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Language tip of the week: interest
Posted by Liz Potter on July 31, 2014
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 patterns that can follow the noun interest:
When the noun interest means ‘a feeling of wanting to know more about something’, it is followed by the preposition in, not for:
✗ There is a growinginterest fororiental cultures and philosophies.
✓ There is a growing interest in oriental cultures and philosophies.✗ Young people often take a great
interest forwhat is happening outside their own country.
✓ Young people often take a great interest in what is happening outside their own country.You can also use the pattern interest in doing something:
✗ What makes these footballers lose
interest for playingin their own countries?
✓ What makes these footballers lose interest in playing in their own countries?More language tips
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Posted by John Williams to Is there a case for ‘publically’? Part 1 on July 30, 2014 Good to have a word from Dr Goodword! How infrequent does the '-ical' form have to be before you say 'it does not allow the -al'? 'Basical', 'athletical', and 'authentical' are all rare, but 'basic', 'athletic', and 'authentic' still spell their adverbs '-ically'. Conversely, 'publically' has been around since the 18th century, albeit infrequently.
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Posted by Robert Beard to Is there a case for ‘publically’? Part 1 on July 30, 2014 I tell my readers that all adjectives that can end either on -ic or -ic-al must retain the -al in the adverb. The ones that do not allow the -al do not need it in the adverb. Since there is no *publical or *political in the sense of politic, it should not be artificially inserted.
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Posted by Stan to Could you care less? on July 24, 2014 Erik: Could care less is not valid in formal standard English, except when used ironically or jocularly, but it is valid in certain informal and colloquial varieties where people use it as the usual idiom. The same goes for ain't. There's no cause for alarm.
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Posted by Erik Zidowecki to Could you care less? on July 24, 2014 I disagree with the argument that "I could care less" is valid simply because people use it. It is used because people are ignorant of the proper idiom. For years, English teachers have taught that using "ain't" is incorrect, despite the number of people that use it. Would you now claim that it is fine to use? I have seen people use "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes" because they misheard...
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Posted by Macmillan Dictionary to Life skills tip of the week: ways of expressing uncertainty on July 24, 2014 Hi Ana. If you go to one of the lesson plans and look at the top right hand corner you will see an arrow symbol (third from left). Clicking this will allow you to save the file to your computer.
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Word roots and routes: heart
Next in a series of posts exploring some of the ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ of English vocabulary. Heart (Germanic) has relatives in words beginning with card- (from Greek) and cord- / cour- (from Latin/French).* The Greek root is used in medical terminology; cardiac arrest, for example, is a term used by medical professionals for what the […]
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Life skills tip of the week: saying you are unsure about something
As part of this year’s pragmatics series, we bring more useful content and tips from the Macmillan Dictionary on expressing yourself. The previous language tip looked at ways of expressing personal opinions in writing. This week’s tip gives some ways of saying you are unsure about something: In our recent post on ways of saying […]
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Get your gas mask on – toot sweet! World War I, and its impact on English
There’s a popular song from World War I about a soldier going off to the front. It starts with the lines: Brother Bertie went away To do his bit the other day (You can hear an original recording here.) “Doing your bit” – taking your fair share of a job that has to be done […]
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Language and words in the news – 25th July, 2014
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 a link […]
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Language tip of the week: independence
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 spelling of the noun independence: Note that the correct spelling is independence […]
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New pragmatics lesson plan: saying you are sure or unsure
Have you seen our latest lesson plan by author Jonathan Marks? This new resource is part of the ‘expressing yourself’ series and helps learners review and consolidate ways of saying you are sure or not sure. What’s included? Worksheets for students, tips for teachers, as well as an answer key and suggested follow-up activities. All […]
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Life skills tip of the week: saying you are sure about something
Learning about pragmatics and how to express yourself successfully is a useful life skill, said Michael Rundell in January when he introduced the new pragmatics series on Macmillan Dictionary. The series is part of the Macmillan Life Skills campaign, offering free resources for English language students and teachers each month. As part of the series, we’ll bring more useful content and […]
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Why heed the language cranks?
Disputes over English usage are full of familiar items. Split infinitives, sentence-final prepositions, words like [you might prefer such as] hopefully and decimate – the same issues keep showing up, despite convincing arguments that there’s seldom a problem with any of them, leaving aside the question of register. It feels as though these are battles […]
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Language and words in the news – 18th July, 2014
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 a link […]
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Language tip of the week: risk
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 patterns following the verb risk: The verb risk is never followed by […]
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What goes in the dictionary when the dictionary is online?
The familiar question of “how words get into the dictionary” is harder to answer when the dictionary is online. Printed dictionaries have limited space, so we have to be selective. This contributes to the popular view of lexicographers as “gatekeepers” – the people who decide, on behalf of the rest of the population, which words are […]
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Word roots and routes: dict
Next in a series of posts exploring some of the ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ of English vocabulary. Although say, tell and word are of Germanic origin, like most of the commonest English words, quite a bit of other vocabulary connected with words and with saying is derived from Latin dicere (= ‘say’). To dictate was originally […]
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