COBUILD

Reported speech

When you use reported speech, the words put into the reported clause do not exactly match the words spoken. ‘I’ll leave at 8.30 on Friday.’ à She says that she will leave at 8.30 on Friday. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you.’ à She says she’s looking forward to seeing us. Pronouns and possessive… Read More

Indirect speech

Indirect speech or reported speech reports something that was said, but does not use the actual words that the speaker uttered. Lynn asked whether Pippa had been to the new shopping mall. Pippa replied that she hadn’t, but she had heard that there were some really cool shops there. Reported speech always has two clauses. The words… Read More

Direct speech

Direct speech gives the actual words that a speaker has used. It is common in novels and other writing where the actual words of a speaker are quoted. The reporting verb may come before the words that were actually spoken, or after them, or at a natural pause inside the reported sentence. Read More

The lazy, hazy days of summer

During August – which in some luckier parts of Britain is finally producing seasonable weather – two ‘days’ encourage us to switch off, dial down and generally ease off on normal activities. National Lazy Day falls on 10 August, followed cold on… Read More

Gill (Jyl) Francis 1945 – 2024

Gill Francis (she later used the spelling Jyl) was one of the pioneering team who worked on the Collins Cobuild English Dictionary (CCED), published in 1995, and led a small team that compiled the Grammar Pattern series published in 1996 and 1998. In this she was… Read More

What’s the difference between indoors and indoor?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: indoors and indoor. indoors function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); } Indoors is an adverb. If you go indoors, you go into a building. It started to rain, so… Read More

What’s the difference between outdoors and outdoor?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: outdoors and outdoor. outdoors function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); } Outdoors is an adverb. If something happens outdoors, it does not happen inside a building. He spent a… Read More

What’s the difference between late and lately?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: late and lately. late function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); } Late can be an adjective or an adverb. If you are late for something, you arrive after the time… Read More

What’s the difference between exhausted, exhausting and exhaustive?

This week we are looking at a few words that could be confusing for some learners of English: exhausted, exhausting, and exhaustive. exhausted function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); } If you are exhausted, you are very tired. At the… Read More