Troublesome Words

Excelente aquisição para a biblioteca de um professor de inglês ou de alguém apaixonado pela língua inglesa.

Bryson at his most informative for anyone interested in the English language. (For its antithesis read Leo Rosten's The Education of Hyman Kaplan!)

It's hard to put down. In his inimitable and very amusing way, Bill Bryson explains why difficult words are often used incorrectly and lets us hope that we remember his explanations in future. I bought this for a student of English as a must have. Very highly recommended!

Very good for anyone with an interest in the English language.

It is a thesaurus, not a book to trad

I have read several of Bill Bryson's books and have always enjoyed the way he can write interesting history books while focusing on everyday items. I had expected "Troublesome Words" to be a similar book: historic anecdotes and insights based upon words we use everyday without realising they happen to have a history.Instead you get a rather boring alphabetical list of words you should/shouldn't use in well written English, of words that are often spelled wrongly. The book is concerned with issues like: should you write "the United States are" or "the United States is", what kind of interpunction should you use with abbreviations (NATO, Nato or N.A.T.O. or still something else).This book might help people who are looking for a style guide, but it has little or nothing to do with the more historical und infinitely more readable history books by the same author.

Eine Zusammenstellung schwieriger Wörter, die zur weiterführenden Erlernung der englischen Sprache wichtig ist. Habe es für meine Tochter, die Englischlehrerin ist besorgt.

J'adore Bill BrysonCe livre est plus sous forme de lexique ou dictionnaireOn apprend quelques subtilités de langageMais j'accroche moins

Ich hatte hier ursprünglich eine weitere Sammlung von Anekdoten oder Artikeln ähnlich den "Notes from a big country", "Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid" oder der "Short history of nearly everything" erwartet. In dem wurde ich etwas enttäuscht und fand stattdessen ein richtiges, klassisches Wörterbuch in meinem Briefkasten. Die Praxistauglichkeit für einen Journalisten oder andere Vielschreiber des Englischen kann ich dabei nicht beurteilen, möchte sie jedoch anzweifeln, da sich der/die Schreibende ja meist der gemachten Fehler nicht bewusst ist, also kaum auf Verdacht in Bryson's Nachschlagewerk stöbern wird. Für den Lehrenden und Lernenden jedoch ist "Troublesome Words" nicht nur eine hilfreiche, sondern dank des typischen Bryson-Humors auch recht unterhaltsame Lektüre. Da ihm aber jeglicher Erzählstil fehlt, eignet es sich wohl kaum als Entspannungslektüre am Samstagabend im Ohrensessel mit Tee und Keksen...

If you love words and the quirky nuances of the English language, you will savor this book. Bryson applies wit and wisdom to every clause. He clears up sticky issues of grammar and syntax likely to bother even the most accomplished writers, and points out shades of meaning that are important but not at all obvious. A few things I learned -1. "Comic" is something intended to be funny; "comical" is funny whether intended or not.2. Stalemates don't end. A stalemate is the end, whereas a standoff or deadlock can end.3. "Meticulous" has a negative connotation of being excessively careful. "Scrupulous" or "painstaking" might be better choices.Not sure about when to use "who" versus "whom"? "Shall" versus "will"? "If I were ..." versus "If I was ..."? "Compare with" versus "compare to"? Bryson clears it all up.Another area he addresses is troublesome names of proper nouns. For example -1. "Notes from Underground", not "Notes from the Underground".2. Big Ben is the bell, not the clock.3. Leonardo is the preferred second reference for Leonardo da Vinci.4. "Finnegans Wake" has no apostrophe.5. National Institutes of Health - plural.His clarifications on spelling, though few in number, were amazingly well selected. These, for example, were news to me -1. Expressible2. "Hear, hear!", not "Here, here!"3. Just deserts (not desserts)4. UkuleleReading this book will help you write with greater precision and clarity. At 240 pages, it's surprisingly comprehensive and every bit as good as a desk side reference as

Do you put 'spoonsful' or 'spoonfuls' of sugar into tea? Do you know the difference between defining and non-defining clauses and between 'androgynous' and 'androgenous'? Can you tell irony from sarcasm and a 'prophecy' from 'prophesy'? If all of this is second nature, you don't need this book. But you'd probably want to read it anyway.The great triumph of Troublesome Words is that it's arranged like a dictionary but is interesting enough to read cover to cover as though it were a novel. It projects a sense of personality (Bryson's) and his values: companies' eccentric and convention-defying names - with backward facing letters, for example - should never be allowed to become 'a distraction in print'. It bears the hallmark of Bryson's distinctive style: conversational, witty and taut. All it lacks is a narrative.Although essentially a work of reference, Brysonisms lighten the way. The entry for 'that' and 'which', for instance, advises brushing up on those clauses, defining and non- . 'Learning these distinctions is not, it must be said, anyone's idea of a good time, but it is one technical aspect of grammar that every professional user of English should understand because it is at the root of an assortment of grammatical errors.' And woe betide anyone who spells 'barbecue' with a 'q' and hyphens because they are clearly 'not ready for unsupervised employment'.Other books of this type are more famous, authoritative and formidable - those by Fowler and Partridge in particular. But this is actually entertaining as well as instructive, and is also more up to date (and therefore more in touch with contemporary usage). It has my vote, anyway.

English is not my native language, so it is often troublesome for me to see the difference between two words that have the same meaning in german. The book helps to better understand and use words that are easy to put in a wrong place. It gives you, for example, the information if a word, such as data, is actually singular or plural or how to use words as "admit" correctly. I love the book, as it shows false examples and corrects them giving a very good explanation. Reading the examples it can be interesting for native speaker as well.So, from my point of view it is very recommendable.