Tag Archives: American English
English Words in the News Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 27, 2019
If you’ve been following the news coming out of the US lately, you’ve no doubt heard some terms which don’t mean what you might think they mean. This is typical of the English language. We have a talent for creating metaphors, colloquialisms, and idioms to convey meaning. Some of these have been in usage for…
Some Funny English Words Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 13, 2019
I recently had a conversation with someone who is much younger than I am (that’s not hard to do, at my age), and I happened to say that something flummoxed me. She laughed and said, “Flummoxed? I’ve never heard that word before!” Ah. I had entered the anachronous zone, where the common language of someone…
Untranslatable Words in English Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 14, 2019
As you may know, Transparent Language publishes blogs dedicated to many different languages. One of the great things about my job is that I have the pleasure of reading them all. One topic which appears on many of these pages is the untranslatable word. German is loaded with them, but I’ve seen the subject come…
English Superlatives Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 3, 2019
Pictured: The Grand Canyon. But, really, it’s the grandest canyon, don’t you think? In English, if you want to describe something, you use an adjective. There essentially are three types of adjectives – simple, comparative, and superlative. The most basic examples would be big, bigger, biggest. I ate a big sandwich, my sister ate a…
Top English Blog Posts of 2018 Posted by Gary Locke on Dec 27, 2018
We have arrived at the end of another year. It is traditional to look back and reflect on what was on our minds over the preceding 12 months and to see which blogs got your attention. After all, we write these pieces for you, to help you understand our language and the culture in which…
Informal English Contractions Posted by Gary Locke on May 17, 2018
Native English speakers can be very lazy with our own language. We create contractions based on the way we actually say things. In time, these contractions work their way into everyday speech. However, if you are learning our language and you hear one of these contractions, you can’t be faulted for wondering just what is…
Driving in England and the U.S. Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 15, 2018
By now you probably know that drivers in the U.S. drive on the right-hand side of the road, but in the U.K., they drive on the left. As someone who has driven in both countries, believe me when I say that it is not an easy adjustment to make. Everything just looks wrong, not least…