Recently I was talking to a student about the pronunciation of the word duty. And as is so often the case with English, it became one of those well-it-depends moments. Continue reading
Call of Doody
language evolution
I Was Sat There…
You might have noticed this structure used by native speakers, particularly from Ireland or the UK. And you might have thought: Well that’s not right. It should be I was sitting there, shouldn’t it?
Yes, it should. But also, well, not really, no. Let’s investigate… Continue reading
We Don’t Hear You!
This sentence is one any English teacher working online has possibly heard quite often recently. Or, more likely, We don’t listen you!
Of course, We don’t listen you is clearly not the correct sentence to use if your teacher’s been rendered momentarily inaudible. But what about We don’t hear you!? To a native speaker, that’s clearly not correct either. But why? Continue reading
Easier or More Easy?
Until recently, I would probably have told you that easier is the only correct version. Now though, I’m not sure it’s quite so simple. Continue reading
A Word for All Seasons
While reading a recipe recently, I paused for a moment and thought about the cooking term seasoning. How is it, I wondered that to season can be a verb, and how is it related to the four seasons of the year? Continue reading
Creepypasta
What type of pasta!?
Creepypasta!
If you’re relatively internet savvy, you might currently be nodding and stroking your chin wisely, saying, Ah yes, creepypasta!
The rest of you though, might well be asking yourselves, well, What type of pasta!? Continue reading
Assassination or Murder?
If I asked you to define the word assassination, you probably wouldn’t have much difficulty. You’d probably say something like the killing of a famous or important person.
And that would be perfectly fine.
But recently I wondered if there’s a specific distinction between murder and assassination. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 