The Devil's Dictionary (1906) is a work of satire by Ambrose Bierce. Although he is commonly remembered for his chilling short stories on the experiences of Civil War soldiers, Bierce was recognized in his day as a leading journalist and humorist who spent decades ruffling feathers and drawing laughter with his witty opinion columns, poems, and definitions. Toward the end of his career, he decided to compile these satirical definitions into a book,...

An enhanced edition of the classic writing manual features humorous art by a popular children's book illustrator and New Yorker cover artist, in a volume that provides visual and whimsical embellishments to the original instructive text.

"This wise and entertaining guide by one of the great editors of our time offers timeless tools for making meaning clear. Refresh your writing. Unravel convoluted sales talk written to deceive. See through political campaigns erected on a tower of falsehoods. Fake news is but one of the pimples of a literate civilization under siege. Slovenly English! Billions of words come at us every day with unimaginable velocity and shriveled meaning, in social...

Contains over seventy thousand entries including 2,500 new words and meanings.

Provides an easy 20-step guide to improve writing skills. Each step takes just 20 minutes a day. Includes pre-test and post-test to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and show progress. Features hundreds of exercises in test format, additional resources and tips for preparing for important standardized tests and free online practice reading exercises that allow you to receive immediate scoring and detailed answer explanations, as well as focus study...

Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a language book full of practical advice. Between You & Me features Norris's descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage comma faults, danglers, "who" vs. "whom," "that" vs. "which,"...

Language-in its communicative and playful functions, its literary formations and its shifting meanings-is a perennially fascinating topic. C. S. Lewis's Studies in Words explores this fascination by taking a series of words and teasing out their connotations using examples from a vast range of English literature, recovering lost meanings and analyzing their functions. It doubles as an absorbing and entertaining study of verbal communication, its pleasures...