4 words or phrases from French that English really needs
Mon Dieu the French. They are so precisely impeccable about the use of their language. Anyone who has visited France knows that if you attempt to stumble through even the simplest dialogue with a native speaker you had better know what you are saying.
14 March 2018 by
Dave Child
4 English words with Spanish origins
Hola, buckaroos! Give your dulcinea an avocado before the cockroaches get it! What's the history of these terms?
14 March 2018 by Dave Child
Four more words from Japanese that English really needs
English borrows from a large number of languages. Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, to name a few. However, some amazing Japanese words are missing.
1 February 2018 by
Steve Linney
Commas are absolutely awesome, but so misunderstood
Business Insider and Microsoft, listed comma errors as number two and three in the top 10 grammar mistakes most people make. They are missing a comma and missing a comma after an introductory phrase.
30 January 2018 by Dave Child
A murder of crows and other odd collective nouns
You’ve heard of a class of students, a pack of dogs, a herd of cows, and probably a school of fish. These are collective nouns — a group of people, animals or things. The English language can get humorous at times, even a bit crazy, with its 900 collective nouns. Most were coined in the […]
24 December 2017 by Dave Child
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin: the benefits of reading to children
The reading of the bedtime story is a daily ritual in many households and one that can be enjoyed by both parent and child.
16 December 2017 by
Ruth Colmer
Four words we lost that English really needs
Words slip in and out of the English language according to the things we use and the way we think. Some words should have remained in our lexicon, but are sadly lost and, apparently, not missed:
2 December 2017 by Dave Child
5 English words we should use more often
There are way more words in the English language than one would think, and some great ones don’t get the love they deserve.
17 November 2017 by Dave Child
How to correctly use ‘per se’
‘Per se’ is originally a Latin term which is commonly misused in English. Find out the true meaning of per se and how you can avoid this easy mistake.
11 August 2017 by
Laura Kelly
Top four metaphors of everyday English
If this topic seems unclear to you, allow me to shed some light. You may see metaphors as literary devices, but in fact, our everyday language is full of them, and they are among the keys to speaking English like a native or just enjoying the play of our language.
21 July 2017 by Dave Child
The five lost letters of the English language
Most of us know the English alphabet backwards and forwards. We learned our letters as children and we forever have the ear-worm of the alphabet song stuck in our heads, but did you know that there were actually a few letters that didn’t quite make the cut for our modern alphabet? After Christianity took over […]
2 April 2017 by Dave Child
Inspire your way out of writer’s block
Every writer will at some point be faced with writer’s block. So, how can you tempt inspiration out of the shadows and words onto the page?
24 February 2017 by Ruth Colmer
