There are several excellent shows and segments on public radio which involve the English language. Some involve pretty advanced vocabulary, but they are enjoyable even if you don't know all the words - even the experts who are featured on the shows don't know it all!
WGBH airs Says You! on Sunday at 11am and Saturday at 8pm. It will tape an episode this summer in nearby Camden, Maine. WGBH also airs The Writer's Almanac weekday mornings at 8:55am. This short segment includes some literary history and a poem reading.
WBUR airs repeats of My Word Sunday at 10:30pm. This show was recorded by the BBC from 1956-1990. The British accents add an extra level of difficulty, but it is silly and reassuring to see experts making mistakes about English. too.
Weekend Edition Sunday (WGBH at 7 and 8am, WBUR at 8am) has a puzzle segment with Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle.
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
And now for something completely different...
Etc.
English language learners are sometimes confused by the abbreviation "etc." This is actually the Latin phrase et cetera (et = and; cetera = the rest). It means "and other things like that." Even though it is almost always written as an abbreviation, it is pronounced in full: /et 'set er a/
Imagine you have an incomplete list:
apples, bananas, grapes, etc.
That ending tells you that there are other things on the list which aren't written down, and you can read it: "apples, bananas, grapes, and other things like that." What could etc. mean here? Because the listed things are all kinds of fruit, it could mean oranges, peaches, or pears. It could not mean pizza, computers, or horses.
&
The Latin et also gave us the shape of the ampersand, which means "and." Although the ampersand often looks like this:
&
a few fonts make it easier to see the Et letters (here in Trebuchet):
&
Cool, huh?
(This post's title is taken from the name of a Monty Python movie. The Monty Python TV show and movies were from England, so both the accents and the cultural jokes may sometimes seem hard to understand. However, the silliness of their skits is easy to understand without a word of English!)
English language learners are sometimes confused by the abbreviation "etc." This is actually the Latin phrase et cetera (et = and; cetera = the rest). It means "and other things like that." Even though it is almost always written as an abbreviation, it is pronounced in full: /et 'set er a/
Imagine you have an incomplete list:
apples, bananas, grapes, etc.
That ending tells you that there are other things on the list which aren't written down, and you can read it: "apples, bananas, grapes, and other things like that." What could etc. mean here? Because the listed things are all kinds of fruit, it could mean oranges, peaches, or pears. It could not mean pizza, computers, or horses.
&
The Latin et also gave us the shape of the ampersand, which means "and." Although the ampersand often looks like this:
&
a few fonts make it easier to see the Et letters (here in Trebuchet):
&
Cool, huh?
(This post's title is taken from the name of a Monty Python movie. The Monty Python TV show and movies were from England, so both the accents and the cultural jokes may sometimes seem hard to understand. However, the silliness of their skits is easy to understand without a word of English!)
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