Spanish words of the week: palma or palmo?
It’s that time of the week when we seek to get the measure of two more similar-looking Spanish nouns and how they are used. These are palma (feminine) and palmo (masculine). Read More
Language Learners
Use of Shall and Will
The normal way to express simple future time in English is using the modal verb will followed by the base form of a main verb. The modal verb shall can be used with the pronouns I and we, especially in questions, but is not used very much in modern English. Shall I bring you some tea?… Read More
French word of the week: nul
This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The word we're focusing on this week is the French word 'nul'. Read More
Each/Every/Either/Neither
The words each, every, either, and neither are distributives. Distributives are determiners that are used to talk about how something is shared out or divided. Each, every, either, and neither are used with a singular noun. Each child was given a balloon. I remember every detail of our conversation. Either child could win the prize. Neither plan was successful. Each and every Each and every are not used… Read More
Spanish words of the week: moda or modo?
Two more Spanish words that shouldn’t be confused despite their initial similarity are 'moda' (feminine) and 'modo' (masculine). Read More
French word of the week: prêt
This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The word we're focusing on this week is the French word 'prêt'. Read More
Active and passive forms in English
Active We use an active sentence when the subject of the verb is doing the action. The active is used in most English speech and writing, because we usually want to inform our listener or our reader who or what carried out the action of the verb. In the following… Read More
Spanish words of the week: gira or giro?
Our tour through the commonest meanings of similar-looking nouns that differ in ending, gender and usage turns to gira (feminine) and giro (masculine). Read More
French word of the week: chaque / chacun
This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The words we're focusing on this week are the French words 'chaque' and 'chacun'. Read More