Author: Kate Woodford

I'm a freelance lexicographer and writer, living in Cambridge, UK. I worked for many years on Cambridge University Press’s range of ELT dictionaries and now work with Liz Walter on dictionary and non-dictionary titles. My other interests include fashion, cooking, child-rearing, BBC Radio 4 and the quirks and peculiarities of the English language. You can follow me on Twitter @Katewoodford2

Making the best of it (dealing with life during the coronavirus pandemic)

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language37 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

All over the world, people are adjusting to a new way of living as a result of COVID-19. At the time of writing, around a third of the world is on lockdown, permitted to leave home only for such reasons as food and medicine shopping. Even those of us who are lucky enough to be well and virus-free may be finding the sudden changes to our lifestyles challenging. With this in mind, I thought we’d focus on words and phrases around the theme of dealing with difficult situations.

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Vast, spotless and awesome (Extreme adjectives, Part 2)

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language24 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

Earlier this month, we published a post on extreme adjectives used to describe the weather and emotions. (Extreme adjectives are adjectives that we use when we want to really emphasize a particular quality.)  This week, we’re focusing on adjectives that emphasize a high degree of other qualities, for example, size and age.

Continue reading “Vast, spotless and awesome (Extreme adjectives, Part 2)” →

Scorching, furious and delighted! (Extreme adjectives in English, Part 1)

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary19 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

Are your English adjectives sometimes not strong enough? Perhaps you’re eating something that is so good, the word ‘good’ just isn’t enough. In this case, you might want to describe the food as delicious or even (informal) scrumptious. As you’ll have guessed by now, this post looks at extreme adjectives – that is, adjectives that we use to emphasize a high degree of a particular quality.  Remember that we don’t usually put the adverb very before extreme adjectives. Instead, to add even more emphasis, we might use adverbs such as absolutely, totally and completely. Continue reading “Scorching, furious and delighted! (Extreme adjectives in English, Part 1)” →

Beds of roses and sore thumbs (Newspaper idioms)

On By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, Idioms and phrases in newspapers, the English language, Vocabulary27 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

Readers of this blog often ask us for posts on English idioms. Understandably, they also tell us that it’s important that the idioms are used now. One way that we make sure we focus on up to date idioms is by looking at expressions used in current newspapers. The expressions in this week’s post are taken from a range of national newspapers that were published on February 5th, 2020. Continue reading “Beds of roses and sore thumbs (Newspaper idioms)” →

Outlooks and forecasts (The language of predictions)

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary14 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

It’s February – still more or less the start of the year – and you may still be thinking about the months ahead and predicting what’s likely to happen. With this in mind, we’re looking today at the words and phrases that we use to say what we think will – or might – happen in the future. Continue reading “Outlooks and forecasts (The language of predictions)” →

Give yourself a pat on the back! (The language of praising)

On By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary13 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

I thought our About Words readers might enjoy a positive post this week, so today I’m focusing on the language of praise – saying nice, positive things about someone or something. We’re looking at single words and phrases and, as ever, focusing on the sort of language that is in use now. Continue reading “Give yourself a pat on the back! (The language of praising)” →

Handing down and passing on (Phrasal verbs that mean ‘give’)

On By Kate WoodfordIn Phrasal verbs, the English language25 Comments
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by Kate Woodford

It’s sometimes said that it’s better to give than to receive. Whether or not you like the act of giving, we hope you’ll enjoy reading about all the different ways to talk about giving. As you might imagine, there are a great number of synonyms and near-synonyms for ‘give’, so this is the first of two posts. Here, we’ll look at the many ‘give’ phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs and their specific meanings. Continue reading “Handing down and passing on (Phrasal verbs that mean ‘give’)” →

Learning Synonyms

On By Kate WoodfordIn Synonyms, the English language, Vocabulary6 Comments

by Kate Woodford

Many of our About Words blog posts aim to provide our readers with a range of interesting words and phrases for saying the same or a similar thing.  We’re talking, of course, about synonyms – or near-synonyms. This week, we’re still focusing on this approach to vocabulary expansion but we’re looking at the way that Cambridge Dictionary +Plus can help with the process. Continue reading “Learning Synonyms” →