilson answers questions of meaning, grammar, pronunciation, punctuation, and spelling in thousands of clear, concise entries. His guide is unique in presenting a systematic, comprehensive view of language as determined by context. Wilson provides a simple chart of contexts—from oratorical speech to intimate, from formal writing to informal—and explains in which contexts a particular usage is appropriate, and in which it is not. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English provides the answers to questions about American English the way no other guide can with: * an A–Z format for quick reference; * over five thousand entries, more than any other usage book; * sensible and useful advice based on the most current linguistic research; * a convenient chart of levels of speech and writing geared to context; * both descriptive and prescriptive entries for guidance; * guidelines for nonsexist usage; * individual entries for all language terms. A vibrant description of how our language is being spoken and written at the end of the twentieth century—and how we ourselves can use it most effectively—The Columbia Guide to Standard American English is the ideal handbook to language etiquette: friendly, sensible, and reliable.

REA's English the American Way: A Fun ESL Guide to Language & Culture in the U.S. with Audio CD + MP3 New Second Edition! A fun guide to everything American for the English language learner! The warm and witty authors of English the American Way: A Fun ESL Guide to Language & Culture in the U.S. are back with a new second edition of this bestselling title. Featuring updated units on technology and social media, plus all-new fun-filled word-picture matchups, English the American Way is your companion to everyday life in the United States. Engaging, easy-to-follow chapters highlight important topics in American culture, such as: making friends, getting around, dining out, dealing with money, buying a home, what to do in an emergency, visiting the doctor, handling a job interview, and more. Our ESL author experts (Sheila MacKechnie Murtha and Jane Airey O'Connor) give English language learners must-know vocabulary, commonly used phrases, wacky idioms, and sample dialogues that illustrate everyday American life. You'll have fun along the way as you improve your English language and grammar skills with sentence completions, quizzes, and helpful tips. Practice speaking English like an American until you're perfect! Improve your listening and speaking skills with the dialogues included on our audio CD and MP3 download. English the American Way is an excellent resource for ESL students and teachers, English language learners, and professionals of all ages and all nationalities. If you're looking for a fun and easy way to improve your English language skills, this is the book for you! Don't miss the other books in this series… Celebrate the American Way: A Fun ESL Guide to English Language and Culture in the U.S and College the American Way: A Fun ESL Guide to English Language and Campus Life in the U.S.

This book presents the most contemporary and comprehensive description of the acoustics of the sounds used in American English. Intended to serve as an introductory text for students and professionals interested in acoustic phonetics, linguistics, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science, the authors bring to the subject the points of view of both linguistics and physics. The book uses numerous examples of acoustic spectrograms to show the continuities and variability of natural speech. The book begins by introducing the basic concepts of phonetics, phonology, and linguistics to readers whose background is in physics or engineering and introducing the physics of sound generation and analysis for speech scientists and linguists. The authors then use the tools developed in the first part to examine the characteristics of individual phonemes as well as the changes introduced when individual sounds are combined in speech. Modern applications of speech acoustics, especially speech synthesis and recognition, are also discussed.