Tag Archives: British English

A lost cause?

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Carmen Ebner

Yesterday Scotland has voted and decided to stay within the United Kingdom. Today newspapers are filled with punchy and informative headlines analysing the outcome of the Scottish referendum. When I was reading an article in The Independent, my eyes fell immediately … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged BBC, British English, concede, defeat, media, Scotland, usage problem, victory, vote, wrong | 3 Comments

Censoring the ‘G-word’

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Morana Lukač

Within the political correctness (PC) movements, many words addressing discrimination ended up on the banned list throughout the years. However, the PC vocabulary has a number of opponents as well, who rightfully claim that the PC movement is occasionally used … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBC, British English, censorship, gender neutral language, girl, Mark Beaumont, PC, politically correct | 1 Comment

Next generation of prescriptivists?

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Carmen Ebner

“I am a pedant. There is no question about it. Everyone I know would agree, and I accept and embrace it. I have no problem with being called a nerd, or a geek, or any synonyms of these words.” These … Continue reading →

Posted in polls and surveys, usage features | Tagged attitudes, British English, correcting, Gifford, grammar, mistake, Tesco | 1 Comment

Of compound words and the doom of English

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Carmen Ebner

Have you ever noticed a difference between American and British English when it comes to compound words? Lynne Truss, author of the bestseller Eats, Shoots and Leaves, argues in her weekly column in The Telegraph that the American tradition of compounding … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American English, British English, compound words, descriptive, linguists, Lynne Truss, prescriptive, txting | Leave a comment

A few tips from the editor

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Morana Lukač

This October, Joy Burrough, an authors’ editor, gave a talk entitled ‘An Introduction to Editing’ to the humanities PhD students at Leiden University. Aside from describing the editing process, Joy answered some specific questions regarding common issues researchers come across … Continue reading →