Practically Speaking

Widely praised for its conversational tone and clear advice, Practically Speaking is the public speaking textbook your students will actually read. Filled with engaging stories and examples, sound scholarship and recent research, and useful tips and tricks, Practically Speaking shows students how to get started, practice thinking critically, and ultimately develop their own voice.

Revised edition of the author's Practically speaking, [2017]

Widely praised for its conversational tone and clear advice, Practically Speaking is the public speaking textbook your students will actually read. Filled with engaging stories and examples, sound scholarship and recent research, and useful tips and tricks, Practically Speaking shows students how to get started, practice thinking critically, and ultimately develop their own voice.

This book brings together over 1,100 quotes pertinent and illuminating to engineering, technology and architecture. It includes extensive author and subject indexes for locating quotations. The book can be read for entertainment or used as a handy reference by students and professional engineers.

Three Gods, or One, or Three-in-One? Since the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, many people wonder whether the doctrine is anything more than an intellectual puzzle created by theologians. This book takes readers on a guided tour of the logic leading to understanding God as a Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Bible (and in Christian experience) are all vital to the reality of salvation. All three save. This point may not seem to be very significant until seen in the light of the basic premise of the entire Bible, namely, that only God can save (Hosea 13:4). There are benefits involved in understanding God as a communion of persons, a circle of love. God is no longer viewed as a distant judge removed from the sorrows of earthly existence. Salvation can be seen as more than mere forgiveness of sins. It also involves a life-transforming communion of divine love. A robust understanding of the Trinity fosters a more full and transformed Christian life.

This accessible textbook offers students the opportunity to explore for themselves a wide range of sociolinguistic issues relating to the French language and its role in societies around the world. It is written for undergraduate students who have a sound practical knowledge of French but who has little or no knowledge of linguistics or sociolinguistics. It combines text with practical exercises and discussion questions to stimulate readers to think for themselves and to tackle specific problems. In Part One Rodney Ball looks at the diversity of the French-speaking world and the function of French in particular countries and regions, including Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. He explores its status in relation to other languages and its role in intercommunity relations. In Part Two the focus shifts to individual language features and among topics explored are regional speech forms, the differences between written and spoken French, the `social meaning' of different styles and levels of language, and French used by immigrants. Part Three looks at recent developments in the French language particularly in France itself. Key features of this book: * Informative and comprehensive: covers a wide range of current issues * Practical: contains a variety of graded exercises and tasks plus an index of terms * Topical and contemporary: deals with current situations and provides up-to-date illustrative material * Thought-provoking: encourages students to reflect and research for themselves Rodney Ball is a lecturer in French in the School of Modern Languages, Southampton University. He teaches General Linguistics and French Sociolinguistics, on which he has published a number of articles, and is involved in designing practical courses.