Archive for July, 2012
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Posted by John Williams on July 30, 2012
We have seen in previous posts (in part 1 and part 2) that the real world tends to be defined and conceived in opposition to other concepts – such as academic life, childhood, or the online world. Here are a couple of more general examples from the ukWaC corpus, in which the real world is [...]
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Posted by Liz Potter on July 27, 2012
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 [...]
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Posted by Liz Potter on July 26, 2012
acclivity (noun) an old word meaning a rising slope Thence, the land rises by a gentle acclivity, on which the ancient barony of Ogilvie is situated. (Submitted from India) Most submissions to the Open Dictionary are of words and phrases that have recently entered the language, or recently become widely used enough for people to [...]
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Posted by Liz Potter on July 26, 2012
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are based on areas of English (e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc) which learners often find difficult. Here is some advice about the patterns that follow the verb suggest: When suggest means ‘to offer an idea [...]
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Posted by Stan Carey on July 24, 2012
The usefulness of semicolons is apparent in all types of prose, yet the mark is not universally liked or adopted. Many writers gladly include it in their set of grammatical and rhetorical tools, and some positively adore it, but others avoid it altogether or even go out of their way to insult it. Much as [...]
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Posted by Simon Williams and Jules Winchester on July 23, 2012
As part of our continuing interest in pragmatics, we return to the subject of apologizing, which has been discussed before by Stan and by Michael. Our guest bloggers this week are Simon Williams and Jules Winchester of the University of Sussex. There’s quite a vogue nowadays for those in power to make apologies for wrongdoing. [...]
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Posted by Liz Potter on July 20, 2012
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 [...]
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Posted by Laine Redpath Cole on July 19, 2012
desire path (noun) (also desire line) a planning term referring to a path made by walkers or cyclists, as opposed to one that is officially planned A paper by Carl Myhill examines how companies can be successful by focusing on the desire lines of their products and customers… (Submitted from United Kingdom) There’s something rather [...]
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Posted by Liz Potter on July 19, 2012
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are based on areas of English (e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc) which learners often find difficult. Here is some advice about spelling the verb fulfil: The verb fulfil has only one ‘l’ in the middle [...]
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Posted by Orin Hargraves on July 17, 2012
Lately I hear two constructions in conversation that bug me: they may both be a case of a common expression morphing toward a simpler form, and not taking all of the grammatical requirements of the earlier form along in the move. Should a person care about such things? Will resistance stop the march of simplification? [...]
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