Apostrophes: everything you ever wanted to know, just about.
Yesterday, 16 August, was International Apostrophe Day, and the cue for lots of apostrophe articles and Twitter posts. The following quick guide to when and
Category: English
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Ba(nne)d words: the GOV.UK style guide
I love a good style guide. And I applaud anyone encouraging the use of clear English. But the GOV.UK style guide, produced by the United Kingdom’s
The name game (2): bilingual baby names
One of the problems bilingual families face when choosing their babies’ names is finding something that’s easy to pronounce in both parents’ countries and languages
Hard times bring new words
The New York Times has published an interesting article on the new words and terms being used by Europe’s citizens as a result of the
How good is your grammar?
Primary-school pupils in England have been sitting a new grammar, spelling and punctuation test (check out the specimen questions) as part of their final year
English local elections 2013: a linguistic conundrum
Yesterday’s local elections in England saw the UK Independence Party (UKIP) win a remarkable 25% of the vote. Immigration is a key concern of many
Making sense of legalese. Not.
If you’ve ever felt bewildered by legalese and found it far removed from Plain English, take heart: you’re in good company. Court of Appeal judge Sir
And on the subject of “horses for courses” (meat or otherwise)…
…the phrase means: A person suited for one job may not be suited for another job. The practice of choosing the best person for a
A last-minute Christmas gift for spelling-challenged book lovers
Just enough time for one more gift idea for book lovers: “Spell It Out –The Singular Story of English Spelling”, by David Crystal. In the
Omnishambles: object-lessons in how not to contract out language services
“An object-lesson in how not to contract out a public service”. That’s how the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public