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Language tip of the week: well
Posted by Kati Sule on December 12, 2013
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.This week’s language tip helps with the interjection well:
Well is used mainly in informal English, especially in conversation. In academic writing and professional reports, it is better not to use well:
✗ It is said that increased violence is the fault of TV.Well, to some extent, I agree.
✓ It is said that increased violence is the fault of TV. To some extent, I agree.
✗ The process of uniting Europe is not easy.Well, for example, unifying standards is a time-consuming procedure.
✓ The process of uniting Europe is not easy. For example, unifying standards is a time-consuming procedure.More language tips
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Recent Comments
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Posted by Stan to What is metonymy? Enquiring minds want to know on December 11, 2013 It's a good question, Jonathan. (There was some discussion about this on Twitter, too.) You can make a case either way, I think. I'm inclined to see it as metonymy, because "enquiring minds" seems to me to substitute for "enquiring people", but it's definitely open to other interpretations.
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Posted by Jonathan Marks to What is metonymy? Enquiring minds want to know on December 11, 2013 Do "great minds think alike" and "enquiring minds want to know" really count as examples of metonymy? Hard to tell. You could say Yes on the basis that the thinking and enquiring is done by people, or No on the basis that the thinking and enquiring is done by minds.
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Posted by Stan Carey to What is metonymy? Enquiring minds want to know on December 09, 2013 Thanks, Michael. It's a very interesting phenomenon, and so familiar it often flies under our cognitive radar. Metonymic "blazers" is new to me, and "blazerati" is a nice blend following the pattern laid down by other -erati forms. (Michael Quinion has looked briefly at these.) It's in much the same vein as other clothing-based metonyms, and there's often something stereotypical about the clothing in question, as with "suits" and "bow ties" and "white/blue-collar workers"....
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Posted by Michael Rundell to What is metonymy? Enquiring minds want to know on December 09, 2013 Great post, Stan, on a very productive mechanism in language. Your mention of "suit" reminds me of something I read the other day. "The suits" is a disparaging term for the (supposedly boring and faceless) people in an organization who do the accounts and general management, and who prevent the creative types (who never wear suits) from doing what they want. I've now seen references to "the blazers", who are the people that run sporting bodies...
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Posted by Jonathan Marks to Is there a case for ‘publically’? Part 1 on December 05, 2013 Alan: What about words like 'basically', 'ironically', 'practically', 'realistically', 'specifically'? These are usually pronounced with no vowel before the '-ly', so maybe they should be written 'basicly', 'ironicly' etc.? (See Part 2 of John Williams' article.) You say you "have a tendency to pronounce words close to their spelling", and that you think it's "generally a good idea if spelling is as close as possible to speech". Well, if spelling was as close as possible...
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Stories behind Words: carol
There are some things about Christmas that I can take or leave, and others that I really love. One essential element of the festive season as far as I’m concerned is the Christmas carol. If I haven’t raised my voice to sing ‘Once in Royal David’s City‘ or ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear‘ at […]
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What is metonymy? Enquiring minds want to know
Metonymy is a figure of speech which, though common, easily goes unnoticed. It’s when you replace the name of something with the name of another thing closely associated with it, or (defined more broadly) with the name of one of its parts or attributes. The word literally means ‘change of name’ – it has the […]
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Language and words in the news – 6th December, 2013
This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit […]
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Language tip of the week: baby
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with talking and writing about having a baby: talking about a baby unborn child […]
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Stories behind Words: chortle and galumph
It’s not that unusual for people to ask me how they can get a word into the dictionary. That’s easy, I tell them. Get lots of different people to use it in lots of different places and in it will go. Actually it’s not easy at all, as can be seen from the complete failure […]
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Loving it! The Love English Awards – update 1
This year’s Macmillan Dictionary Love English Awards has really kicked off. We’ve received nearly 200 nominations for ‘best blog’ and ‘best website’ about the English language, and it’s nice to see so many returning blog/website nominations as well as several new kids on the block. Some of the nominations we received were for Macmillan Dictionary […]
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Word roots and routes: tell and count
Next in a series of posts exploring some of the ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ of English vocabulary. Tell and count, of Germanic and Latinate origin respectively, have followed similar routes in English. The original idea behind tell is ‘to put in order’ and this has led in two main directions: 1. The predominant meaning is to […]
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Language and words in the news – 29th November, 2013
This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit […]
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Open Dictionary word of the month: shelfie
The word of the month for November will of course have to be shelfie. If you are here reading this blog then you are probably a fan of words, and whether you’re learning English or are an old pro you’ll probably be aware that Oxford Dictionaries recently announced that selfie was their choice for word […]
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Language tip of the week: picture
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with words used to talk and write about pictures: painting: a picture that is […]
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Stories behind Words: Ruby, Britney … and Andy too
It’s Friday night. Fancy a ruby washed down with a couple of britneys? Baffled? What if I reminded you that Britney’s surname is Spears (which rhymes with beers), and told you that Ruby is Ruby Murray, another popular female singer, but one whose heyday was in the 50s? And Murray rhymes with curry … there, […]
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Learn English through our monthly topic: November
If you’re an English language student or teacher then you’ll get a lot out of following our Learn English feed on Facebook and Twitter. When you’re learning a new language it’s hard to know where to start. We’re sharing a useful tip every day that is focussed around a monthly topic. So far there’s been […]
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