COBUILD

world hearing day

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 collaborate and cooperate?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: collaborate and cooperate. collaborate When people collaborate on a project, they work together in order to produce something. For example, two writers can collaborate to produce a single piece of… Read More

What’s the difference between generally and mainly?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: generally and mainly. generally Generally means `usually’, `in most cases’, or `on the whole’. Paperback books are generally cheapest. His answer was generally correct. mainly Use mainly, rather than ‘generally’, to say that… Read More

What’s the difference between latter and former?

This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: latter and former. latter function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); } The latter should only be used to refer to the second of two things or people which… Read More