English

Seal

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

The English language has an incredibly rich vocabulary. For every situation one can imagine, there seems to be a variety of words and phrases available to choose from, each with their own subtle inflections of meaning.

And yet at other times, the language seems curiously economical, using one word for a variety of meanings. Take seal, for example. Your first instinct when you think of this word will probably be to picture the marine mammal. And why not, they’re cute, especially the pups. Continue reading →

Might is Right?

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

Teacher: Yes, that’s correct: We say “In the future, the planet will be warmer.” So when we’re talking about the future, we use will to…

Student: But teacher you can’t!

Teacher: Excuse me?

Student: You can’t say will because you’re not sure! What if things change? You have to use might, because maybe it won’t be warmer in the future! You can’t be certain!!

Teacher: Ok, tell me: what day will it be tomorrow?

Student: Saturday.

Teacher: Ah, but how can you be sure it’ll be Saturday? What if the world ends this evening? Continue reading →

1,000s are Using this App to Learn 10 Languages! Find out How!!

Niall O'Donnell 15 Comments

You may have come across lots of ads like this online recently. I know have, though I think that might be targeted advertising based on my interests in language. Obviously, most of the ads like this are just clickbait, but there are some language-learning apps such as Duolingo and Babbel which are quite popular and seem to be well-regarded.

I admit to being a bit sceptical about such apps, probably because if they’re really as effective as they claim to be, I’ll be out of a job! But also, having seen how much work goes into both teaching and learning a language, I find it hard to imagine a simple app could be up to the job. Here are some of the aspects of learning a language that I assume an app would struggle to provide: Continue reading →

100

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

First, let me say a big thank you to every one of you reading this. Yesterday I got a lovely notification to tell me I that reached gained 100 followers on WordPress. Which was a lovely surprise. As I’m writing about quite an uncool, niche topic, and just sharing my own thoughts every day, without really planning things, I didn’t expect to attract too many followers. And yesterday was also my first time with over 100 views, which was a nice little instance of serendipity. These numbers may not be so big in the grand scheme of things, but I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read blog, so I’m delighted for every single person who follows me.

So if you’re reading this, and enjoying it, thank you so much, and I hope to keep your mind occupied with mindless trivia about this beautiful language. Continue reading →

3 Days 3 Quotes | Day 3

Niall O'Donnell 5 Comments

First, let me say thank you one last time to Fatma at https://aminfatma.wordpress.com/ for nominating me; I encourage you all to visit her site before you continue reading.

One last time, here are the rules:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you .
  2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days ( 1 quote for each day )
  3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

To end the challenge, I knew I had to go with my favourite author, and some of the best, most practical advice about writing in any format: Continue reading →

Profound

Niall O'Donnell 14 Comments

Being a response to the Daily Prompt: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/249091/

Profound, and its more common synonym deep, are quite versatile words. There’s the literal sense of the words, measuring how far down something goes. Though we tend to use just deep for that. You’re hardly going to go to the profound end of a swimming pool, perhaps to discuss Proust and the films of Ingmar Bergman.

And then there’s the more abstract meaning of the words, to describe something with an important, valuable intense meaning. Someone can be a very deep person, or a novel can have a very profound meaning. You can feel something, deep down in your heart. We tend to use profound more often in this sense though. You might make a profound statement, or have a profoundly inspiring experience. What makes profound so special that we reserve it for when things are so, well… profound? Continue reading →

3 Days 3 Quotes | Day 2

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

I’ll get straight into today’s post, as part of the 3 Days 3 Quotes Challenge as suggested by Fatma:

https://aminfatma.wordpress.com/

 

A reminder of the rules of the challenge:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you .
  2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days ( 1 quote for each day )
  3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

 

Today, I really felt like sharing something about books: Continue reading →