WITH two continents, South America and Europe, at the moment totally absorbed with football and the fallout of their main competitions, it’s easy to see how heavily football, and other sports, influence our language. English is peppered with phrases and expressions that reference the sport, or sport in general. I could kick off with aContinue reading “A world of football”
Category Archives: English
Who or whom
It was my friend Rhodri, when I asked for ideas on topics for this blog, who suggested that I could try to explain when to use “who” and when to use “whom”. It’s a problem I had struggled with also so I could see why it might be worth an explanation. I’ve always used aContinue reading “Who or whom”
My pet hates
There are some things that I can’t get used to, however many times I hear or read them – and however often people say they’ve become part of the English language. Sure, English, like any language, develops and changes as it hits the shores of different lands and mixes with other dialects and languages. ItContinue reading “My pet hates”
Sprung or sprang; swum or swam?
First published on April 28. Edited on April 29 THE death of Prince Philip gave the media another chance to tell the story of how he was considered some sort of a deity for a community of people on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. So it came about that I was listening to anContinue reading “Sprung or sprang; swum or swam?”
Getting it write? Why the right word matters
They used the hose to dig his garden; then they took the hoes to the far end of the garden to water the plants in the boarders. OK, that’s an extreme example above… and a made-up one. But if you do any sort of proofreading you’re bound to come across examples of how the wrongContinue reading “Getting it write? Why the right word matters”
Playing with words
People like playing with words … especially if they’re searching for a catchy name for a business that they hope will make their millions. In most of these examples the “play” is produced by replacing a key word with one that sounds the same but is spelt differently – “barber” for “Baba” for example. TheContinue reading “Playing with words”
Spelling tricks, and how to remember which word to use in English
Sitting day-dreaming in my primary school class one day years ago, I realised the English teacher was saying something interesting about how you could “fry your friend to the end”. A striking image for my then fertile imagination … and a good way to remember how to spell “friend”. And better than that old andContinue reading “Spelling tricks, and how to remember which word to use in English”
Whatstheword 