As featured in 'The Times' (18 Feb 2017). Professor Michael McCarthy, internationally renowned applied linguist, co-author of the 900-page 'Cambridge Grammar of English', author, co-author and editor of more than 50 books and 100 articles on the English language and the teaching of English, winner of an English-Speaking Union prize for one of his dictionaries, answers the awkward questions that regularly bother us all about English grammar. Most of us only vaguely remember what we were taught at school and are put off by long, tedious, dense and pedantic grammar manuals. This book is written in a concise, chatty, humorous and informal style. The A to Z format makes it easy to access and to find what you're looking for. It tells you in simple, plain language the difference between things that look similar (for example, 'alternate' versus 'alternative', 'made of' versus 'made from', 'its' versus 'it's'). It explains how to avoid going wrong with issues such as agreement between subjects and verbs or the choice of pronouns after prepositions. It presents solutions to a host of common, everyday grammatical problems and gives guidance on appropriate usage where more than one way of saying something exists. The entries also include advice on vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation and style.Mike McCarthy believes in describing present-day standard English as it really is, not how people think it is or how they think it should be. He has worked for the last 35 years with computerised corpora of everyday written and spoken English texts and is known especially for his work on the differences between the grammar of speaking and the grammar of writing. The example sentences he presents are clear, transparent illustrations of the grammatical conventions, based on his work with corpora and his extensive, detailed field-notes covering decades, gleaned from literature, correspondence, the media and ordinary conversation. He tells you what the traditional rules are as well as what people are writing or saying now, and gives reasons why you might choose one or the other. He is not afraid of change and sees the grammar of English as a living, evolving organism, which he demonstrates with occasional glances at grammars written in the distant and recent past. He loves and respects the many accents, varieties and dialects of English but tells you what the educated standard forms are, so that you can speak and write appropriately in different situations. He shows that speaking is not the same as writing, and that what can often pass unnoticed in speech may stick out like a grammatical sore thumb in formal writing. This book helps you to navigate the maze of grammatical alternatives and to make the right choice for the right occasion. It is a book to browse and enjoy, as well as being a useful reference work to keep on your bookshelf.

2018 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner What if you could unlock a better answer to your most vexing problem—in your workplace, community, or home life—just by changing the question? Talk to creative problem-solvers and they will often tell you, the key to their success is asking a different question. Take Debbie Sterling, the social entrepreneur who created GoldieBlox. The idea came when a friend complained about too few women in engineering and Sterling wondered aloud: "why are all the great building toys made for boys?" Or consider Nobel laureate Richard Thaler, who asked: "would it change economic theory if we stopped pretending people were rational?" Or listen to Jeff Bezos whose relentless approach to problem solving has fueled Amazon’s exponential growth: “Getting the right question is key to getting the right answer.” Great questions like these have a catalytic quality—that is, they dissolve barriers to creative thinking and channel the pursuit of solutions into new, accelerated pathways. Often, the moment they are voiced, they have the paradoxical effect of being utterly surprising yet instantly obvious. For innovation and leadership guru Hal Gregersen, the power of questions has always been clear—but it took some years for the follow-on question to hit him: If so much depends on fresh questions, shouldn’t we know more about how to arrive at them? That sent him on a research quest ultimately including over two hundred interviews with creative thinkers. Questions Are the Answer delivers the insights Gregersen gained about the conditions that give rise to catalytic questions—and breakthrough insights—and how anyone can create them.

Why do zebras have stripes? Why do we close our eyes when we sneeze? Why are farts flammable? Why do we have recessions when we can just print more money? If you've ever been flummoxed by a child's questions, then this is the perfect book for you. With over 300 real questions from primary school aged children, the book offers bite-sized answers from world class experts - digestible in under 60 seconds.

A collection of feminist essays steeped in “Solnit’s unapologetically observant and truth-speaking voice on toxic, violent masculinity” (The Los Angeles Review). In a timely and incisive follow-up to her national bestseller Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit offers sharp commentary on women who refuse to be silenced, misogynistic violence, the fragile masculinity of the literary canon, the gender binary, the recent history of rape jokes, and much more. In characteristic style, “Solnit draw[s] anecdotes of female indignity or male aggression from history, social media, literature, popular culture, and the news . . . The main essay in the book is about the various ways that women are silenced, and Solnit focuses upon the power of storytelling—the way that who gets to speak, and about what, shapes how a society understands itself and what it expects from its members. The Mother of All Questions poses the thesis that telling women’s stories to the world will change the way that the world treats women, and it sets out to tell as many of those stories as possible” (The New Yorker). “There’s a new feminist revolution—open to people of all genders—brewing right now and Rebecca Solnit is one of its most powerful, not to mention beguiling, voices.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times–bestselling author of Natural Causes “Short, incisive essays that pack a powerful punch.” —Publishers Weekly “A keen and timely commentary on gender and feminism. Solnit’s voice is calm, clear, and unapologetic; each essay balances a warm wit with confident, thoughtful analysis, resulting in a collection that is as enjoyable and accessible as it is incisive.” —Booklist

Curious minds are rewarded with curious answers in a fantastical bedtime book by Mac Barnett and Isabelle Arsenault. Why is the ocean blue? What is the rain? What happened to the dinosaurs? It might be time for bed, but one child is too full of questions about the world to go to sleep just yet. Little ones and their parents will be charmed and delighted as a patient father offers up increasingly creative responses to his child’s nighttime wonderings. Any child who has ever asked “Why?” — and any parent who has attempted an explanation — will recognize themselves in this sweet storybook for dreamers who are looking for answers beyond “Just because.”

Providing practical guidance about the various self-helpmeasures, conventional medical options and complementary therapies, these jargon-free question-and-answer guides provide practical advice about coping with various forms of arthritis and migraines. Contains up-to-date research on the latest treatments and complementary therapies Features comprehensive sections on diet and exercise