grammar

Sir, You’re Making a Scene…

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

I’m currently reading The Terror, an intriguing and aptly-titled novel based loosely on the real-life mid-19th century lost Franklin expedition, which set out to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Franklin refers to Sir John Franklin, the expedition’s leader. Throughout the book, he’s referred to as Sir John Franklin, and after a few times I thought that was interesting because he also of course had a naval rank, which could be used alongside Sir. But would it come before or after Sir? Continue reading →

It’s Quite Quiet

Niall O'Donnell 2 Comments

I was sitting here watching the rain, and thinking about those two words, quite and quiet. Obviously they’re… rather confusing for a lot of people, given how similar they look and sound. I wondered if there might be some link between the two. Surely not, I thought. Their meanings are so different: surely this is just one of those cases of words evolving to be similar independently. Surely… Continue reading →

Uninterested or Disinterested?

Niall O'Donnell 10 Comments

What? I already told you, remember!?

I’m usually pretty understanding when it comes to commonly-confused words, but this one annoys me, simply because of how I often I see people get it wrong (almost always using disinterested when they mean uninterested).

OK, so explaining the difference between the two words is pretty straightforward, but why does one begin with dis-, and one with un-? Continue reading →

Barbara L’Italien

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

I’d never heard of Barbara L’Italien, an American politician with the Democratic party, before today. She was accidentally invited onto a Fox “News” programme instead of a Democratic supporter of ICE, the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. With L’Italien being a staunch critic of ICE, the interview didn’t exactly go as the hosts had planned: Continue reading →

Mechanicsville, Georgia

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that I’m always fascinated by the statistics of this blog, particularly the demographics of my visitors (i.e. you). I discovered recently that via Facebook, I can see some of the cities or particular regions that frequent visitors come from. That’s really interesting, but also kind of scary as I might recognise who some people are based on those places, and then know if they’re reading or not in a particular week.

I’m therefore not going to look at that report too much, but I did notice an interesting name crop up: Mechanicsville, Georgia (U.S). Continue reading →

Money, Monies, or Moneys?

Niall O'Donnell 2 Comments

I’ll take any to be honest, I’m not fussy. Ah, but linguistically, which is best? Continue reading →

Wouldn’t it Be Nice?

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

About a day before the time of writing, President Donald Trump, of the United States of America, said the following, in relation to meddling in the 2016 election:

Continue reading →