The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs - Carmine Gallo from Carmine Gallo

Daily Pronunciation

Daily Pronunciation, with more free videos on vocabulary, American slang and idioms with pronunciation help from Sozo Exchange (the place where professional adults can learn English and exchange knowledge for free; download sample Study Guide)

Rules for good writing by Frank L. Visco

Notes: (1) Originally published in the June 1986 issue of Writers’ digest; (2) The author intentionally violates the rules he prescribes in order to make his point.

1. Avoid Alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
12. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
13. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Using plain language on a government website; free website design and usability book

How To Use Plain Language on a Government Website on Howcast

Free website usability guidelines book, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Throughout your Web design or redesign project, you should take advantage of what is already known about best practices for each step of the process. The Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines (PDF, 20.64MB) brings you these best practices compiled through an extensive process of research and review. (From usability.gov)

You can also download specific sections of the book:

• design process and evaluation (PDF - 1.9MB)
• optimizing the user experience (PDF - 9.1MB)
• accessibility (PDF - 2.4MB)
• hardware and software (PDF - 2.8MB)
• the homepage (PDF - 12.1MB)
• page layout (PDF - 21.9MB)
• navigation (PDF - 13.1MB)
• scrolling and paging (PDF - 4.5MB)
• headings, titles, and labels (PDF - 7.8MB)
• links (PDF - 17.1MB)
• text appearance (PDF - 11.2MB)
• lists (PDF - 6.6MB)
• screen-based controls (widgets) (PDF - 15.1MB)
• graphics, images, and multimedia (PDF - 16.8MB)
• writing Web content (PDF - 11.0MB)
• content organization (PDF - 10.1MB)
• search (PDF - 9.1MB)
• usability testing (PDF - 1MB)

English grammar test every day

Learn English every day by doing the grammar test. The test contains 10 questions. Each test is generated randomly. You also get another test by clicking the New button. Click the Check button to verify your answers.

Academic Word List (AWL) Sublist 7

(Note: This blog is AnswerTips-enabled; double click any word and a pop-up window will appear with the definition, pronunciation audio,word tutor, misspellings, antonyms, rhymes, Wikipedia and translations.)

The Academic Word List contains 570 word families which are frequently used in academic texts. The AWL does not include the 2,000 English words in the General Service List. It was developed by Averil Coxhead of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for the use of teachers and students in colleges and universities. It is divided into 10 sublists, with Sublist 1 containing the most frequent words and Sublist 10 the least frequent.

How to use this word list: (1) Use the AnswerTips tool to know the meaning and pronunciation of these words; (2) Read the words silently; and (3) To practice your pronunciation, read the words at your full speaking volume.

Sublist 7

1. intervention
2. confirmed
3. definite
4. classical
5. chemical
6. voluntary
7. release
8. visible
9. finite
10. publication
11. channel
12. file
13. thesis
14. equipment
15. disposal
16. solely
17. deny
18. identical
19. submitted
20. grade
21. phenomenon
22. paradigm
23. ultimately
24. extract
25. survive
26. converted
27. transmission
28. global
29. inferred
30. guarantee
31. advocate
32. dynamic
33. simulation
34. topic
35. insert
36. reverse
37. decades
38. comprise
39. hierarchical
40. unique
41. comprehensive
42. couple
43. mode
44. differentiation
45. eliminate
46. priority
47. empirical
48. ideology
49. somewhat
50. aid
51. foundation
52. adults
53. adaptation
54. quotation
55. contrary
56. media
57. successive
58. innovation
59. prohibited
60. isolated

Academic Word List (AWL) Sublist 6

(Note: This blog is AnswerTips-enabled; double click any word and a pop-up window will appear with the definition, pronunciation audio,word tutor, misspellings, antonyms, rhymes, Wikipedia and translations.)

The Academic Word List contains 570 word families which are frequently used in academic texts. The AWL does not include the 2,000 English words in the General Service List. It was developed by Averil Coxhead of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for the use of teachers and students in colleges and universities. It is divided into 10 sublists, with Sublist 1 containing the most frequent words and Sublist 10 the least frequent.

How to use this word list: (1) Use the AnswerTips tool to know the meaning and pronunciation of these words; (2) Read the words silently; and (3) To practice your pronunciation, read the words at your full speaking volume.

Sublist 6

1. intelligence
2. transformation
3. presumption
4. acknowledged
5. utility
6. furthermore
7. accurate
8. diversity
9. attached
10. recovery
11. assigned
12. tapes
13. motivation
14. bond
15. edition
16. nevertheless
17. transport
18. cited
19. fees
20. scope
21. enhanced
22. incorporated
23. instructions
24. subsidiary
25. input
26. abstract
27. ministry
28. capable
29. expert
30. preceding
31. display
32. incentive
33. inhibition
34. trace
35. ignored
36. incidence
37. estate
38. cooperative
39. revealed
40. index
41. lecture
42. discrimination
43. overseas
44. explicit
45. aggregate
46. gender
47. underlying
48. brief
49. domain
50. rational
51. minimum
52. interval
53. neutral
54. migration
55. flexibility
56. federal
57. author
58. initiatives
59. allocation
60. exceed

Academic Word List (AWL) Sublist 5

(Note: This blog is AnswerTips-enabled; double click any word and a pop-up window will appear with the definition, pronunciation audio,word tutor, misspellings, antonyms, rhymes, Wikipedia and translations.)

The Academic Word List contains 570 word families which are frequently used in academic texts. The AWL does not include the 2,000 English words in the General Service List. It was developed by Averil Coxhead of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for the use of teachers and students in colleges and universities. It is divided into 10 sublists, with Sublist 1 containing the most frequent words and Sublist 10 the least frequent.

How to use this word list: (1) Use the AnswerTips tool to know the meaning and pronunciation of these words; (2) Read the words silently; and (3) To practice your pronunciation, read the words at your full speaking volume.

Sublist 5

1. alter
2. stability
3. energy
4. aware
5. licence
6. enforcement
7. draft
8. styles
9. precise
10. medical
11. pursue
12. symbolic
13. marginal
14. capacity
15. generation
16. exposure
17. decline
18. academic
19. modified
20. external
21. psychology
22. fundamental
23. adjustment
24. ratio
25. whereas
26. enable
27. version
28. perspective
29. contact
30. network
31. facilitate
32. welfare
33. transition
34. amendment
35. logic
36. rejected
37. expansion
38. clause
39. prime
40. target
41. objective
42. sustainable
43. equivalent
44. liberal
45. notion
46. substitution
47. generated
48. trend
49. revenue
50. compounds
51. evolution
52. conflict
53. image
54. discretion
55. entities
56. orientation
57. consultation
58. mental
59. monitoring
60. challenge

Academic Word List (AWL) Sublist 4

(Note: This blog is AnswerTips-enabled; double click any word and a pop-up window will appear with the definition, pronunciation audio,word tutor, misspellings, antonyms, rhymes, Wikipedia and translations.)

The Academic Word List contains 570 word families which are frequently used in academic texts. The AWL does not include the 2,000 English words in the General Service List. It was developed by Averil Coxhead of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for the use of teachers and students in colleges and universities. It is divided into 10 sublists, with Sublist 1 containing the most frequent words and Sublist 10 the least frequent.

How to use this word list: (1) Use the AnswerTips tool to know the meaning and pronunciation of these words; (2) Read the words silently; and (3) To practice your pronunciation, read the words at your full speaking volume.

Sublist 4

1. overall
2. emerged
3. regime
4. implementation
5. project
6. hence
7. occupational
8. internal
9. goals
10. retained
11. sum
12. integration
13. mechanism
14. parallel
15. imposed
16. despite
17. job
18. parameters
19. approximate
20. label
21. concentration
22. principal
23. series
24. predicted
25. summary
26. attitudes
27. undertaken
28. cycle
29. communication
30. ethnic
31. hypothesis
32. professional
33. status
34. conference
35. attributed
36. annual
37. obvious
38. error
39. implications
40. apparent
41. commitment
42. subsequent
43. debate
44. dimensions
45. promote
46. statistics
47. option
48. domestic
49. output
50. access
51. code
52. investigation
53. phase
54. prior
55. granted
56. stress
57. civil
58. contrast
59. resolution
60. adequate

Academic Word List (AWL) Sublist 3

(Note: This blog is AnswerTips-enabled; double click any word and a pop-up window will appear with the definition, pronunciation audio,word tutor, misspellings, antonyms, rhymes, Wikipedia and translations.)

The Academic Word List contains 570 word families which are frequently used in academic texts. The AWL does not include the 2,000 English words in the General Service List. It was developed by Averil Coxhead of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for the use of teachers and students in colleges and universities. It is divided into 10 sublists, with Sublist 1 containing the most frequent words and Sublist 10 the least frequent.

How to use this word list: (1) Use the AnswerTips tool to know the meaning and pronunciation of these words; (2) Read the words silently; and (3) To practice your pronunciation, read the words at your full speaking volume.

Sublist 3

1. comments
2. convention
3. published
4. framework
5. implies
6. negative
7. dominant
8. illustrated
9. outcomes
10. constant
11. shift
12. deduction
13. ensure
14. specified
15. justification
16. funds
17. reliance
18. physical
19. partnership
20. location
21. link
22. coordination
23. alternative
24. initial
25. validity
26. task
27. techniques
28. excluded
29. consent
30. proportion
31. demonstrate
32. reaction
33. criteria
34. minorities
35. technology
36. philosophy
37. removed
38. sex
39. compensation
40. sequence
41. corresponding
42. maximum
43. circumstances
44. instance
45. considerable
46. sufficient
47. corporate
48. interaction
49. contribution
50. immigration
51. component
52. constraints
53. technical
54. emphasis
55. scheme
56. layer
57. volume
58. document
59. registered
60. core