Feb 23, 2017 Grammar, Opinions Grammar curiosities 1: reported speech The first post in our series on grammar nonsense got quite a lot of discussion going and it seemed that on the whole there was quite a lot of sympathy with the view that many of the ‘rules’ about reported speech that are commonly taught are what we technically term guff! There were some dissenting […]
Feb 22, 2017 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: can’t get the staff! We’ve had quite a hectic week this week. We’re putting the finishing touches to a high school book we’ve been working on; we’ve been catching up with our email backlog; and on Monday we were inspected as part of our bid to get official accreditation for our summer school programme. Now, official accreditation is crucially […]
Feb 21, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: endorse Like many of you out there, I suspect, I’m a rather reluctant user of LinkedIn. The site bills itself as “the world’s largest professional network, with hundreds of millions of members” and promises to “connect the world’s professionals … and make them more productive and successful.” However, my experience of using the site suggests it […]
Feb 20, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: mecca As you probably know, the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia is of vital importance in Islam. It was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of his first revelations of the Holy Quran. Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life is obligatory for all able-bodied Muslims. A […]
Feb 19, 2017 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: You wait ages for a bus . . . London has much to be proud of, but you’d be hard pushed to find anyone willing to praise the punctuality of our public transport. Whatever else it may be, London is certainly not Tokyo. In Tokyo, if a sign says a train will be along in three minutes, then you can bet you bottom dollar […]
