Tag: English vocabulary

Collocations: using collocation dictionaries and AI

Written by Andrew Walkley on March 25, 2025. Posted in Chunks, Developing materials, Lexis, Vocabulary Choice. 7 Comments on Collocations: using collocation dictionaries and AI

When choosing collocations to teach, I often used references like Oxford Collocations . Now AI offers help, but is it any better? And are collocations actually what we should search for?My well-thumbed copy of Oxford CollocationsIn recent times I have done less of this kind of searching for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I tend to do this more when I am writing coursebooks where I am maybe a bit more considered in my choices. In terms of class, I think you get better at using your ‘intuition’ if you have regularly tested yourself and done research into collocations. And...

More fictional characters who appear in everyday English

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 20, 2023. Posted in Chunk of the day, Chunks. 1 Comment on More fictional characters who appear in everyday English

After the positive reception that my last post on literary figures in everyday speech got, I figured it made sense to write a follow-up exploring the way the names of some more fictional characters are used in daily conversation. Today, we’ll look at five famous characters and consider how they’ve passed into the language. First up is one of the most iconic detectives of all time – Sherlock Holmes. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes is famous for his powers of observation and deduction, his razor-sharp mind, and his logical reasoning. He’s also been portrayed...

Word of the day: Harry Pottered out

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 6, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Word of the day. No Comments on Word of the day: Harry Pottered out

I spent last Friday and Saturday in Bologna, Italy, where I was talking at an excellent conference for English-language teachers. In one of the talks that I saw, a teacher was describing a one-week summer school course for kids that she’d helped organise. The week had been based around the Harry Potter books, so kids had made their own costumes, acted out various scenes and so on. “By the end of the five days“, she said, “I was totally Harry Pottered out!” In other words, she’d had enough of Harry...

From a trickle to a flood: water metaphors and their emotional pull

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 5, 2023. Posted in Chunk of the day, Chunks. No Comments on From a trickle to a flood: water metaphors and their emotional pull

One of the most depressing things about British politics right now – and trust me, there are plenty of things to get depressed about – is the fact that there aren’t really any mainstream politicians who’re willing to be honest about the fact that the country needs immigrants . . . and that without significant amounts of immigration, the economy in general and the NHS and the care sector in particular would be in grave danger of collapsing. Instead what we get is the worst possible people exploiting the suffering of those fleeing conflict or hardship abroad and demonising the...

Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology

Written by Hugh Dellar on October 13, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Phrase of the day. 4 Comments on Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology

A while back, I wrote a blog post about words and expressions that come from literature, but have passed into everyday use. Today, inspired by a recent conversation with my daughter, who’s currently obsessed with Greek mythology, I wanted to dig a bit deeper into the way the ideas from old myths and stories become embedded in the language and understood even by those unfamiliar with their origins.One morning, I was having breakfast with my kids and the news was on the radio. My daughter heard the newsreader claim that ‘the NHS (the National Health Service) will be the...

Literary figures in everyday speech

Written by Hugh Dellar on January 18, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Phrase of the day. 2 Comments on Literary figures in everyday speech

In one of my recent classes, we were discussing the way in which the use of social media inside authoritarian countries like Russia, China and Iran is almost always monitored, and how posting something that’s deemed to be subversive or in opposition to the state can land you in hot water. Share an anti-government meme or express support for Ukraine or the Women, Life, Freedom protesters and you might find the secret police knocking on your door in the small hours.Many people living inside such countries are all-too well aware of the fact that Big Brother is always watching you. Now,...