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Showing posts from August, 2019

Ten most commonly misspelled words?

Came across this recent list, apparently from the Oxford Dictionary. Definately​ Goverment​ ... Seperate. ... Occured. ... Untill​ ... Recieve​ ... Wich​ ... Accomodate Pharoah  Publicially Some interesting changes from the list I used for this OUP post nearly a decade ago  here . The inclusion of 'wich' and 'untill' may alarm - 'pharaoh' not so much....

What is Moore's Law? Are robots taking over the world?

In 1965  Gordon Moore, co-founder of  Intel ,  observed that the number of  transistors  per square inch on  integrated circuits   had doubled every year since the integrated circuit was invented. Moore predicted that this trend would continue for the foreseeable future   source Computers are getting faster and (relatively) cheaper with each passing year. The phones we carry in our pockets are far more powerful than the ones that sent the Apollo astronauts to the Moon.  Moore has suggested that his law will not continue indefinitely - suggesting  2025 as a possible end date. Others have speculated about  what might replace it .  Download The English Language Teaching Pack  for only £1.99

Language Wars: Nations without an official language?

In his  Language Wars (2011) Henry Hitchins lists eight nations which do not have an official primary language. This number has now reduced to five, with Ethiopia, Somalia and Pakistan all nominating official languages. UK see here USA though 20 states now have an official language —  see here Australia 80 % speak English but not official Pakistan Urdu became the official language in 2015 Ethiopia Amharic, though there are more Oromo speakers  Somalia Somali and Arabic Eritrea Costa Rica Why these countries? (5 minute read) How many French Words in English?How did they get there? The English Language — Fun Facts & FAQ Teaching Pack  —  only £1.99