Don’t you love a hyphen? That often-used (there’s one already) little dash can do so much to understand words and prose, but in the next moment, it can complicate and confuse too. It helps us when we want to talk about a scary-looking monster or […]
Considering how popular and widely used the English language is, it does have some weird and quirky ways about it. And none more so than the number of heteronyms it has. Hetero-what? Heteronyms. Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and are […]
Much has been said about language generators. Certainly they are getting quicker and more efficient and, as their accuracy improves, their uses expand. From simple language translators to more elaborate artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools, the benefits of this technology are becoming clearer. For example, […]
Gardeners dig them, dieters wouldn’t go without them and wine lovers raise a glass to their brilliance. Image recognition apps, aka visual search engines, continue to amaze and delight users with each new development. The technology, which turns your smartphone’s camera into an image identifier, […]
Two questions: 1. Do you have predictive text turned on for your mobile phone messaging? 2. Do you have any Italian friends? Bear with us on this; these two questions are related. Because if you have predictive switched to ‘on’ and you send your Turin […]
Have you ever had a conversation with a friend or colleague and, after making a point, you wait for the response and get: “Yes, I hear what you say…” Now does that mean to you: “I hear what you say, (pause) but…” or: “I hear […]
Faced with a long piece of copy to write you might be forgiven for thinking that a writing programme, or software, will save you lots of time and money. Technology is continually improving writing management systems to create packages that can be used at home […]
If you were born before the 1980s, the chances are you were taught how to write a letter properly. There was the correct place to put the recipient’s address, and then the date, followed by a polite ‘Dear xxx’. At the bottom there was the […]
As punctuation marks go, the apostrophe is a pretty small deal. A tiny little (’) indication after or between letters to denote abbreviation or possession. You’d think it was hardly noticeable. But you’d be wrong. The apostrophe is so important if you want your meaning […]