Language & Linguistics Books

What Do Ants, Tennis And Castanets Have In Common?

Advantages: Excellent introduction to phonics, fun, easy...Brilliant!
Disadvantages: I would have liked a demonstartion of pronunciation at the beggining of each song

...Mummy! Jolly Songs At the school there was a display showing the different equipment used to teach the children. Most of us parents were most interested in the Jolly Songs book and CD, as we'd heard our little one's singing the little ditties at home. The teacher told us that the book could be bought at the Early Learning Centre, and so I called in to buy it for home use. " When I watch a tennis game, t,t,t. t,t,t. When I watch a tennis ...
...Jolly Songs is a 24 page, A4 sized book. It doesn't look much at first, being quite flimsy and only having a thin card cover. On the front a CD is attached in a plastic wallet. I paid £9 for Jolly Songs at ELC, however I have since found it cheaper on Amazon for £6 new, or from £3 used. At the front there is no introduction or notes to parents, it goes right into the rhymes. Each page has 2 rhymes dedicated to a letter, a note telling you what tune ...

Rhiana 11.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Jolly Songs (Jolly Phonics) - Laurie Fyke

Adapted in America

Advantages: Entertaining and educational
Disadvantages: Some bits are more interesting than others

...see by reading this review) Made In America is so much more than that... This is a book for all those snobs who sneer at ‘Americanisms’ and claim that the influx of American words, phrases and usages are damaging English – they will be shocked to learn just how much the United States has contributed to our language and how much the language has been enriched by these Americanisms. For example, America invented lunch/luncheon. Yes, it’s true. Although ...
...Short History of Nearly Everything, Made in America is informative and easy to understand without ‘dumbing down’ its subject. Bill Bryson obviously has a thirst for knowledge – his enthusiasm shows – and that makes this book a pleasure to read. His perspective as an American Anglophile helps to make Made in American accessible and fun; there’s no snobbery (as there might be from certain English authors) and there’s no overabundance of patriotism ...

DoubleFantasy11 09.07.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Made in America - Bill Bryson

Bryson goes walkabout

Advantages: Mostly light-hearted. Accessible. Laugh out loud moments
Disadvantages: Slightly morbid fascination with killer Aussie creatures in bits

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951, Bill Bryson is one of the most highly esteemed travel writers of the present day. He was recently awarded the title of Officer of the Most Excellent Order for all that he has contributed to literature. Currently, he and his wife and three children reside in the UK, after having lived in the States between 1995 and 2003. During the 1970's, Bryson worked for both the Times and the Independent, and more recently has ...
...as Australia, Africa, and all across Europe and the US, have been the basis of his books, along with his own brand of down-to-earth traditionalist views. He has been made fun of in some UK comedy shows for his desire to see all places preserved as they were and are, instead of becoming like everywhere else, but to me that is one of the finest things about him. As well as sidesplitting humour, there is also a very intelligent side to him as his various ...

freeridemtber 26.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Down Under - Bill Bryson

A Must For Anyone Above Intermediate Level.

Advantages: Well set out and easy to use.
Disadvantages: Missing some of the more common verbs

This is a good guide for an student of the language but it does also have quite a few flaws. The verbs are fully conjugated and arranged in alphabetical order throughout the book which makes using it as a reference extremely easy. In this respect, the guide is extremely user-friendly. However, many of the common verbs are missing. You need to be quite well practised at using verb guides and linguistics and language manuals to be able to use the book ...
...as well as relatively basic grammar and translations for the verbs are given from and to both Spanish and English. However, there is little chance that this could be used wholly successfully without a dictionary. A must for any student of languages at an intermediate level or above but I'd recommend something much simpler for beginners. ...

ruggerblob 13.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of 501 Spanish Verbs (501 Verbs) (6th Edition) - Christopher Kendris

"Money for old Rope"

Advantages: Interesting.
Disadvantages: None, really. Perhaps the reference format?

"Red Herrings and White Elephants: the origins of the phrases we use everyday". The title is self-explanatory, really. Have you ever wondered where some phrases come from? I do. I'm in regular contact with people all over the world, and I always find their colloquial expressions interesting. However, many people don't really know the origins of these phrases, as I found out when questioning my foreign chums. Albert Jack explores a lot of the weird ...
...their origins. Over the course of around two hundred and fifty pages, the author attempts to categorise these phrases based on their origins. You might then find that certain expressions are nautical based, from literature, from the Greeks and Romans amongst others. There are around seventeen categories in all. 'Bob's your uncle', for example, is a phrase with a political origin, meaning to reach a satisfactory conclusion through a small/minimum ...

TheDuke 19.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Red Herrings and White Elephants - Albert Jack