Feb 19, 2017 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: You wait ages for a bus . . . London has much to be proud of, but you’d be hard pushed to find anyone willing to praise the punctuality of our public transport. Whatever else it may be, London is certainly not Tokyo. In Tokyo, if a sign says a train will be along in three minutes, then you can bet you bottom dollar […]
Feb 16, 2017 Grammar, Opinions Grammar nonsense 1: reported speech Is there anything that is more bizarrely and unnecessarily taught in ELT than reported speech? There have been many times when my heart has sunk as I’ve faced ‘the reported speech unit’ – both as a teacher and as a writer. I’ve often wanted to disappear into a dark corner and weep! And there have […]
Feb 16, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: bugbear A bugbear is a pet hate – a small thing that annoys you and that you probably moan about to other people. In less polite terms, we might say that a bugbear is something that gets on your tits (strangely, a phrase that seems to be said more often by men than by women!) or […]
Feb 14, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: snowflake London had its first real sprinkling of snow last weekend. It wasn’t that exciting, to be honest: a couple of inches fell on Friday night, which is nothing compared to the kind of snow I’m sure many of you get every year, but it was enough to bring the city to a standstill. As always […]
Feb 13, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: crush It’s Valentine’s Day today, the one day of the year when married men panic buy the last sad bunches of flowers from garages on their drives home, restaurants double their prices and still end up fully booked weeks in advance, suicide rates soar and emotionally-stunted teenagers send anonymous cards (often written using a range of […]
