Illinois Authors

Viva Editions, Berkeley, Calif. : ©2011.

Deft praise encourages others to feel as we do, share our enthusiasms. In this "age of awesome," our words and phrases of acclaim are exhausted, all but impotent. Arthur Plotnik is proffering a well knit wellspring of worthy and wondrous words to rescue our worn-down usage. --from publisher description.

Souvenir, London : 2012.

A veritable tko of terminology, Better Than Great is the essential guide for describing the extraordinary -- the must have reference for anyone wishing to rise above tired superlatives. Deft praise encourages others to feel as we do, share our enthusiasms. It rewards deserving objects of admiration. It persuades people to take certain actions. It sells things. Sadly, in this age of awesome, our words and phrases of acclaim are exhausted, all but impotent. Even so, we find ourselves defaulting to such habitual choices as good, great, and terrific, or substitute the weary synonyms that tuble our of a thesaurus -- superb, marvelous, outstanding, and the like. The piling on of intensifers such as the now-silly super, only makes matters worse and negative modifiers render our common parlance nearly tragic. Until now.

ToExcel, San Jose : ©2000.

Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, N.J. : 1975.

Random House Reference, New York : 2007, ©2005.

Today's writer needs more than just a solid knowledge of usage and composition to write successfully. Bestselling author Arthur Plotnik reveals the secrets to attention-grabbing, unforgettable writing. Updated with all-new writing exercises, Spunk & Bite will help writers take books, articles, business reports, memos, and even e-mail messages to the next level. - Publisher.

Random House Reference, New York : 2007.

Today's writer needs more than just a solid knowledge of usage and composition to write successfully. Bestselling author Arthur Plotnik reveals the secrets to attention-grabbing, unforgettable writing, in this trade paperback edition. Updated with all-new writing exercises, Spunk & Bite will help writers take books, articles, business reports, memos, and even e-mail messages to the next level. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Macmillan ; New York : 1984, ©1982.

Barnes & Noble, New York : 2006.

Presents a guide to writing and speaking expressively, offering advice on such topics as high energy verbs, figures of speech, syntax, word patterns, and vocabulary.

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC : 1987.

Three Rivers Press, New York : ©2000.

Identifies trees commonly found in North American cities and offers advice on planting and caring for trees in an urban forest environment.