David Cameron has referred to it as his ‘mission’ and his ‘passion’, but it does seem that very few people are entirely sure what the ‘Big Society’ is actually all about. This isn’t too surprising when even those well and...
Catie Holdridge
Dangerous jargon
Jargon can bring clarity for experts and irritation for laypeople, but could it sometimes be life threatening? Yes, according to the coroner heading up the inquest into the London terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005, Lady Justice Hallett. Simple impatience with unclear...
Reading test for six-year-olds to include made-up words
The latest plan to boost children’s literacy levels involves a reading test for six-year-olds, which includes made-up words like ‘mip’, ‘fack’, ‘zort’, ‘koob’ and ‘glimp’. The Government scheme is...
Online overload: we shall overcome?
Our brains are being re-wired and overloaded with every click of the mouse, according to Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. Our innate love of the new has found a virtual wonderland online, but the scattered nature of our...
Ban the bull
They say money talks. But why does financial language so often leave the poor reader in need of subtitles? Since the credit crunch, the thorny issue of finance has dominated the media. If only we all had a euro for every story we’d read on the subject,...
Fewer numbers without language
Those who see themselves more as ‘number people’ than ‘word people’ might be surprised to learn that their understanding of numbers is actually dependent on language. New research has found that, without language, it is impossible to properly...
Has or have?
We received this question from a Write Now reader: Should I say 'a block of bedrooms has / have been reserved'? I think it is 'has' as it refers to the block, but on past papers I can see it has said 'have'. Please advise. Sandra Thanks, Sandra: good question. You’re...
Word choice betrays your personality
Whatever online persona you may have chosen to adopt in your blog, your deepest personality traits may be given away by your choice of words, a new study has found. The specific words bloggers use relate to which of the ‘big five’ personality factors...
Rainy days and Mondays
How many words can you use to say, ‘Rain all day’? A wet start to the day with some heavier bursts of rain around. It is likely to stay wet for much of the day with further rain at times. Nice work, BBC Weather.
Reform school?
Declining standards of English are still a big concern, judging by the anticipated content of a government white paper due out today. The reforms are expected to reverse much of what the Labour government brought in; such as the modular approach to examining, where...
The slang debate
When actress Emma Thompson warned teenagers against using slang on a recent visit to her former school, she probably didn’t expect to spark a debate. But spark one she did. It was, apparently, the ‘likes’, ‘innits?’ and ‘it...
Using however
‘However’ is a useful word, however you look at it. But our readers often ask us to clarify the right ways to use it. However we can help, say we. Meaning ‘but’ The most common way of using ‘however’ is to mean ‘but’. This usually comes at the beginning of a sentence,...