And...kaBoom! Three years have gone by since I wrote my first entry for this blog and here I am celebrating my third blogaversary with y'all! And in this anniversary, you'll be given the opportunity to reconnect with my blog! How? By having a quick look to all the entries I've written so far (161, wow!) and revisit some of my old entries. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that might be appealing to you, so let's get started...
1. English quirks : This is probably the key section in my blog, the one that explain the blog's title and the one I particularly love the most. Curiosities and oddities about English that have so far fascinated me and that I'm sure will mesmerise you. What quirks of English have I explored so far ?
- When verbs collocate with their nouns : Verbs that can be found with their own nouns (live my life). Find many more examples in this entry.
- Itanglish : English has flooded Italian : How a great deal of English loanwords have flooded the Italian language and are far more common than Italian words.
- Italian has also influenced English : The traces of Italian into the English language (zucchini, spaghetti, piano...)
- The suffix -ing can create new words : New tendencies and activities created by adding the suffix -ing (like manspreading)
- Middle verbs : Verbs that have both active and passive meaning ! Get to know them !
- Eponyms : Words are sometimes created to render honour to a specific person. February renders homage to the God Febo. Get to know some other examples in this entry !
- False friends can be real friends : Sometimes false friends have a closely related meaning to their own appearance. Have a look at some examples in this entry.
- My favourite list of false friends : False friends are words that resemble similarly to other words in a language but they have different meanings from the ones you can expect. Get to know some of them in this entry.
- Clippings : Words that have been reduced due to linguistic economy, among other reasons. 'Bro' is a clipping for brother, for instance. Click on the link to get to know more clipped words in English.
- Abbreviations and initials : Common abbreviations used in everyday language, such as 'aka' (also known as) or 'MIA' (missing in action).
- Homophones, that is, words written differently and yet pronounced in the same way, for example, words such as 'right' and 'write' or 'sun' and 'son'. Amazing, eh ?
- French influence on English : 'Vis-a-vis', 'fiancé', 'cliché' and many more other French words are commonplace in the English language.
- Interjections : Short phrases thanks to which we can express a wide range of feelings. Examples of these are Homer Simpson's catchy phrase 'd'oh', or more familiar ones such as 'hurrah' or 'cool'.
- Paronyms I and paronyms II : Very similar words, words that look like the same but have different meanings: economic (related to economy) and economical (cheap) are two examples or paronyms. To know more, click on the links provided.
- Animal sounds in English and Spanish : Would it be surprising for you to know that animal sounds are perceived differently according to the culture ? That's right, indeed. In English birds say 'tweet' while in Spanish they say 'pio, pio'. Can you believe it ?
- Languages which have deeply influenced English : Although English has a remarkable identity by itself, it is, on the other hand, a compound of a great deal of languages including Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish... Click on the link to know more examples.
- Homographs : Words written in the same way but pronounced differently. 'Read' in the infinitive is pronounced differently from 'read' in the past and participle forms, but there are way more examples !
- 10 quirks about irregular verbs : Irregular verbs accompany us during our English learning process. If you want to know some curiosities about them, click on the link !
- Blends : The English ability to combine two words together to create a new one. A two-word hybrid, indeed. 'Brunch' (breakfast + lunch) and 'smog' (smoke + fog) are very good examples.
- Auto-antonyms and brand-new autoantonyms: Contradictory words with contradictory meanings. 'Then' refers to a time in the past and a time in the future. Get to know more fun auto-antonyms.
- Conversion : How English changes the grammatical category of a word without adding any prefixes or suffixes.
- English flexibility : one letter changes everything: Learn how by changing one single letter in English, you can create tons and tons of words...
- A: a letter that can create adverbs in English: The prefix a- appended to some words can create new adverbs (for example, a + loud = aloud). Get to know more examples in this entry.
- Back formations: Did you know that the verb 'babysit' was created after the word 'babysitter' and not the other way round? Get to know some more examples of back formation in this entry.
- Toponyms I: Example of words that are named after a famous geographical location. Beware! There are more examples that you can imagine.
- Toponyms II: Some more example of toponyms!
Future entries :These are all the entries that I have written about the English quirks, but I intend to write many more about antonyms, the influence of Greek upon English, proper names in English, compounds, the English accents and varieties, polysemy, prefixes and suffixes, and hypochorisms...So, stay tuned !
- Dog days: Vocabulary and expressions related to heat and hot weather.
- Friday, 13th: Lexis and expressions related to good and bad luck.
Future entries : In addition I'm planning to write another one about different ways of saying hello and goodbye; and probably two others related to expressions of beginning and end.
3. Culture : A language cannot be separated from its culture. That is why I have included some entries about cultural elements in the English language:
- Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night : Discover the Gunpowder plot of November, 5th.
- Remembrance Day and Veterans Day : Discover why, November 11th is so important for the US and the UK.
- Friday, 13th : some good luck charms, bad luck bearers and much more...
- Back 2 school: The school system in England ! Don't miss it !
- Wedding parties : This entry deals with the widely known hen night, stag parties and other parties prior to the wedding.
Future entries : In the future I will continue to write about the most important cultural elements of the United Kingdom, influential people in the US, Pancake Day and Mardí Gras. Moreover, I will be writing about World Book Day, St. George and other important Saints in the UK and other places...
- Text messages : Try to decipher some text messages including abbreviations and symbols.
- Homophones : Some exercises to test if you know some homophones.
- Easter videos : Practise your listening comprehension with some videos related to Easter.
- It's a Beautiful Day : Complete this song by Michel Bublé with modals and do other varied exercises.
- World Peace Day : Four songs about peace including Green Day's 21 Guns with exercises.
- Fast Car : Enjoy this song by Tracy Chapman and improve your English !
Future entries : I will continue uploading more and more exercises including new songs for you to keep practising your English ! I am open to suggestions !
5. English vs. Spanish : I like comparing my mother tongue with my favourite tongue. So far I've only written these four entries :
- Interjections : Different interjections in English and Spanish.
- Lost in Translation : Speaking English by mechanically translating from Spanish does not always work. Here you have some examples.
Future entries : I will keep on writing about this. In fact, I am preparing an entry on idioms that are practically the same in Spanish and English and also examples of funny translation made by my students!
6. Grammar : English grammar is sometimes difficult but we all have grown accustomed to it. Here are the entries I wrote :
Future entries : In the future I am planning to write about the most complicated grammar items in English. Besides, I will write about the gender in the English language. In addition, I intend to write an entry about the verbs 'do' and another one about some quirks of modal verbs.
7. Literature : Reading is and has always been my pending subject. In spite of that I have managed to write some book reviews throughout these three years:
8. English pronunciation : Tricky, chaotic, difficult... We think of these adjectives regarding English pronunciation. Here are my entries :
- Same or different ? : Decide if these tricky words are pronounced in the same way or differently.
Future entries : Well, I am planning an entry about the pronunciation of English in different parts of the globe, and I will also be exploring the different vocalic and consonantal sounds in English.
9. Christmas : Probably the best time of the year. These are my entries so far.
10. General stuff : Interesting information that do not belong to the previous aforementioned categories :
- The aims of the blog : the first entry of the blog containing my intentions when I started writing the blog.
Future entries : another one on more fun resources to keep learning English.
11. Blog anniversary : How did I commemorate the anniversaries of my blog ? :
