I had the increasingly rare pleasure of learning a new expression today: neck-verse. Continue reading
Neck-Verse
language teaching
Audit
I saw the word audit recently, and had one of my usual Eureka! moments. Surely, I said to myself, that’s related to the concept of hearing, with its similarity to words like audio, auditory, audience etc. Continue reading
Once, Twice, Three Times…
I was wondering this morning why we say once and twice as alternatives to one time and two times in English.
It’s one of these things learners of English find it hard to remember to use. Partly it’s because there’s no greater pattern at work, as for every other number after one and two we just say three times, four times etc. It’s also because most other languages use the equivalent of one time and two times.
So why does English have to be awkward, once again, and not just use one time and two times? Continue reading
2019
It’s that time again already: it’s next year! It seems like only yesterday that it was last year.
I’d set out my goals for the coming year and so on, but I don’t really do that, not on a yearly basis. I do have one hope for this year though, and that’s that this is the year we finally go back to saying the names of years as though they’re two separate numbers. You know, like ‘twenty-nineteen’ and ‘twenty-twenty.’ Continue reading
Then!
Yes, before you ask, I did just choose this title because the last post was called Now? Though it’d probably be more logical to have written this one first, as it’d appear below the other post. Ah well, nothing I can do about that now.
Anyway, even if my motivation for choosing this title was rather flippant, looking into it, then is quite an interesting word. Continue reading
Now?
A pretty simple word, really, but a couple of months ago I began to think about how nuanced it is. Continue reading
On Christmas or At Christmas?
At Chrismas.
But look, maybe you say on Christmas, and that’s probably OK too. I suppose it all depends on what you mean by Christmas, really. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 