English words of French origin

English words of French

French was the language used by the ruling classes in the UK for over 300 years, almost half of the words in modern English come in one way or another from French. We could write a book about all the words of French origin in English, but we’re just going to write about some of […]

English words of Polish origin

English words of Polish

Unlike Spanish or Portuguese, the Polish language hasn’t given English a lot of words. Of the few words English has borrowed from Polish, most have remained unchanged and they usually refer to Polish products (mostly food), so they are not too surprising but we can still find some interesting words to talk about.   English […]

Reported speech

Reported speech or indirect speech is a tricky part of English learning because there are many things to think about, and it gets used a lot so there’s no way to avoid it. Even if you do try to avoid it, you will hear people using it and if you don’t understand how it works […]

English words of Spanish origin (including yummy food and cowboys)

Spanish has given English a large number of words. Most made their way into the language through US and Mexican contact, and the old Spanish colonies in the US. Something special that has happened with most Spanish words used in English is that they haven’t change in spelling or meaning, only pronunciation as English has […]