The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking - Softcover

Seely, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192801090 ISBN 13: 9780192801098

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking is the essential guide for everyone who needs to communicate in clear and effective English, both written and spoken. In the first section on communicating in everyday life, chapters cover everything from writing email and faxes to giving presentations and preparing reports. John Seely also offers guidance on understanding the demands of particular audiences, subjects, and situations. With guidelines and exercises, this book will help you to tailor your message and language accordingly. A section on the English language gives authoritative advice on grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation to ensure that communication is accurate as well as appropriate. A final section examines the process of writing itself, including planning and research, drafting, and using technology. The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking is designed to be practical and user-friendly, with boxed exercises, guidelines, and examples. A glossary and index make the volume easy to use and simple to navigate. This is the most comprehensive guide to using English for effective communication available; it covers an unrivalled range of situations and requirements.

About this title

Review

We're living in a technological age, with septuagenarians on the net, students glued to mobiles, five-year olds able to programme the class video more effectively than their teacher and communication by fax and e-mail ubiquitous, a fact which John Seely has taken into account in The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking.

Seely's book is intensely practical, concerned with the effective use of speech and writing in day-to-day business and academic life. Not only does Seely cover everything from the best way to write a job application to giving a presentation or chairing a meeting, but he also embraces modern technology, including in his opening section, Communicating in Everyday Life, simple guidelines for setting out faxes and e-mails. Rather than lamenting the widespread use of technology, Seely celebrates it, seeing in e-mails a return to the ancient tradition of communication by letter--it's just that ISDN lines and modems are faster than a runner and wax tablet, coach and horses or postman and bike.

His chapters on the English language, its development, grammar, vocabulary and spelling are a very handy reference source for A/S and A2 Level (the old A Level) English Language students--and their teachers! And, for those students beyond A2 Level, grappling with unwieldy arts dissertations or a plethora of lab results, Seely offers practical advice on how to go about planning, researching, writing, drafting and revising reports, papers and essays. There is no longer any excuse for not meeting a coursework or business report deadline. --Amanda Cameron

About the Author

John Seely is the author of numerous books on the English language and on communication, including Everyday Grammar (2001) and the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation (2004). He is the series editor for Oxford's One Step Ahead series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192801090
• ISBN 13: 9780192801098
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320