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Title: 1000 Most Important Words by Norman W. Schur ISBN: 0-345-29863-2 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: January, 1995 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Would you believe an entertaining dictionary?
Comment: Mr. Schur has a gift for glibly describing the essence and etymology of obscure words. He's my favorite philologist!
This book is his first of the four "1000 Words Series." Basically, each book is a mini-dictionary targeting the weirdest and odd words. He provides the word, and pronunciation, then a brief entry explaining the etymology and use of each word. His pen shines and his tongue is blarney. I am impressed that any human being could make a dictionary entry so lively!
A freebie:
Exacerbate: (ig zas' er bate) vb. To exacerbate a situation is to worsen it, to aggravate it, in the sense of increasing its bitterness. A clumsy nurse's ministrations serve only to exacerbate the pain of the patient. Harsh words can only exacerbate bitter feelings. Inept handling exacerbates any situation. The -acerb- part of the word is found also in acerbic. We get exacerbate from Latin exacerbates, a form of exacebare (to exacerbate, embitter).
You can click on the "Look Inside" function to see other samples. I wish my Webster's had this spunk and vigor.
This book is for the English major or grad student, copy editors, or the public speaker. This book also works for your snob-ling friends, your eccentric associates who are into Crispin Glover, or for someone that is hard to shop for. Cruxverbalists will certainly underline and dog-ear this book.
The only drawback to this book is that it relies heavily on Greco-Latin words. This violates "Strunk and White's" Reminder #14: Avoid Fancy words. They assert: "Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able. Anglo-Saxon is a livelier tongue than Latin, so use Anglo-Saxon words." Therefore, this book is great for personal edification, and the soul who loves to connect root words with their branch meanings.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Resource
Comment: Just like the cover says, "For anyone and everyone who has something the say!"
Listed in alphabetical order, it's great to use as resource when reading a work of classical literature, writing a paper, or of course to enrich your vacab. From abashed(disconcerted) to zealot(fanatic), Schur provides definitions, synonms, roots, and plenty of examples so that even an obtuse(slow-witted, thick--headed) philistine(one who not only lacks culture and is smugly indifferent to it, but tends to attack it) can learn copious amounts of new words, establish a penchant for being articulate, and perhaps, if he's lucky, even acquire a prodigious amount of savoir-faire like moi.
Rating: 5
Summary: enhanced my "functional" vocabulary
Comment: I originally learned English is a non-native environment, and always struggled with the low correlation between spelling and the "non-intutive" pronunciations, and other exceptions in English. Many of these words were difficult to pronounce [correctly, for me] and, therefore, my functional vocabulary was much less than its passive counterpart. Sometimes I didn't use these words for the fear of missing - either the pronunciation, or the context, nuances etc. I have used several vocabulary books in the past, but this is the only one which had 90%+ words that are very "usable" and will truly enrich my speech. I have a much better "feel" for these 1000, and many of them will soon be part of my written and spoken language. The phonetic transcription presented with the words was also of great value (the key to my "active" vocabulary). The best $[money] I have ever spent on a word book.
Speech, language, and communication is what makes us effective (and human too!), and I am glad to have read this.
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Title: A Word A Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English by Anu Garg, Stuti Garg ISBN: 0471230324 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 11 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder by Mary Wood Cornog ISBN: 0877799105 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Mass Market Pub. Date: January, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Verbal Advantage: 10 Steps to an Impressive Vocabulary by Charles Harrinton Elster, Charles Harrington Elster ISBN: 0375709320 Publisher: Random House Reference & Pub. Date: 26 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: WORD POWER MADE EASY by Norman Lewis ISBN: 067174190X Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 15 February, 1991 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Word Smart: Building an Educated Vocabulary by Adam Robinson, Princeton Review ISBN: 0375762183 Publisher: Princeton Review Pub. Date: 07 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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