A murder of crows and other odd collective nouns

You’ve heard of a class of students, a pack of dogs, a herd of cows, and probably a school of fish. These are collective nouns — a group of people, animals or things. The English language can get humorous at times, even a bit crazy, with its 900 collective nouns. Most were coined in the […]

24 December 2017 by Dave Child

Four words we lost that English really needs

Words slip in and out of the English language according to the things we use and the way we think. Some words should have remained in our lexicon, but are sadly lost and, apparently, not missed:

2 December 2017 by Dave Child

5 English words we should use more often

There are way more words in the English language than one would think, and some great ones don’t get the love they deserve.

17 November 2017 by Dave Child

Proofreading with Readable – 7 strategies to instantly improve readability and write content that converts

You need an action plan for improving your readability. We’ll highlight some steps you can take so you can confidently go forth and clarify your content.

27 September 2017 by Laura Kelly

How to correctly use ‘per se’

‘Per se’ is originally a Latin term which is commonly misused in English. Find out the true meaning of per se and how you can avoid this easy mistake. 

11 August 2017 by Laura Kelly

Top four metaphors of everyday English

If this topic seems unclear to you, allow me to shed some light. You may see metaphors as literary devices, but in fact, our everyday language is full of them, and they are among the keys to speaking English like a native or just enjoying the play of our language.

21 July 2017 by Dave Child

The five lost letters of the English language

Most of us know the English alphabet backwards and forwards. We learned our letters as children and we forever have the ear-worm of the alphabet song stuck in our heads, but did you know that there were actually a few letters that didn’t quite make the cut for our modern alphabet? After Christianity took over […]

2 April 2017 by Dave Child

Mistakes were made: understanding passive voice

Listen to someone trying to explain a high-profile error, and you’ll probably hear them say something like “Mistakes were made in carrying out the plan” or “The wrong envelope was given to the presenter.”

12 March 2017 by Dave Child

Inspire your way out of writer’s block

Every writer will at some point be faced with writer’s block. So, how can you tempt inspiration out of the shadows and words onto the page?

24 February 2017 by Ruth Colmer