Language Learners

How to use ‘Used to’

The verb used to is a ‘marginal’ modal verb. Unlike the other modal verbs, it is only found in the past tense. Therefore, when it is used with do to make negatives and questions, the form of the auxiliary verb is always did.  Used to is used as follows:  to describe an activity or a state that… Read More

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

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: monter

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 verb 'monter'. Read More

Spanish words of the week: rueda or ruedo?

Time to separate out another pair of potentially confusable Spanish nouns… Join us as we set the ball rolling with ruedo (masculine) and rueda (feminine). Starting with the feminine rueda, you can listen to its pronunciation here: You’ll usually find four ruedas on a car, two… 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