From the category archives:

Common Errors in English

Brazinglish: Your stories …

February 10, 2010

In this post, we collect your thoughts and colourful stories about English in Brazil. Have you got similar stories to tell? Come and share it with us!
Marcos writes …

I am not a typical Brazilian English speaker because I learned Portuguese and English at the same time since kindergarten. I have also lived for a while [...]

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It’s Carnaval! Time for a bit of rebolation

February 9, 2010

Our Brazil English month continues with another guest post, this time by Denilso de Lima,  ELT author, teacher trainer, conference speaker and member of the blogosphere. Denilso prepares us for Carnaval by introducing some creative word formation processes in Brazinglish.
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Here in Brazil, I have heard lots of common mistakes Brazilian learners make when speaking English. [...]

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That’s my English: Brazinglish

February 2, 2010

It’s gearing up for Carnaval in Brazil and as the world wishes it was there for the party, what better time to ask the question: What’s your English, Brazil? We’re dedicating February to Brazil English and here’s our first guest post from Jussara Simões, translator, interpreter and blogger.
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Nobody can deny that English has today the [...]

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Plain bad language – the winners

December 9, 2009

Well, it’s over. The Plain English Campaign 2009 awards were announced yesterday, and one of the winners was Lord Mandelson. Having left the cabinet twice in less than ideal circumstances, Mandelson is back in a position of some authority, and is seen as the government’s Great Communicator. But this observation, referring to the MPs’ expenses [...]

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Plain bad language

December 7, 2009

“Perhaps I could say, by way of introduction, welcome to our stakeholders. We look forward to our engagement, as we roll out our dialogue on a level playing field, so that, going forward in the public domain, we have a win-win step change that is fit for purpose across the piece.”
That was Dr Tony Wright, [...]

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A quick post to make you smile halfway though the weak …

November 25, 2009
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Casting a spell on English (part four)

November 24, 2009

When you’re looking for a word that you’ve heard, or only half-remember having ever seen, it can be tricky using a paper dictionary. You might look up shedule, not realising that there’s a C involved; or if you want to make a clamour you might look for a claxon (though what you really need is [...]

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Pedantic, moi?

November 12, 2009

One of the downsides of being in the dictionary business is that most people have a completely erroneous idea of what we do. A recent article in the Times ticked all the boxes in its caricature of the lexicographer: old, “boffinish” and hopelessly outmoded (still working with card indexes, apparently), we are nevertheless seen as [...]

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Casting a spell on English (part three)

November 10, 2009

There are a number of words in English which end with the consonant m followed by the consonant n. Words like hymn, condemn, solemn. We don’t pronounce the n so the words are pronounced /hɪm/, /kənˈdem/, and /ˈsɒləm/. When they form derived words, such as hymnal, condemnation, or solemnity, then the letter n becomes pronounced: [...]

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Casting a spell on English (continued)

October 22, 2009

There’s an old chestnut about the pronunciation of the word GHOTI. It’s pronounced, obviously enough, /fɪʃ/. The GH is /f/ as in cough; the O is /ɪ/ as in women; and the TI is /ʃ/ as in motion.
Not true, of course (it’s a made up word and you can read about it on Wikipedia, but [...]

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