Grammar
- A British Perspective On Further Or Farther
The question of further vs farther is a popular topic on grammar websites and has been discussed often enough on sites like GrammarGirl, so why should it need anything more said about it? Because firstly, nearly all these websites are American,...
- Merriam-webster Just Keeps Getting Better And Better.
Visual dictionary I have just recently discovered the Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online, which is an excellent resource with some very detailed annotated illustrations. They also actively encourage bloggers to use their illustrations in their blogs,...
- Political Vocabulary On Youtube From The Uk Parliament's User Channel
The UK parliament has its own YouTube channel. Perhaps of most interest to advanced learners is this series of short educational videos. These are, I imagine, aimed at young people in Britain, but they have subtitles and are quite light-hearted, so...
- Q & A When Do We Use 'whom' Instead Of 'who'.
I'm tempted to say almost never, but I'll try to be a bit more objective. Basic answer - in spoken and informal English, most native speakers use whom very rarely. This is because for most of us whom sounds excessively formal and rather old...
- In Language, Two And Two Can Be Four, Or A Foursome, Or A Quartet Or Maybe Two Couples, But It Doesn't Equal Anything
I recently saw this extraordinary statement on a language blog: We have often noted that often repeated language and grammar errors seem to become “correct” usage. Wouldn’t it be weird if math used that philosophy? When enough people said 2+2=5,...
Grammar
Merriam-Webster on YouTube
For queries about British English usage, my first port of call is usually Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, but I'm increasingly becoming a fan of the American Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. I especially like their Top Ten Words features and vocabulary quizzes.
I've now discovered that they have a YouTube channel with very short (two minutes or less) videos on various aspects of English.
These are mainly designed for native speakers and they speak at normal speed, but they are very short, so you can just listen again.
Merriam-Webster's philosophy is based very much on current usage, rather than on outdated rules. They have excellent usage notes on their online dictionary pages, especially on the more controversial topics.
And they have a Learner's Dictionary, which I haven't really investigated, but which includes a list of 3000 words you should know.
Check out Merriam-Webster's YouTube channel or you can find the list of videos at Merriam-Webster itself.
Videos on controversial topics
- Who vs whom - first they give the grammar and then they comment on current usage
- Fewer vs less - Tescos should have listened to this (see story) - Long live 'Ten items or less'! See comments below.
- Ending a sentence with a preposition - some people (but not many nowadays) still think it's wrong.
- Hopefully - some people think you shouldn't use hopefully as a sentence adverb to mean 'I hope'. Hopefully, less*** people feel like that nowadays.
Videos on general problems
- A vs an - aimed at learners
- Flat adverbs (adverbs without -ly)
Videos on interesting topics
- 'Posh' - the story I've been telling students for ages is apparently nonsense
- Rhyming slang
Comment
*** Traditionally speaking I should have used fewer there and not less. But less was what first came to mind, and I don't seem to be alone. Check out Google Books, for example. There's also a discussion at Using English and a song by Air Supply - Two less lonely people in the world (although not exactly my cup of tea, I must admit). In fact this rule seems to have stemmed from just one gentleman, a certain Mr. Baker in 1770 (see Wikipedia), and only really took off from the late nineteenth century.
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- A British Perspective On Further Or Farther
The question of further vs farther is a popular topic on grammar websites and has been discussed often enough on sites like GrammarGirl, so why should it need anything more said about it? Because firstly, nearly all these websites are American,...
- Merriam-webster Just Keeps Getting Better And Better.
Visual dictionary I have just recently discovered the Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online, which is an excellent resource with some very detailed annotated illustrations. They also actively encourage bloggers to use their illustrations in their blogs,...
- Political Vocabulary On Youtube From The Uk Parliament's User Channel
The UK parliament has its own YouTube channel. Perhaps of most interest to advanced learners is this series of short educational videos. These are, I imagine, aimed at young people in Britain, but they have subtitles and are quite light-hearted, so...
- Q & A When Do We Use 'whom' Instead Of 'who'.
I'm tempted to say almost never, but I'll try to be a bit more objective. Basic answer - in spoken and informal English, most native speakers use whom very rarely. This is because for most of us whom sounds excessively formal and rather old...
- In Language, Two And Two Can Be Four, Or A Foursome, Or A Quartet Or Maybe Two Couples, But It Doesn't Equal Anything
I recently saw this extraordinary statement on a language blog: We have often noted that often repeated language and grammar errors seem to become “correct” usage. Wouldn’t it be weird if math used that philosophy? When enough people said 2+2=5,...