English Language FAQ

There are no formal rules for writing SMS/texts. There are, however, some conventions.  Texts (SMS) often use short sentences break grammar & spelling rules contain neologisms use short forms including acroynms & abbreviations Are ‘text words’ easy to understand? SMS short-forms are usually easy to recognise. Most take the first letter of a word or each word in a phrase e.g OMG Some are already in general English (e.g. ASAP for ‘as soon as possible’.). Others follow the same rule AAMOF for "as a matter of fact" IMHO for "in my humble opinion," or PLMK for please let me know. Which short-forms are most confusing? Neologisms from common words or phrases. These are usually based on the sound e.g. B4 (before), NE (any). Some are invented e.g  W? (why). Some confusing short-forms AIGHT: Alright * GB: Goodbye * GL: Good luck * HV: Have * K or KK: Okay * M8: Mate * O\VA: Over * PEEPS/PPL: People * PLS: Please * PZ: Peace

The new silicon? Graphene has been called a "miracle material" and it is thought that it could become as common as plastic in a few years. It is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb, but it is stronger than diamond, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber. Some scientists believe that graphene will be the key element in driving product innovation in the near future. Posted with Blogsy

A deceptive or unexpected action which poses a new challenge e.g.   He threw a curveball by threatening to walk out of the meeting.   Comes from baseball and refers to a ball pitched to curve away from the hitter. There are many other examples of baseball terminology entering general English -  three strkes and your out, hit a home run, touch base.  Interestingly these are commonly used in British English while cricket expressions  sticky wicket, a good innings  are unfamiliar to most Americans.

Maven comes from the Yiddish word meaning ‘expert’ or ‘someone knowledgeable in a particular subject’ . Modern usage tends to conflate expertise with influence - a maven is a person whose opinion or course of action is watched closely by others The word became widely known when it was used by  Malcolm Gladwell  in  The Tipping Point . Gladwell describes how a few key individuals can influence a large numbers of people.  Obvious examples include technology pioneers like Jobs and Zukerberg but maven can be said to be present in every sphere of activity. Despite his vociferous denials, Malcolm Gladwell himself is a maven in the area of pop psychology. In marketing, the word has a slightly different usage. The maven can be a person, group, network, company or association that already has a relationship with the people you’re trying to sell to.  Source A version of this post is included in  50 FAQ about English    ($1.75)

Learner autonomy is a much used term amongst contemporary educationalists. Henri Holec first used the term in 1981, broadly defining learner autonomy as 'the ability to take charge of one's learning'. Key characteristics include self awarneness, critical reflection and taking responsibility for learning. More here

The above video gives a very good description of the debt ceiling. But some might put more emphasis on the current scale of US debt - which has edged up towards $17 trillion at an alarming rate - see debt clock here .  What brought the debt ceiling back into political play has been growing consensus that the debt is now unsustainable in the long term. What Democrats and Republicans battle over is what to do about this. It is universally agreed debt default (see below) could have a potentially catastrophic impact on the world economy. This prospect will eventually lead to some sort of deal but the two parties will fight bitterly until the last moment. What is a debt default? A failure to meet a legally agreed payment. This usually means that the agreement - for example a mortgage - is no longer valid and the lender can take steps to recover the value of the loan Why would a US debt default be a disaster? Usually the national currency falls in value and this helps to make the

A 'haircut' is a loss in the value of an investment or security: see  here  for an example. 

A run on a bank is when a large number of customers withdraw their funds simultaneously. If a run on a bank gains momentum it can quickly 'fail' or go out of business, as  happened with Lehman Brothers in 2008. This is what George (James Stewart) is trying to prevent in the famous scene (above) from 'It's a Wonderful Life'. With institutions that are 'too big too fail' a government or international financial organisation may rescue the bank by either taking it over or injecting huge amounts of cash. This is the role the EU is currently playing in Cyprus. Unfortunately the proposed solution, which involved seizing ten per cent of depositor cash has created a crisis of confidence that threatens the banks, the role of Cyprus in the EU and ultimately the EU project itself. How do you stop a bank run? With great difficulty. The traditional remedies are: a) delay -  ....the bank is going to open again next week ... the key requirement is to 'buy tim

There are, of course, many different approaches. Here is a short guide to some of them: Teaching English Toolkit Low cost ESOL Teaching Packs

The psychologist George A Miller  had an incalculable influence on the new academic discipline of cognitive science and the still disputed notion of psycho-linguistics. His research focussed on working memory - the way the mind processes information.  He observed that the brain encountering the unfamiliar, could absorb roughly seven new things at a time.When asked to repeat a random list of letters, words or numbers, he wrote, people got stuck “somewhere in the neighborhood of seven.” Some people could recall nine items on the list, some fewer than seven. But regardless of the things being recalled — colors and tastes, numbers with decimals, numbers without decimals, consonants, vowels — seven was the statistical average for short-term storage. (Long-term memory, which followed another cognitive formula, was virtually unlimited.) From NYT obituary 02/08/2012 Why is Miller's work important for language teachers? In practical terms this means that the mind best processes new