blogging

Sunshine Blogger Award

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Well, I know I said I’d write something about grammar or etymology, but then, how can one turn down the Sunshine Blogger Award? And there are plenty of more days ahead in which to indulge myself in the riches of English, so why not have a little break, eh, to enjoy a little sunshine? I probably won’t have to use so many italics on this one, and formatting all of those can be tiring.

So, I have to say a big thank you to Parvathy Sarat for her nomination. It’s an honour, and I strongly recommend you check out her blog, Trust Me, You’re Alive. How could you resist such a fascinating variety of topics as written by a scribbler, dancer, dog-lover, and an overthinker? Certainly three of those four describe me (I’ll let you decide which), so obviously her posts are great reading.

Let’s do this then.

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That isn’t Typing at all – it’s Writing!

Niall O'Donnell 16 Comments

At the moment, I’m reading the novel Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. (I’m aware that this is the second post in a row about what I’m reading: I do like to read, and I feel there’s a future post about a link between English teaching and reading) Yesterday, I was struck by the following passage (context: the book was published in 1988, and the narrator is writing about his first experience using a word processor, referred to as he/him):

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It Started with a “This”

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

This evening, while cycling home from work, a thought occurred to me. A slightly panicked thought. I recalled that in my post yesterday I’d linked to an article, and I thought…

 Did I include the link!? (Clearly my cycling thoughts aren’t as interesting as my running thoughts. I suppose I’m too focussed on the road)

You see, rather than write my post directly on my blog, as I usually do, yesterday I’d written it as a word document, as I wasn’t online at the time, and then copied it onto the blog later. And then of course I included all the links. Or did I? Because it would be very easy to forget to (spoiler alert: I didn’t). Before I got home and put my mind at ease, I felt a little annoyed. If I had forgotten it, how stupid would that look? It would be so obvious I’d forgotten the link, and it would be unfortunate for anyone reading it, as they’d miss out on what was a very interesting article. But then, another thought occurred to me: would that actually be so bad?

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Ten Amazing Facts about the English Language (No.7 Will Shock You!!), or: The Art of Clickbait

Niall O'Donnell 25 Comments

Read on to find out some of the most amazing facts about the English language! Facts such as…

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Liebster Award

Niall O'Donnell 12 Comments

I’m delighted to accept my nomination for the Liebster Award, and a big thank you to Maitri for nominating me. You should check out her blog for some interesting ideas about all aspects of life.

Here are the rules of the award:

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Blogging Anniversary

Niall O'Donnell 19 Comments

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for a year now. It really only feels like a few months ago. A really big thanks to everyone who’s been reading and commenting. I hope you’ve found something interesting and perhaps illuminating every now and then. It makes it much easier to put in the work to write regularly when you know someone’s going to read it, so thank you.

It’s a strange thing, writing.

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Blogger Recognition Award

Niall O'Donnell 20 Comments

A big thank you to Payal Tyagi for nominating me for this award! You can find her fascinating blog here.

Here are the rules:

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