This volume is a reference source to literature in the English language throughout the world. It provides a survey of the world-wide literary tradition of this area, and offers explanations of genres, movements, critical terms and literary concepts.

An invaluable guide to the fascinating origins of everyday words crafted into pithy annecdotes and facts.

Writing to Learn looks at how poetry can be used as an enjoyable way to teach literacy across the curriculum. It includes remarkable poems and stories by children as well as clear descriptions of how to teach creatively within the framework of the National Literacy Strategy. The book goes through the primary curriculum, subject by subject: *Poetry and Science and Maths *Poetry and Personal, Social and Moral Education *Poetry and Art and Music *Poetry and Religious Education *Poetry for its Own Sake. The author includes: *advice on different ways children can compose their writing and how computers can be a valuable aid to children's writing *examples of published poetry and how it can be used to stimulate good writing *advice on bringing writers into schools and publishing school anthologies. This book will prove invaluable to teachers and parents keen to teach writing whilst seeing children as active and critical learners. It shows that if we expect great things from children in writing, we get them.

Indexes are the essential search tool for genealogists, and this timely book fills a conspicuous void in the literature. Kathleen Spaltro and contributors take an in-depth look at the relationship between indexing and genealogy and explain how genealogical indexes are constructed. They offer practical advice to indexers who work with genealogical documents as well as genealogists who want to create their own indexes. Noeline Bridge's chapter on names will quickly become the definitive reference for trying to resolve questions on variants, surname changes, and foreign designations. Other chapters discuss software, form and entry, the need for standards, and the development of after-market indexes.

These substantial volumes present the fullest account yet published of the lexicography of English from its origins in medieval glosses, through its rapid development in the eighteenth century, to a fully-established high-tech industry that is as reliant as ever on learning and scholarship. The history covers dictionaries of English and its national varieties, including American English, with numerous references to developments in Europe and elsewhere which have influenced the course of English lexicography. Part one of Volume I explores the early development of glosses and bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and examines their influence on lexicographical methods and ideas. Part two presents a systematic history of monolingual dictionaries of English and includes extensive chapters on Johnson, Webster and his successors in the USA, and the OED. It also contains descriptions of the development of dictionaries of national and regional varieties, and of Old and Middle English, and concludes with an account of the computerization of the OED. The specialized dictionaries described in Volume II include dictionaries of science, dialects, synonyms, etymology, pronunciation, slang and cant, quotations, phraseology, and personal and place names. This volume also includes an account of the inception and development of dictionaries developed for particular users, especially foreign learners of English. The Oxford History of English Lexicography unites scholarship with readability. It provides a unique and accessible reference for scholars and professional lexicographers and offers a series of fascinating encounters with the men and women involved over the centuries in the making of works of profound national and linguistic importance.

This innovative dictionary allows the user to find given names which relate to a specific meaning. Arranged alphabetically by definition, the names are followed by the language of origin, variations (derivatives, diminutives, and nicknames) of the name itself, and the name as interpreted in different languages. Separate sections are included for male and female names. Using the dictionary you could discover that there are over 160 names listed for "flower," from Anthea (Greek) to Zahara (African).

Here is the ultimate first name handbook, a delightfully informative, comprehensive survey of over 4,500 European and American names (with two appendices covering the most common Arabic and Indian names). This dictionary is an authoritative reference. Indeed, no other handbook provides a fraction of the information found here. Typical entries provide the linguistic and ethnic root of a name. "Jennifer," for instance, is a Cornish form of "Guinevere," which in turn is the French version of a Welsh name combining gwen, white, fair, smooth, and hwyfar, smooth, soft. The real charm and value of this reference lies in the wealth of fascinating additional information the authors provide. Under the entry for "Audrey," for example, we learn of the sixth century saint of that name--who died from a neck tumor, divine punishment for her youthful delight in fine necklaces--from whom the word "tawdry" derives: it referred originally to the cheap jewelry sold at fairs in her honor (St. Audrey eventually being compressed into "tawdry"). And readers will be interested to know that Bonnie is not a Scottish name, but one first used in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. Most entries also include the non-English form or cognate of a name, as well as diminutives and pet forms. A companion to the authors' A Dictionary of Surnames, this informative reference offers a goldmine of curious facts to delight browsers of every age as well as a wealth of inspiration for prospective parents.

Quotations have exercised a particular fascination for humanity since the birth of recorded language and their potency in the age of the soundbite is stronger than ever. We revel in quotations, compete to know them, love them, hate them and inscribe them in books and on buildings, and this freshly revised and updated dictionary includes a wealth of new material among its 13,000 familiar, serious, outrageous, witty and thought-provoking entries.The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations is an essential work of reference for every writer, journalist and speech-maker, as well as being a treasure-trove for the browser and the simply curious. From the Roman poet Ovid's observation that 'Judgement of beauty can er, what with the wine and the dark' to Oscar Wilde's that 'Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes', there is a wide diversity of sayings to add spice to our conversation and enrich our daily lives. The book is alphabetically arranged by author and indexed by keyword for ease of use.

Has more than 600 phrases, sayings, and expressions and contains explanations.