Basic Grammar in Use With answers, with Audio CD: Self-study Reference and Practice for Students of English (Grammar in Use)

Book Description

The second edition contains new units, more exercises, and a free Audio CD with recordings of example sentences so students can hear the grammar structures they are learning. Each of the 116 units in the Student's Book is presented in a two-page spread, with simple, clear explanations on the left-hand page and practice exercises to check understanding on the right. This new edition includes an Audio CD with example sentences, ten units of new material more exercises per unit, and a new section of Additional Exercises that give students the opportunity to consolidate what they have learned. Editions with and without answers keys are available. Basic Grammar in Use, Second Edition, can be used as a class text or for self-study. Teachers using a main course book in lower-level classes may wish to assign this text as a reference guide so that students can look up grammar points that cause them difficulty.

Customer Reviews:

An Institution In Its Own Right.......2007-06-01

Raymond Murphy's books are ubiquitous, and rightly so. Murphy is something of an institution, and his books must be about the best selling of their kind globally. I have used them for years.

"Basic Grammar in Use" covers pretty much the Elementary and Pre-Intermediate levels, though there are some useful units that could be used at slightly higher levels. The explanations are simple and accessible, and the exercises provided are pretty straight forward.

The only quibble I would have is the lack of contextual exercises in Murphy's books. It would be nice to see some more text-level exercises for students to practice using the forms in a wider context than sentences.

Apart from that, this is still excellent value for money for teachers and students alike.

A GREAT ASSET.......2003-05-30

I've used this book (in its previous editions) for years in many different kinds of classrooms. It not only helps students review material studied in class, but helps me maintain my focus and remember the many details involved with teaching grammar effectively. It is organized in a logical way and its illustrations are wonderfully clear and entertaining. It is concise, but includes many details that help "round out" a student's understanding of grammar use. Its appendices, including regular and irregular verb forms and spelling rules, are excellent.

The only difficulty I have had with this book is its limited applicability in ESL classes where students have fewer literacy skills. The book is densely written (one page gives examples of the grammar point or points, and the facing page contains varying practice exercises) and therefore can be intimidating or simply too dependent on strong reading and writing skills to be beneficial to students whose educational backgrounds have been substantially interrupted or limited. The type is small and tightly spaced, which may be a concern in teaching younger students or those who, though older, haven't acquired the reading or writing skills necessary to benefit from such a text.

All in all, this book is definitely worth the price.

Basic Grammar in Use With Answers, With Audio CD: Self-study Reference and Practice for Students of English With Other and CD (Audio) (Grammar in Use)
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Basic Grammar in Use With Answers, With Audio CD: Self-study Reference and Practice for Students of English With Other and CD (Audio) (Grammar in Use)
Raymond Murphy
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7BA6S

Book Description

With the help of these cards, scroll and booklet, questioners will be able to discover their past lives and how these lives are affecting their present incarnation.

Customer Reviews:

Do you want to know who you were in a past life?.......2003-10-17

The Oracle comes in two parts: the cards, and the Silent Stones Colour Scroll. The actual cards are 3 3/8 inches X 2 3/16 inches, and there are 33 of them. (The box is 4 inches x 6 inches.) The "Scroll" is actually a piece of paper with the image of a scroll and 33 numbered, colored ovals. There is also a 43 page guidebook that accompanies the cards and scroll.
The premise of this oracle is to discover your past life/lives, and how they may be affecting you now and in the future. The authors state: "People have often incarnated many times in their soul's desire to learn, to resolve an issue or to bring forward knowledge to help humanity."

The 33 cards each have an image of either 3 or 4 colored ovals that are stacked vertically. On the back of these cards, at the top, is one of 33 past lives. These include Incas, Hebrews, Native Americans, Atlanteans, Vikings, Knights Templars, Star Children, Early Christians, Japanese, etc. Also on the back is an explanation of the 3 or 4 colored ovals on the other side. This is the first stage of the oracle.

To do a meditative reading, they instruct to ask your angels or guides to show you a color that represents your past life, and then pick the card matching the color/colors that you visualized/were given. To do an intuitive reading, they suggest that you intuitively choose a card that stands out to you. Then, out of the 3 or 4 colors on the card, you are to choose one color that stands out among the ovals. When you turn the card over, it will tell you which past life you are working with and which aspect of that life is affecting you now. You can match up the past life to the description in the Guidebook.

The next step involves the Silent Stones Colour Scroll. You are instructed to intuitively choose a color which stands out to you. (These ovals are also numbered 1-33). This color represents the qualities that you have brought forward from that past life into this one, and there are 4 pages that describe these personal qualities. For example, picking Red for your first color would mean An energetic, vital person, vibrant, outgoing, dynamic, with leadership qualities.

Then, you are to intuitively choose a second color from the Scroll. This color represents certain influences that will be affecting you in the next few weeks of your life. There are then 5 pages that describe these influences. If you were to pick Red as your second color, it states You will lead a new project forward, which should go smoothly if your intention is clear.

Here is an example of the "reading" I did for myself.

I spread the 33 cards out and picked the card that I felt drawn to. This card had a White oval on top, a Rich Royal Blue oval second, a Lilac oval third, and a Silver oval on the bottom. I then picked the color that I felt the most drawn to, and it was the rich royal blue oval.

When I turned the card over, it said that I belonged to the Cathars (Albigentians), and the Rich Royal Blue represented Teachers, and those dedicated to spiritual expression. Apparently, while the groups of colors determine the particular past life you had, the colors themselves represent the energies (and strands from that life) being brought into incarnation now by those who were Cathars in past life.

The ironic thing is this: I had never heard of the Cathars before I used this oracle. But right after, within a few days, I ran into this very term. I definitely have a Teacher/Guide Archetype at work in my psyche, and have been dedicated to "spiritual expression" since I was a young girl. (This being represented by the Rich Royal Blue oval.)

When I went on to the next step, choosing a color from the Scroll, I picked White, which means a person pure of spirit. When I picked my second color, I chose Indigo. This future orientation means After a period of introspection, your wisdom may be expressed through writing or the media in order to help people see a different perspective. This, too, was eerily accurate for several reasons.

Now, understand that I'm not into past lives like some people, and I don't look to past lives as a reason (excuse?) for what is happening to me today. Yes, it's possible that I was indeed a Cathar, and a teacher/spiritual leader to boot, and that would explain my talents and interests. Yet, it doesn't give me any practical information in navigating my life. Confirming what I already know? Possibly.

My concern with these cards, and any oracles for that matter, is that people place their current lives on hold while they examine possible past lives for months (years?) on end. This is, of course, not the fault of the authors of this oracle. In fact, they expressly state in the beginning of their guidebook: "The future is never set in stone. These readings are possibilities and probabilities based on the past and the present. Your thoughts create your future, so you have the power to change a prediction or to enhance and strengthen it."

Kudos for this wonderful disclaimer!

At best, I can see how this oracle could help some discover their unconscious patterns and bring them to light, and also encourage/confirm hidden or obvious talents and aptitudes. At worst, it can be a fun parlor game for individuals and groups.

I would definitely recommend Silent Stones Colour Oracle for those interested in exploring past lives and how they may be impacting your present situation. Please note that I don't think that the packaging for the contents of the oracle will hold up very well over time.

The Silent Strength of Stones (A Chapel Hollow Novel)

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Favorite Hoffman book
An exciting new discovery!
By the Pricking of My Thumbs...
It's another book by Nina Kiriki Hoffman!
This books was terrific

The Silent Strength of Stones (A Chapel Hollow Novel)
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Thread That Binds the Bones (A Chapel Hollow Novel)
A Red Heart of Memories
Past the Size of Dreaming
Spirits That Walk in Shadow
A Fistful of Sky (A LaZelle Family Novel)

ASIN: 0380777606

Book Description

It is a season of many wonders, with many secrets ripe for discovering ...and some best left in shadow, unexplored. Summer has come to Sauterelle Lake. And inquisitive young Nick is discovering many things he doesn't want to know: About a pretty girl with hypnotic eyes who talks to his soul... About a wild creature--a wolf--whose features shine with an intelligent, un-lupine knowing... About a strange, inhospitable family occupying a cabin that is meant to be empty. This summer, nature's magic is not the only sorcery traveling on the wind. And the real trick will be surviving until the autumn.

Customer Reviews:

Favorite Hoffman book.......2005-01-26

Although "The Thread That Binds the Bones" gets a little more attention, "The Silent Strength of Stones" is my favorite Hoffman book with "A Stir of Bones" running a close second.

The standout for me is Hoffman's Nick Verrou, the young hero. He is not perfect by any means but his motives, actions and reactions are very true. His voice is clear in the story even if he's not always sure of where he is going.

The other thing that I like is that Hoffman resists the urge to have a closed ended narrative. Not every story thread has an ending. Although the main story plot has closure, there are other significant moments that do not and within this story and the way that the characters interact, the open-ended storytelling makes sense. It may be understandably frustrating to some readers, but I felt it was appropriate because the main characters are young and nothing at that age has easy closure because they are really just at the beginning of their lives. Hoffman allows that sense of non-closure come through.

The last thing that I like is Hoffman's prose. There is something magical about the way she writes. Smooth, clear, and deceptively simple. She makes the story that unfolds seem effortless and natural. That's a rare talent.

Hoffman is not for everyone but for those of us who find her and admire her work, she's a treasure. And "The Silent Strength of Stones" is my favorite treasure of hers.

An exciting new discovery!.......2003-08-28

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a new discovery for me, and one long overdue. The Silent Strength of Stones is an excellent introduction to her writing, which -- like contemporaries Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Terri Windling, etc. -- crafts a highly developed fantasy world within the framework of a thoroughly modern, very real society. Her characters are finely drawn and wholly believable in this setting, and the story resolves neatly while still leaving ample room for a sequel.

Hoffman is an exciting writer -- I can't remember the last time I found one who intrigued me this much!

By the Pricking of My Thumbs..........2002-07-30

Exceptionally-intriguing fantasy novels by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, who's won all kinds of writing awards--Bram Stoker, World Fantasy. The Thread that Binds the Bones and The Silent Strength of Stones deal with an extended family of magic-users, and all the moral/social/familial dilemmas in which they find themselves, in relationships within the family and with outsiders. The magic is believable, all tied up with dead ancestors and unseeable spirits and ancient family history, and it varies from person to person, family to family, generation to generation, like any other inherited trait (instead of "Oh, she's got her grandmother's blue eyes!" it becomes "Oh, she's got her grandmother's second sight!"). Thread deals with the arrival of an outsider, unrelated to the Family in any way, whose inate powers are different from, and stronger in some ways, than those of the Family, and who falls in love all in an instant with a semi-despised daughter of the Family, and between the two of them, the slow steady decline into evil behavior begins to reverse. Stones deals with a long-lost unknown cousin of the Family, living on his own, unaware of his potential, who meets up with some of his relatives and comes of age.

They're good, really really good. Eerie, resonant, by-the-pricking-of-my-thumbs stuff...

It's another book by Nina Kiriki Hoffman!.......2001-10-16

What else can I say? This writer wraps you up in a world so believable, so tangible that you forget everything else. She makes you laugh and cry and sigh, sometimes all in a single sentence. I have never read anything by Nina that has failed to please and this is yet another winner. This is dark fantasy that chills. She and Joss Whedon should collaborate sometime!

This books was terrific.......2001-08-31

This was a really great book. It sucks you in and is very hard to put down. Its just enough fantasy and magic for me. An ordinary guy in an ordinary life, and he turns out to be not so ordinary after all. I don't like the whole unicorn and dragon adventure quest type fantasy that is everywhere, and have a hard time finding ones I think I'll like. This was one of them..very different type of fantasy. I wish I knew a category to call it. I don't know what it is about her books, but I just can't get enough, I wish 'Thread that Binds..' wasn't so hard to find. I read the Red Heart of Memories, and then I was immediately hooked on her writing.

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The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000FCGENA

The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent, Volume 1

Average customer rating:

Yet another great book from Jacq
Nefer the Silent
Based on some facts, boring to amazing
Somewhat simplistic
I can't believe this was all I had for travel reading!

The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent, Volume 1
Christian Jacq
Manufacturer: Atria
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Paneb the Ardent
The Place of Truth (Stone of Light)
The Empire of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Jacq, Christian. Queen of Freedom Trilogy. Vol. 1.)
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The Flaming Sword: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Queen of Freedom Series)

ASIN: 0743403460

Book Description

They built a civilization ahead of its time, and dominated the ancient world.

They defined an era of war, love, passion, power, and betrayal.

They were a people of mystery whose secrets have turned to dust -- but who inspire our awe and wonder even to this day....

The ancient Egyptians

They showed us how to live. And how to die.

Christian Jacq, author of the international triumph Ramses, brings the people and the passions of ancient Egypt to life in an enthralling epic novel in four volumes.

Customer Reviews:

Yet another great book from Jacq.......2006-01-08

I've read the Ramses series a few years ago and thought I'd pick up a copy of this even though some reviewers say it's not as good. Well, I enjoyed reading it just as much as the Ramses. The short chapters make it easy to read even if one doesn't have hours to read at a time. However, it's one of those books that was really hard for me to put down even at 3am after reading for several hours... you know, just one more chapter... :) I've always found the history of ancient Egypt fascinating and though it's a fiction novel one can learn a great deal about what it was like living in the time of the pharaohs. Oh, and the story is not over yet, can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Nefer the Silent.......2005-10-05

The novel is historical fiction but it is a very simplistic and predictable plot. the reader does glean quite a lot of information about the government, customs and politics of the Egyptians. The ending is awful, never solving the basic mystery that continued through the whole story!
It is on a 5-6 grade level of reading but the subject matter is much more adult than that.

Based on some facts, boring to amazing.......2003-09-19

I love this novel, although compare to the Ramese series and the Black Pharaoh, this one is not as excited.

The novel vividly describes the living of the tomb makers. You may be surprised when you find out that even a very little episode happened in the novel may be a historical fact (you can know more by reading the book "The live of the Pharaoh Tomb Builders" by John Romer). In the beginning I thought the novel is based on Jacq's own imagination, but later I have found out that the Place of Truth does exist in Egypt (Del Medina). You can even find out the pictures of the village from the Internet and discover that the description of Jacq in the novel is exactly the same as what you can see in them. The five gates, the houses, and the tombs of the Master, are very details in Jacq's description. The living of the villagers, the murder of Nefer, the leading of Paneb, the Key of Dream of Khen the Scribe of the Tomb, and the existence of theWise woman, they are all based on facts.

Book 1 is quite boring, the others are better. This novel covers the period from Ramese II to Ramese III! People who are familiar with Egyptian history may know that after Ramese II, the power of Egypt declined until the reign of Ramese III, which belonged to another dynasty. Jacq did not reveal his name at first, only mentioned "the son of Sehknet". But he is able to reveal the ability of this son of Sehknet. People familiar with Egyptian history will know that he is of course no one but Ramese III.

The strength of Jacq is that he is able to gather the scattered facts of Egyptian history, together with his own imagination, and weave a story. From his novel, you can read Egyptian history, not scattered monuments, tablets, and inscriptions, but a continuous novel.

The weak of Jacq, however, is that his view of Egypt is somehow biased. In his eye, Egypt is a paradise. The Pharaohs are always justice. They love his own people, his country, reigning according to Ma'at, which I believe is not always true.

Somewhat simplistic.......2003-07-28

Christian Jacq's latest novel is technically very punchy in style, sacrificing scene development for action. His characterisations also seem to follow the same pattern. In 'The Stone of Light' opener, we see several contrasting characters, most of which are not as simple and forthright as Paneb the Ardent, yet still come across as sketches rather than blooded characters. Perhaps the later installments of The Stone of Light will add more flesh to their sparse bones.
After the Ramses series, Jacq once more plunges us into his version of Eygptian history, this time taking us to West Thebes, to the secret village known as the Place of Truth where rigorously selected craftsmen who have see the `Way' work on the tombs and edifices within the Valley of the Kings. It is fairly near the end of Ramses reign and he has a walk-on part, purely to emphasize the importance of the Place of Truth as we are more concerned with the `giant' sixteen year old Ardent (whose all consuming desire is to become an artist, but both his birth and circumstance preclude entry) and his peer, Silent, (who was born to the village but is currently wandering Egypt in search of his own personal light). Silent's wandering through Thebes neatly allows Jacq to ensure that the two meet and, after saving Silent's life, gives Ardent the necessary means to approach the village. Silent also meets and elopes with Ubekhet (destined to become a priestess, along with Ardent's future wife, Uabet, and mistress, Turquoise - interesting name as it originates in 14th century old French).
Most of the action surrounding these characters is taken with Ardent's somewhat Herculean efforts to prove himself along every step of the regimented way to gaining entry to the village. Jacq overemphasizes his tenacity, simplicity, efficiency and effectiveness all of which would be a trifle too good to be true save he is affected by an arrogance born of sheer over-confidence. Nevertheless, he surmounts all tasks and is admitted to the village to become Paneb the Ardent, in the same manner that Silent becomes Nefer the Silent.
The real story that runs through is the use of Mehy, an ambitious man (whom we see committing a murder in the opening scenes) who marries, murders, cheats and lies his way up through the highest echelons of Pharaonic Thebes. His desire to destroy the Place of Truth (no real reason is actually given) eventually gives way to an attempt to murder Ramses which fails (though time eventually achieves his aim) through Ardent's preceptivity. With his equally secretly ambitious wife, Serketa, they spend most this opener gleaning information, setting up a network of spies and establishing themselves. However, at no point do the youg artisans ever come into direct contact with the scheming Mehy, only through the medium of the Place of Truth's security commander, Sobek (who provides some levity throughout).
This opening novel (of four) is a refreshing read, similar in style to Rameses and moves along at a nice pace. It is usually the mark of a good book that you can get to the end and be entertained, yet realise that nothing really happened throughout as it seems to setup the remaining novels. If you like the Rameses series then The Stone of Light should be just as enjoyable.

I can't believe this was all I had for travel reading!.......2003-07-04

I must say that I enjoyed the Ramses series before I launch into this wholehearted criticism, so that everyone understands that I am capable of appreciating this man's work. The Ramses series was hardly a challenge to read, but the descriptions were so vivid that I was almost able to smell and feel the scenes as they took place on the page. I picked up this book looking for a similar experience-- an interesting travel book. How wrong I was.

As said by other reviewers, the characters are one-dimensional and vapid. The villain might as well be a cartoon character-- he is so poorly put forth that Jacq has to have him say to himself, "They won't get away with this..." It's almost like Gargamel planning to punish the Smurfs. Maybe I am harsher than I have to be because I had just finished reading The Fountainhead when I started this book-- and depth is something that comes in a downpour in The Fountainhead. Anyway, I thought that this could perhaps be a good children's book, but Jacq talks quite a bit about rape and sex, which is a little inappropriate for a child of six or seven. And trust me, the sentence structure and content is too elementary for anyone much older than that. So it's useless to all people, big and small. I was stuck reading the whole thing because I was in Spain with no other unread books...I kept lamenting to my companion that I was reading the world's worst book, but I saw it through to the end. I won't be wasting money on a sequel.

Book Description

No one warned police psychologist Jac Kornicker that returning to work for the Department would nearly cost her life, but knowing her, it wouldn’t have stopped her anyway. Living on the edge was what her life had become and turning back now, just when she was starting to understand was the last thing she wanted to do. Of course, that was how she felt until she became tonight’s headline news. There’s this small matter of a gun at her head...

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Customer Reviews:

A deftly presented, highly recommended tale.......2002-09-14

Silent Stones, Silent Acts by R. G. Chance is the haunted novel of a Los Angeles police psychologist struggling to cope with her own past trauma, a deadly killer young enough to be her own son and caught up in a disastrous robbery, and her own dark side. A superbly written saga of building a steady drumbeat of suspense and self-revelation, Silent Stones, Silent Acts is a deftly presented, highly recommended tale of engaging suspense.

Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution And The Dawn Of Technology

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Origins of many things

Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution And The Dawn Of Technology
Kathy D. Schick
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools
Lithic Analysis (MANUALS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD, THEORY AND TECHNIQUE)

ASIN: 0671875388

Book Description

In this dramatic reconstruction of the daily lives of the earliest tool-making humans, two leading anthropologists reveal how the first technologies-- stone, wood, and bone tools-- forever changed the course of human evolution.

Drawing on two decades of fieldwork around the world, authors Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth take readers on an eye-opening journey into humankind's distant past-- traveling from the savannahs of East Africa to the plains of northern China and the mountains of New Guinea-- offering a behind-the-scenes look at the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of early prehistoric sites.

Based on the authors' unique mix of archaeology and practical experiments, ranging from making their own stone tools to theorizing about the origins of human intelligence, "Making Silent Stones Speak" brings the latest ideas about human evolution to life.

Customer Reviews:

Origins of many things.......2003-12-19

This book is about the beginnings of technology, an almost exclusively human trait. The idea of using materials in such a way as to benefit daily life or perform task that we, as individuals, are unable to do is a giant step into the unknown. The author discusses tool-making in all its many facets. It is now considered very possible that tool-making contributed to an exapansion of brain possibilities but in fact made us into something different that the surrounding creatures with whom we fought and lived.

The idea of artificial means toward an end catapulted mankind and gave us control of our surroundings. No longer were large beasts from out of our grasp. The type and variation of the various stone blades is mind-boggling but the interpretation is just about as creative. The sharing of this technology with other humans started a process of spreading knowledge that has continued up to this day.

The author's hands-on experience was also an additional aid to her findings. She is in no sense an "ivory towered" scholar but actively explores and examines the subjects in her book. Best of all are her conjectures concerning the origins and more importantly, the "why" of technology.

and girls are made of stone and silent gardens
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and girls are made of stone and silent gardens
Jeff Hewitt
Manufacturer: San Francisco Bay Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0976311496

Book Description

An incisive look through poetic narrative at the day to day heartbreak and joy of life in the city. Jeff Hewitt spares no one, not even himself in this cutting examination of live, life, and what comes after.

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Haunting Chants, Silent Stones
Linda Lee , and Laurie Jonas
Manufacturer: A H Stockwell Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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In the Silent Stones

Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000EDKA8A

Product Description

His first book of poems. Several of the poems in this collection appeared first in Hudson Review, Kenyon Review, Burning Deck, and six in The New Yorker.

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In the silent stones;: Poems
F. D Reeve
Manufacturer: Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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