Far too many sales letters, web pages and other marketing material fail because the reader isn’t told what to do, what action to take, where to go or how to order what’s being sold.Imagine you read an advertisement for something you rea...read more...
I love fairs! Anywhere there's a bargain to be snagged, you'll find me rummaging through the boxes, tables and car-boots for undiscovered goodies. So, it was with great excitement that I received a flyer in the mail for a fair at a local college.At l...read more...
I phoned my girlfriend on Sunday night to see how she was after an operation. A strange male voice I didn't recognise answered with, "Hello?". I apologised, said I had the wrong number and hung up. I checked the number and redialled. Same response. S...read more...
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Anyone attempting to enter the New Zealand work force with English as their second language faces an uphill battle. Not simply because of the usual prejudices, but also the sheer vagary of the English language. (See what I mean? What on earth is a vagary? It’s an eccentricity – something odd – and boy, is English full of them!)
There are so many things to remember, on top of just knowing what words mean and how to spell them. The many exceptions to the rules of grammar make it a minefield even for those of us who’ve grown up in English.
What to do if you’re new to it all? Help is at hand in the form of a number of very good books which I use all the time. Here are the best of those on my bookshelf:
Everyone needs these: a dictionary and a thesaurus. My dictionary is the New Zealand Oxford Dictionary which, at 1300 pages, is excellent and easy to use. I wouldn’t be without it. The other book I consult nearly every day is my New Penguin Thesaurus. Whenever I’m looking for a word that’s similar to one I already know, this is where I go. Again, it’s indispensable, and what’s more it also has antonyms, words that have opposite meanings. So, it’s extra useful.