About this book.
SECTION 1.
Development of the English language.
Stages of development.
Synonyms from Anglo-Saxons and Latin.
Latin and Greek synonyms.
Latin phrases.
Words from the European Countries.
Words from the Romance Languages.
Words from Asia, the Middle East, and the Islands.
Words from Native American Languages.
Words from William Shakespeare.
Phrases from William Shakespeare.
Phrases from Miguel de Cervantes.
Proverbs from John Heywood.
Doublets.
Prefixes.
Suffixes.
Roots.
Origins of words.
More word origins.
Compounds.
Clipped words.
Blends.
Acronyms.
Eponyms.
Words from brand names.
Generalizations and specialization.
A mysterious example of generalization.
Elevation and degeneration.
Back formation and folk etymology.
Slang.
Obsolescent and obsolete words.
Neologisms and nonce words.
New words in politics and government.
New words in business and industry.
New terms in science and medicine.
New terms in art and music.
New terms in sports.
New terms for types of people.
New words for foods and fashion.
New names for new products.
British English.
Australian English.
SECTION 2.
Grammar and usage.
Parts of speech.
Types of nouns.
Types of objects.
Direct objects.
Recognizing verbs.
Principal parts of verbs.
Transitive, intransitive, active, and passive verbs.
Lie and lay.
Verb tense.
Subjunctives.
Nouns or verbs?.
Agreement of subjects and verbs.
Pronouns.
Types of pronouns.
Recognizing adjectives.
Recognizing adverbs.
Adjectives or adverbs?.
Recognizing prepositions.
Conjunctions.
Prefixes and suffixes.
Dependent clauses.
Subordinate clauses.
Simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Sentence fragments.
Misplace modifiers.
The importance of capital letters.
Capitalization.
Parallel construction.
Unnecessary words.
Usage.
Preferred usage.
Paragraphing.
The importance of punctuation.
Types of punctuation marks.
Punctuation rules.
Which punctuation mark?.
End punctuation.
Punctuating a series.
Punctuating appositive and adjective clauses.
Punctuating interrupters.
Punctuating quotations.
Apostrophes in possessive nouns.
Apostrophes in contractions.
The importance of periods and apostrophes.
Common abbreviations.
SECTION 3.
Spelling and pronunciation.
Rules for spelling plurals.
Irregular plurals.
Silent letters.
I before E.
The schwa.
Words with repeated letters.
The "eyes" words.
The "seed" words.
Words containing E's.
Words containing the sound of OO.
Words containing the sounds of A and AR.
Words containing the sounds of E and I.
Words containing the sound of SH.
Unusual vowel combinations.
Words with ABLE and IBLE.
Doubling letters before suffixes.
Adding prefixes.
Similar words often confused.
Synonyms.
Synonyms inside words.
Oodles of synonyms.
Antonyms.
Antonym chain.
Homonyms.
Animal homonyms.
Heteronyms.
Anagrams.
More anagrams.
Palindromes.
Spelling demons.
Spelling hexagrams.
Spelling maze.
Pronunciation.
Same spelling but different pronunciation.
Accent shift.
Enunciation.
SECTION 4.
Names of people, places, and things.
Places in the US named after people.
Places in the world named after people.
Meanings of places names.
Places with colorful names.
Items named after places.
Origins of surnames.
Surnames based on occupations.
Names related to animals.
Names of writers.
Items named after people.
Words from mythology.
Origins of brand names.
Names of cars.
Names of birds.
Names of flowers.
Occupational names.
Names of imaginary people.
SECTION 5.
Language an art form.
Techniques in prose writing.
Terms used by writers.
Figures of speech.
Similes and metaphors.
Euphemisms.
Antithesis.
Biblical allusions.
Allusion to fables, myths and literature.
Symbolism.
Parallel proverbs.
Malapropisms.
Oxymorons.
Connotation.
Sound effects.
Tautonymic expressions.
Inner rhyme.
Vowel change.
Echoic words (Onomatopoeia).
Rhyme.
Rhyme schemes and stanzas.
Rhythm.
Concrete poems (Calligrams).
SECTION 6.
Miscellaneous word games.
October quiz.
Thanksgiving.
Yuletide.
January games.
Be my Valentine.
Presidents day.
March game.
Arbor Day.
Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Shopping for rhymes.
Hink Pink People.
Tom Twisties.
Animals in Sayings.
Terms related to animals.
More animal terms.
Sounds animals make.
Dogs.
Colorful expressions.
Expressions using up.
Expressions involving a series.
Expression involving food.
Misleading expressions.
Terms containing body parts.
Expressions involving body parts.
Double meanings.
Misinterpretations.
Money terms.
Postal abbreviations.
Gobbledygook.
Letterspeak.
Daffy definitions.
Baseball and football terms.
Words containing roman numerals.
Numerical prefixes.
The wicked witch.
Break-aparts.
Phobias.
Repeated words.
Most beautiful words.
The end.
