First time in book form! A successful program for teaching 3,500 vocabulary words that successful people need to know, based on America's #1 bestselling audio vocabulary series. "People judge you by the words you use." Millions of Americans know this phrase from radio and print advertising for the Verbal Advantage audio series, which has sold over 100,000 copies. Now this bestselling information is available for the first time in book form, in an easy-to-follow, graduated vocabulary building program that teaches an outstanding vocabulary in just ten steps. Unlike other vocabulary books, Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Lively, accessible writing from an expert author and radio personality. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Word Workout is a practical book for building vocabulary—a graduated program featuring thousands of words that begins with those known by most college graduates and ascends to words known only by the most educated, intelligent, and well-read adults. This workout is a comprehensive program, chock-full of information about synonyms, antonyms, and word origins, and replete with advice on proper usage and pronunciation. There are also creative review quizzes at each step of the way to measure your progress and reinforce learning. Unlike other vocabulary books, Word Workout provides a complete learning experience with clear explanations and surefire methods to retain new knowledge. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, this book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, featuring words used by the top tier of literate Americans, laid out in ten accessible chapters designed for anyone who is looking for some serious verbal exercise. From "avowal" to "proselytize," from "demagogue" to "mendicant," Charles Harrington Elster has carefully picked the words you need to know, and given you an easy, fast, and fail-safe way to learn and remember them.

The definitive pronouncement on more than 1,500 of our most commonly mispronounced words. From the language maven Charles Harrington Elster comes an authoritative and unapologetically opinionated look at American speech. As Elster points out, there is no sewer in connoisseur, no dip in diphthong, and no pronoun in pronunciation. The culmination of twenty years of observation and study, The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations is more than just a pronunciation guide. Elster discusses past and present usage, alternatives, analogies, and tendencies and offers plenty of advice, none of it objective. Whether you are adamant or ambivalent about the spoken word, Elster arms you with the information you need to decide what is acceptable for you. The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations has now been expanded and revised and features nearly 200 new words, including: al-Qaeda bruschetta commensurate coup de grace curriculum vita exacerbate gigabyte hara-kiri machismo Muslim Niger Pinochet Pulitzer sorbet tinnitus w (as in www-dot) and many, many more. Charles Harrington Elster is the pronunciation editor of Black's Law Dictionary and the author of various books about language, including Verbal Advantage, There's a Word for It, and What in the Word? He has been a guest columnist on language for the Boston Globe and the New York Times Magazine and a commentator on NPR and hundreds of radio shows around the country.

Presents a humorous look at the English language, including information on word and phrase origins, slang, style, usage, punctuation, and pronunciation.

Offers advice on identifying the verbal bullies in one's life, determining the difference between abuse and "kidding around," turning negative comments to one's advantage, and delivering verbal defense appropriately and confidently