Present Indicative

"I was photographed naked on a cushion very early in life, an insane, toothless smile slitting my face and pleats of fat overlapping me like an ill-fitting overcoat. Later, at the age of two, I was photographed again. This time in a lace dress, leaning against a garden roller and laughing hysterically. If these photographs can be found they will adorn this book." Thus begins the life story of one of the most celebrated characters in British theatrical history, in the first of Coward's autobiographies, first published in 1937. Displaying an early dedication to the theatre, Present Indicative hints at the success that would come to Coward as actor, playwright, novelist and performer. Each line is punctuated with his trademark effervescent wit, making this book a comic tour de force in it's own right, as well as a "must read" for anyone with an interest in the British stage. "He is simply a phenomenon, and one that is unlikely to occur ever again in theatre history" Terence Rattigan

This is the first edited volume that tackles the acquisition of the present (tense, aspect, temporality), an under-researched area, particularly compared to the acquisition of past temporality. The first two chapters focus on the L1 acquisition of English from the perspective of the Aspect hypothesis and the Verb-Island hypothesis Wang & Shirai) and the L1 acquisition of French from the perspective of the zero-tense hypothesis (Demirdache & Lungu). The remaining chapters tackle the L2 acquisition of English (Liszka, Al-Thubaiti, Vraciu), French (Ayoun, Saillard), Spanish (Gabriele et al.), Russian (Martelle) and Japanese (Shirai & Li) by learners of different L1s (French, English, Arabic, Chinese and Korean), testing various semantic and syntactic hypotheses. The last chapter presents a summary of the findings, and offers a few conclusions as well as broad directions for future research.

The Portuguese Subjunctive: A Grammar Workbook is the first book devoted exclusively to understanding and mastering this challenging area of Portuguese grammar. The clear structure guides students through the six subjunctive tenses, providing them with concise and accurate explanations accompanied by a range of exercises to test and consolidate learning. Each chapter is designed to help students progress from simple to more complex use of the language, with instructions initially set in English before moving to Portuguese, and exercises progressing from simple application to more advanced translation and 'compare and contrast' tasks. This grammar workbook is ideal for intermediate to advanced learners of European or Brazilian Portuguese who wish to master the use of the subjunctive. It can be used as a supplementary in-class text as well as a resource for independent study.

In this book, Constantine R. Campbell investigates the function of verbal aspect within New Testament Greek narrative. He argues that the primary role of verbal aspect in narrative is to delineate and shape the various 'discourse strands' of which it is constructed, such as mainline, offline, and direct discourse. Campbell accounts for this function in terms of the semantic value of each tense-form. Consequently, in the search for more effective conclusions and explanations, he challenges and reassesses some of the conclusions reached in previous scholarship. --From publisher's description.

Constantine R. Campbell continues the work begun in his previous volume, Verbal Aspect, the Indicative Mood, and Narrative: Soundings in the Greek of the New Testament. In this book, he investigates the function of verbal aspect in non-indicative Greek verbs, which are of great significance for the translation and exegesis of Biblical texts. Campbell demonstrates that the model developed in his first volume provides strong power of explanation for the workings of non-indicative verbs, and challenges some of the conclusions reached by previous scholarship.

Divided into 29 separate lessons, and including an introductory section on syllabification, stress, written accents, and pronunciation, "A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese" features an abundance of exercises and readings and is well-suited to students who are seeking a concise introductory text focusing on modern Brazilian Portuguese. (Foreign Language)

"I was photographed naked on a cushion very early in life, an insane, toothless smile slitting my face and pleats of fat overlapping me like an ill-fitting overcoat. Later, at the age of two, I was photographed again. This time in a lace dress, leaning against a garden roller and laughing hysterically. If these photographs can be found they will adorn this book." Thus begins the life story of one of the most celebrated characters in British theatrical history, in the first of Coward's autobiographies, first published in 1937. Displaying an early dedication to the theatre, Present Indicative hints at the success that would come to Coward as actor, playwright, novelist and performer. Each line is punctuated with his trademark effervescent wit, making this book a comic tour de force in it's own right, as well as a "must read" for anyone with an interest in the British stage. "He is simply a phenomenon, and one that is unlikely to occur ever again in theatre history" Terence Rattigan