French word of the week: qui

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 pronoun 'qui'. Read More

Paris 2024™

Between 26 July and 11 August sports fans the world over will be abuzz as France hosts what is officially the twenty-third Olympiad™ – in Paris, in sixteen other sites across France and on French Tahiti, where the windsurfing competition will take place. In French, the games are… Read More

Commas

The comma marks a short pause between elements in a sentence. Main clauses that are joined together with and or but do not normally have a comma before the conjunction unless the two clauses have different subjects. You go out of the door and turn immediately left. It was cold outside, but we decided to… Read More

Quotation marks

Quotation marks are mainly used in direct speech. Direct speech gives the actual words that a speaker is using or has used. It is common in novels and other writing where the actual words of a speaker are quoted. In British English, these marks can also be called ‘inverted commas’. The… Read More

Learning Italian: Shopping in Italy

Italy is home to hundreds of top designer brands such as Gucci, Dolce e Gabbana and Prada, and hosts its famous Milan Fashion Week every year. For those who want to splash their cash (spendere e spandere in Italian), pick up some souvenirs or simply shop for groceries, this blog… Read More