The World's Most Spoken Languages And Where They Are Spoken
This beautifully illustrated infographic (above), designed by South China Morning Post’s graphics director Alberto Lucas Lopéz, shows the most spoken known languages in the world and where they’re spoken by the 6.3 billion people included in the study. Based on records collated from the database Ethnologue, the infographic illustrates the wide-ranging facts and figures of the world’s living languages catalogued since 1951. “There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today.
How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word
Find a Subject You Care About Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do.
Free Online Dictionary of Unusual and Weird Words: International House of Logorrhea
Dictionary of Unusual Words logorrhea log-uh-RI-uh, n an excessive flow of words, prolixity [Gr logos word + roia flow, stream] Welcome to the International House of Logorrhea, a free online dictionary of weird words and unusual words to help enhance your vocabulary. The IHL is a component of The Phrontistery, which has many other free word lists and resources related to obscure words. Did you ever have an English teacher who told you 'Whenever you read something, and find an odd word you don't know, look it up in the dictionary and write it down'? Well, I took that advice to heart.
The case of the missing “u”s in American English
Before you consciously became aware of your decision to read this article, your brain was already making the necessary preparations to click the link. There are a few crucial milliseconds between the moment when you’re consciously aware of a plan to act, and the moment you take action. This brief window is thought by some scientists to be the moment in time when we can exercise free will.
Data Mining Novels Reveals the Six Basic Emotional Arcs of Storytelling
Back in 1995, Kurt Vonnegut gave a lecture in which he described his theory about the shapes of stories. In the process, he plotted several examples on a blackboard. “There is no reason why the simple shapes of stories can’t be fed into computers,” he said. “They are beautiful shapes.”
Top 100 Inspirational Quotes
Inspirational Quotes by Henry David Thoreau 1. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. 2. None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Unusual Words
Unusual Words A by no means exhaustive list of rare, obscure, strange and sometimes funny words and their meanings that only seem to crop up in crosswords and dictionaries. Words that are used so seldom, you wonder who invented them and why. Home ~ The Stories ~ Diversions ~ Links ~ Contact
Grammar Test - B1 level
PART TWO - GRAMMAR TEST - B1 LEVEL LANGUAGE AWARENESS TASK 1 – Read the text below and decide which answer (a, b, c or d) best fits each space. There is an example at the beginning (0). Grace Murray Hopper was a remarkable woman and a leader in the field of software development. She contributed (0. example) to the transition from primitive programming techniques to the use of sophisticated computer languages. Grace Murray (21) XXX on December 9, . In 1928 she graduated from in mathematics and physics and joined the faculty. (22) XXX she was teaching at Vassar, she continued her studies at , (23) XXX she took a doctorate in mathematics in 1934.
The secret language of South Asia’s transgender community — Quartz
In South Asia, there is a hidden language known only to the region’s hijra community. Found in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, the hijra are an old and marginalized group, whose members identify as men born with the souls of women. Hijras call themselves she-males and effigies, as well as kwaja sera, or the “guards of the harem,” a title that recalls their historical role serving monarchs in the region. These days, the hijra are known as performers and panhandlers. What few know about them, however, is that they are the keepers of many secrets, including the centuries-old language of Hijra Farsi. “It’s importance for our people that when we want to talk to our siblings and others from our household…we speak in our language and others won’t know what we’re saying,” Deemi, a hijra living in the Pakistani city of Lahore, explained to Muftah.
Kids explain how banned and challenged books helped them and even saved their lives / Boing Boing
By Joan Bertin and Millie Davis Banned Books Week has come and gone but we can be sure of one thing: the coming year will be marked by challenges to the same kinds of books that were controversial this year, and in years past. report this ad Controversies over what books are taught in class or shelved in the school library typically start when an adult—usually a parent or community member—feels that a book selected by teachers and librarians is inappropriate, offensive or objectionable. Most often, the objections relate to sexual scenes, offensive language, or depictions of drug and alcohol use.
Animal Rights Quotes, Sayings about Animal Welfare, Cruelty, Compassion
Related Quotes Animals Civil Disobedience Integrity Vegetarianism Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.
List of French words and phrases used by English speakers
Here are some examples of French words and phrases used by English speakers. English contains many words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, police, publicity, role, routine, table, and many other anglicized French words. These are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French. Around 28% of English vocabulary is of French or Oïl language origin, most derived from, or transmitted by, the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. This article, however, covers words and phrases that generally entered the lexicon later, as through literature, the arts, diplomacy, and other cultural exchanges not involving conquests.
