Mar 5, 2015 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: It’s alright for some! This week, a friend of mine in France sent me a message via Facebook asking if I’d got a copy of a new box set that collects together all the LPs by The Pretty Things, one of my very favourite bands of all time. I replied that I’d managed to grab a free one from […]
Feb 27, 2015 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: would’ve thought Last Wednesday evening, I took a train from Preston back home to London. As we were nearing Euston station, I left my seat and went to wait near the door. A mother and her teenage daughter were already there, and the girl was messing about, pretending to open the door – in order to get […]
Feb 12, 2015 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: It’s not as though I had two conversations last night which featured this chunk. The first one was with a friend who was moaning about a culture clash in the Paris office he often visits. Leaving his house at 5.30 in the morning to arrive in Paris at 10, he often finds the office still half empty. Then when […]
Jan 25, 2015 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: What’s not to like? We’ve often said that what strikes us most about the many incredibly competent non-natives we meet in our field is very rarely their grammatical accuracy! Rather than noticing the correct use of a mixed conditional or the stunning use of articles, instead what we tend to be aware of is the sheer range of expressions […]
Jan 23, 2015 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: nothing if not Listening to a Radio 4 review programme the other day, I was struck by the description of quirky Icelandic singer Björk‘s new LP – Vulnicura – as “nothing if not honest”. The chunk is a subtle and interesting way of saying that something has one particular quality that is more noticeable or important than any […]
