Recent Articles

We are so used to living in a world of incredible engineering feats that sometimes we forget how much effort it took to get here. Whether it’s China building islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, the construction of ever-taller skyscrapers in Dubai and Saudi Arabia that stretch nearly a kilometre into […]

How many times have you watched the news, or picked up a newspaper, and automatically accepted that what’s being reported is completely impartial, and therefore the truth? If this sounds like you, it’s time to start developing your critical thinking skills. The truth is that newspapers and the news channels have their own agenda, and […]

It may seem unfair, but much of the time what you say doesn’t matter nearly so much as how you say it. Think about a really good speech by a politician or motivational speaker. While they’re talking, everything sounds great – it’s compelling, it makes sense, you’re nodding in agreement, you’re standing up to cheer.

The classic novels on this list are my (non-exhaustive) selection of ‘must-read’ books for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of English literature. What counts as English literature spans over a thousand years, but you’ll find most of the great classics that well-educated people are often expected to have read – what’s known...

One aspect of English you possibly haven’t thought about yet is how to communicate appropriately in formal written situations, such as letters. This is a skill you’ll almost certainly need if you’re in the process of applying to UK schools or universities...

If you’re learning English in order to better your job prospects, the chances are that at some point you’re going to need to understand and employ a more specialised vocabulary. Working in a business environment will expose you to a raft of new words that don’t tend to be covered by standard English as a...

In an ideal situation, you’d have all the time in the world to write a great essay, but sadly it doesn’t always work out that way. There will always be times when you’re required to write an essay uncomfortably quickly, whether because of a tight deadline imposed by a teacher, or because you’ve been so...

Combining a job with further study can have a lot of advantages. The most obvious is that if your funding, loan or grant doesn’t stretch as far as you’d like, a job – even if it’s only a handful of hours a week – helps to pay the bills and might even give you some...

English is often cited as one of the hardest languages to learn, and one of the aspects that gives it this reputation for being tricky is its spellings. English spellings are full of contradictions and exceptions, meaning that it’s sometimes difficult to apply logic when you’re unsure how a word should be spelled. For example...