English advanced

Nov 294 min read

Collective nouns: Un meurtre de corbeaux? / un asesinato de cuervos / ein Mord von Krähen

Collective nouns are quaint and expressive, often bizarre. Here's an overview of how they originated and how they are used in modern English

Oct 113 min read

As camp as a mushroom

Camping, campaign, champagne, and champignons all derive from the same etymological place, but it doesn’t stop there...

Jul 186 min read

The present continuous and the present simple

Do you know the difference between "What are you doing?" and "What do you do?" This is a guide: present simple vs present continuous tense

Jan 138 min read

Word origins: the animal kingdom

Learn the etymology behind some animal words. Some are surprising, at least one can be debunked and a couple stump even the experts

Dec 26, 20235 min read

Where does the English language come from?

English is a Germanic language, right? Yes, but... it's more complicated than that. Read a brief summary of the origins of English

Dec 16, 20231 min read

Festive word explanations (English language)

Singing carols, eating turkey and mince pies, decorating the tree with tinsel... Where do these words come from? Find out here

Jun 27, 20222 min read

Abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms

FYI, RSVP is not an acronym, it's an initialism. LOL, however, appears to be making the change. Are you confident to tell which is which?

May 31, 20223 min read

Question tags

Question tags are tricky in English, aren't they? Some great news: They are dead easy in other languages ¿no? Read on for reassurance

Dec 27, 20211 min read

27 Patching Mares Day 3

Can you find a link between the pics, or as Dr Spooner might have said, a pink between the licks?

Feb 20, 20213 min read

Dodging the machine gun Spanish bullets

Have you ever despaired at the rapidity with which Spanish people seem to jabber? Well, it's an accurate observation. Here's the reason