Updates 2022
This page features only the updates for 2022. Click here for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015-2016.
16 December 2022
Hi everybody,
Dear me, I seem to spend every new update on this site apologising for not regularly adding updates, and I'm afraid I'm no different as regards this time.
But I would just like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year.
I can't guarantee that I'll be more regular with updates next year as I'm now so busy with regular work. But I do have some exciting projects coming up, including a new book based on the most popular feature on the site - expressing numbers in English. It's taken almost two years to research and I think I've now reached a point where I'm almost ready to publish it as a downloadable book from this website. I'll have more details when I get closer to the time.
Anyway, here's to, I hope, a much happier new year for everyone. And I mean everyone.
Roger Hartopp
Miserable student quote: 'Sometimes the best Christmas present is remembering what you've already got.'
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23 November 2022
It's long overdue, but finally we have an updated list of the top 15 tips for students of the English language!
Miserable student quote: 'Definition of punctuality: Waiting around for other people.'
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7 September 2022
Some additional information added to the subject of organisms in our translations section.
Miserable student quote: 'I decided to sell my vacuum cleaner this week as it was just collecting dust.'
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30 May 2022
Another new example added to our list in Dysfluency: hesitators, pauses, linkers, signallers, discourse markers.
Why. No, I'm not answering my own question, but the word 'why' itself is used in dysfluency.
Miserable student quote: 'This book I'm reading about anti-gravity is so good I can't put it down.'
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22 May 2022
STOP PRESS: Dysfluency: hesitators, pauses, linkers, signallers, discourse markers: Now added to the FEATURES index, and also properly arranged for mobile viewing.
Miserable student quote: 'Don't you hate rhetorical questions? I do.'
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17 May 2022
Mind you: a new example added to our list in Dysfluency: hesitators, pauses, linkers, signallers, discourse markers.
Miserable student quote: 'The problem isn’t that obesity runs in your family: it’s that no one runs in your family.'
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5 May 2022
Oh my goodness me! After five months, we have a new feature for you! Dysfluency: hesitators, pauses, linkers, signallers, discourse markers – often used in spoken English, but sometimes in written English is all about those things you say when speaking but aren't always necessary - but are vital to either help you think or to add more emphasis or character to when you're speaking or even in your text.
So, to find out more about um, er, anyway, so, although, right, and all those other words. What do they mean?
Miserable student quote: 'They say money doesn't buy you happiness. Well, it can certainly buy you a Happy Meal.'
19 January 2022
No major changes this week, apart from the links to where you can buy the books. It looks like the print run is coming to an end so one major project this year is to put together the second edition of this book. As yet I don't know if it will become available in print, but if not, it will be made as a download from this site. Anyway, here are the available links for those sources that appear to still have copies of the book, but to quote a publishing cliche: Available while stocks last.
Miserable student quote: 'My girlfriend likes me being fat. She says it gives her even more to dislike about me.'
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