English

No Swearing

Niall O'Donnell 9 Comments

What the frak!?

He’s also Irish, which again, weirdly, a plus point, if you like swearing. He’s often on his show: Feckin’ dis and Feckin’ dat. Some Irish people say Feck off isn’t as bad as F*ck off, but I think that’s b*llsh*t.
Or bellsh*t.—Alan Partridge

She fuppin’ would too, and so would I you fuppin backsterd!!

English is of course not without a healthy number of swearwords. Though I personally try to avoid using some of the worse ones, I do appreciate the power they have to emphasise a point when used appropriately.

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Capital Idea

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

One of the most common corrections an English-language teacher has to make is when a student uses a lower-case letter instead of a capital letter.

For a language you need to use a capital letter.

When you’re talking about a nationality you need to use a capital letter.

A person’s name always begins with a capital letter.

You have to start a sentence with…etc. etc.

Mistakes with capital letters are common and understandable.

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My Baby Don’t Care for Shows…

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

My love don’t cost a thing.

She don’t love you (like I love you).

If you don’t understand him, an’ he don’t die young, He’ll prob’ly just ride away.

She don’t know.

He don’t deserve you anymore.

She don’t let nobody.

She don’t like the lights.

Your inner (or, indeed, outer) grammar pedant may have cringed at the recurring word in the lyrics and song titles above: don’t.

Doesn’t! that shrill little voice inside shouts, doesn’t!!

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Me Fail English? That’s Unpossible!

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

In recent years, some news stories have emerged from Australia of would-be Irish immigrants failing the English test required for entrance, the IELTS General-Training exam.

One of the most common responses to such stories is to laugh: Ha, serves them right, how can they not even pass a basic English test if they’re English speakers!

But the situation is a little more complex than that.

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Holiday

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

Just a quick update as it’s a Bank-Holiday weekend here in Ireland. Why are they called Bank Holidays? Quite simply, these were originally days when it was decided that banks would close and no trading could take place, though they very quickly became popular among the general population as a day of leisure. Nowadays though many shops and business remain open, banks continue to be closed.

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Arrah, it’s too hot…

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

That’s Galway today, in somewhat unseasonal warmth and sunshine. I suppose it’s not really unseasonal (it is June!) but we’re always taken a little by surprise by sunny weather here in Ireland. While most of us appreciate and enjoy the weather, I’m always curious about how we talk about it here. We have no problem saying the weather’s beautiful, or gorgeous, or lovely, but when we start talking specifically about the temperature, we tend to fall back on cooking metaphors.

It’s absolutely boiling!

It’s roasting!

I’m roasted so I am!

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Up with This I will not Put!

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.

– Winston Churchill (probably) on an editor mangling a sentence in his memoirs that had ended in a preposition

Can you end a sentence with a preposition? This has long been a subject of debate in grammar cirlces, though currently most people suggest that it’s fine.

Before we look at whether ending a sentence with a preposition is acceptable or not, we should first ask: what is a preposition? They’re tricky little words such as to, at, in, on, under, with, above etc. Basically they’re like connective tissue, or mortar between bricks. Or little tugboats pulling heavy ocean liners around. They don’t seem to do much on their own, but we need them to join the main concepts of sentences together.

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