In his recent post, Michael announced that the latest update of the Macmillan Dictionary features a...
Author - Gill Francis
Don’t shoot the messenger
In a previous post, I tried to show that it is perfectly natural and acceptable to say he shot dead...
They don’t shoot dead people, do they?
Each Saturday a small section entitled ‘Chris Maslanka’s Puzzles’ appears on the Guardian...
Stop asking silly questions!
In my last post I mentioned a Telegraph poll which asked innocently: Does grammar matter? Other...
Do grammar quizzes matter?
The argument about teaching and testing grammar in schools seems to have mutated into an...
“Pupils go back in time …”: more on accidental ambiguity
Most verbal humour depends on some kind of mismatch between two words or phrases and the funny or...
A dangling modifier walks into a bar …
You may be familiar with the not-very-funny jokes based on the old formula “someone/something walks...
Verbs in learner’s dictionaries 3: ‘Your order has...
My recent posts (here and here) discussed verbs like teach and disappoint, which are both...
Verbs in learner’s dictionaries 2: ‘He only does it to annoy …’
Last week’s post focused on the thousands of verbs that are classified in dictionaries as...
Verbs in learner’s dictionaries 1: ‘Enjoy your meal’ or just...
In dictionaries generally – whether intended for native speakers or for learners – the majority of...