The Adventure of English: The Biography Of A Language
by Melvyn Bragg
Unabridged
read by Robert Powell
English has become the primary language of the world. It is the language used for business, for air traffic control and of course the Internet. Quite an accomplishment for what began as a minor Germanic dialect in about the year 500. This book is a history of the language itself. How did the language become so important? The Church fought the publishing of the Bible in English because this would allow anyone to read it rather than just the official priests. Part of the reason for the spread of English has been the wealth of literature written in English. From Beowulf to Chaucer and of course the vulgar playwright William Shakespeare (who contributed 2,000 new words to the language). The growth of English continues in spite of things like France making it illegal to use English words where good French words could be used. And English continues to change, the English of India for instance allows computer support desks to be located in Mumbai, but communication is not all that easy. English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs though the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people across the world. It seems set to go on. Yet it was very nearly wiped out in it’s early years. In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings to a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. Along the way its colourful story takes in a host of characters and locations, from the early tribes, Alfred the Great’s stubborn resistance to the Danes, and through its early literary masterpieces such as Beowulf and the bawdy Geoffrey Chaucer; Henry VIII’s battles with the church over bootleg bibles; a ‘coarse’ playwright named William Shakespeare; the songs of the Creole slaves and the words of Davy Crockett; street slang and Dr Johnson’s dictionary; the role of English in India and its adoption in the United States of America which returned the language with full interest.
Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Regardless of what you're writing, you will write it better with the aid of this Thesaurus. If you are a non-native speaker of English like me, and you want to expand your vocabulary, buy this book... or alternatively some other Roget's Thesaurus. One of the best things in this book is the fact that you will find what you're looking for very fast.
It can be immensely helpful when one wishes to delve into the meaning of obscure words, particularly of the scientific or bio-medical sort. This dictionary is comprised mainly of an alphabetical listing of Greek and Latin roots, though commonly used roots and combining forms from other languages are included as well. There are also useful chapters on the formulation of scientific names, the transliteration of Greek words, and on common combining forms. This last chapter (the one on common combining forms) is particularly useful if your goal is to create new descriptive words as it is conveniently subdivided into descriptive categories (color, size, shape, animal structures, etc.).
Îáó÷àþùåå âèäåî äëÿ äåòåé óðîâíÿ Beginner/Elementary. Î÷åíü õîðîøàÿ âåùü. Ñîâåòóþ!!! Welcome Videos//DVDs use top quality animation to present the adventures of Masid, the genie, and his friends. They contain animations of the storyline followed in the course, as well as modelling the key structures necessary at each level. All the songs are fully animated and the words are shown on the screen. This amusing video/DVD production is highly entertaining and effective in stimulating students to use the English language. The videos/DVDs can be used for practice at home or in the classroom.
