As Kassie says, it can mean either "to criticise", or just "to try to do something". If you add "at someone" then it's criticizing, if "at something" then it's trying to do it. Confusing!

No, not trying to offend. Denounce means to say that you think someone is bad or has done something you think the authorities would consider bad. Specifically used when for example in Venice, if you didn't like someone, or thought they were evil or plotting against the state, you would go to the authorities and say "Person X has done something bad and should be in jail / executed". Or when collaborators would denounce a resistance fighter, who would then be arrested.

"Book value" is a value taken from some standard valuation. So you can look up how much some official guide says (for example) your car is worth. That is the Book Value. You may think it is worth more or less (your "estimate" of its value). If you actually sell it, then that is it's actual value. All 3 may be very different! An example: Perhaps you estimate your 2011 earnings at £1,000. So 11 times that is £11,000. The official guide says it (whatever "it" was) was worth ££5,500, and two times that is £11,000.

I found exactly the same problem when learning Italian. To start with it was just a string of sounds, unless spoken very slowly. Then bit by bit my brain would pick out words from the string of sound. As Isabel says, just expose your ears to as much as possible, and you'll be surprised how suddenly you will be deciphering more and more. I found watching a soap opera is quite good, as it's fairly obvious what is happening, even if you can't understand exactly

Very flowery language, and no definitive meaning! Could imply that they are simple (ie basic), or not very good (base as in the bottom of something, thus lowest). If she's talking about what she wrote in her autobiography, then saying her choice of words was "bulbous" really is nonsense (if poetic). She might mean the phrases were rather long, rather than short and precise, and "materiality" could mean they were somewhat concrete descriptions rather than looser and less precise. No idea who wrote this, but good luck with such abstruse English! Dangerously close to Alice in Wonderland, where Humpty Dumpty says "words mean exactly what I want them to mean"!!!

Not too much difference. Most people probably use Maximum/minimum (which can be a noun as well as an adjective, whereas Maximal is just an adjective). Strictly "Maximal" is referring to a maximum, but effectively means the same. (PS it should be "As/Since I am an engineer", not "As far as ". Crazy pernickety language!)

Strictly "a couple of " means two. Some people may use it loosely to mean "a few". "A handful" is a small-ish, unspecified number, probably under 10.

Sadly not! You can say "I was seated" meaning that was your situation, or "I sat" if you're describing the action. in other words, "sat" is the past tense of the verb, and "seated" more like a noun (if that helps!)