500 Words You Should Know

Summary:

'This "essential cornucopia" aims to inspire you to use uncommon words in their original contex'- Bookseller

Ever wanted to ameliorate your atavistic lexicon, engage in a little intellectual badinage or been discombobulated by tricky diction? 500 Words You Should Know has you covered. This book will inspire the reader to use uncommon words in their correct context, utilize the English language to its full potential, and test themselves on the words they think they already know.

This is a book for the appreciator of correct usage, and contains words you thought you knew (decimate, caveat, nemesis), words you should know (euphemism, diatribe, tautology), and just a few that you might want to know (peripatetic, shibboleth, callipygian).

Arranged thematically, each word is dissected, with a brief explanation of etymology, historical and modern usage, allowing you to fully understand and effectively employ the word in its proper context.

For those interested in everything this eclectic language has to offer, who wish to celebrate its majesty and depth, this veracious cornucopia of knowledge will have you confabulating with the literary cognoscenti in no time.

By the same author:
9781843176572 My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?)
9781782438205 The Accidental Apostrophe

Ever wanted to ameliorate your atavistic lexicon, engage in a little intellectual badinage or been discombobulated by tricky diction? 500 Words You Should Know has you covered.

Words are beautiful and versatile things, but when used incorrectly they can lose a lot in transition, and the more complex the word, the more misused it can become. And as words eternally evolve in their everyday use, they can begin to be interpreted as something other than their original meaning. 500 Words You Should Know will inspire the reader to use uncommon words in their correct context, to utilize the English language to its full potential, and to test themselves on the words they think they already know.

Reviews:

This "essential cornucopia" aims to inspire you to use uncommon words in their original context, in order to utilize the English language to it's full potential, and to test yourself on words you think you already know

Bookseller

From covert to crepuscular, the joy of language is the use we can put it to if we can only express ourselves fully. This useful little book does much to help.

The Field

A magical box of linguistic tricks

Lancashire Evening Post

An entertaining and practical aid to inimitable verbal prowess

Good Book Guide

Sales points:

An essential cornucopia of 500 of the best, trickiest and oft-misused words in the English language
Perfect for those lovers of the lexicon who strive to use uncommon words in their correct context
A clear and accessible book that makes a perfect stocking filler for anyone wishing to vary their vocabulary at work and at home
From the best-selling author of I Used to Know That and My Grammar and I (over 325,000 copies sold)

About the Author:

Caroline Taggart

Caroline Taggart worked in publishing as an editor of popular non-fiction for thirty years before being asked by Michael O'Mara Books to write I Used to Know That, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. Following that she was co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?), and wrote a number of other books about words and English usage. She has appeared frequently on television and on national and regional radio, talking about language, grammar and whether or not Druids Cross should have an apostrophe. Her website is carolinetaggart.co.uk and you can follow her on Twitter @citaggart.