Forms and types of words

Content versus structure words   Structure word list   Reduplicative words   Infixes inside words    Compound words   Blends   Pronouns    Collocations   Official words of praise   Plural: of mice and mouses    Nicknames rule   Placenames   Words for alleyways

Meaning and words 

Sound symbolism   Letters with meaning   Word associations   Measuring meaning   Levels of meaning   Colours   General Semantics   Opposites   Relative words

New words and their sources

Chaucer's new words   Shakespeare's new words   English words in Japanese   French words in English   Indian words in English   Forming new words   Proper names that become words   Science Fiction words    English names for foreign parts

Word Tests

Understanding Shakespeare   Vocabulary size: basic words   Vocabulary size: advanced words   Recognising British dialect words American or British words  Guessing words in context   Vocabulary learning strategies   Words on the tip of your tongue   Can you talk Black?   How dated are your words?

Children's words

Children's early words   Children's two-word stage   How do children learn words?    Words and the UK National Curriculum   Babytalk words

Word games

Guessing words in sequence   Arranging letters   Guessing letters   Spelling games

Longer texts on words

Words and thinking   What's in a word?   Arbitrariness of meaning    What is a word?   What does a word mean?   Where do words come from?   What are dictionaries for?   Are long words better than short? Easytalk  Powerful pronouns and status   Simplified vocabularies

YouTube clips

Words for wine (humorous)   The meaning of 'passionate'    Words matter (videoed lecture)

Misc information

Doctors' slang   Bodyparts   Tonguetwisters   Uniquely written words   Pig Latin   Oldfashioned shop names   Quotes on words   Metaphors   Saying no in different languages  Word frequency   Dr Johnson's definitions  Basic English   Aphasia   L2 vocabulary   L2 vocabulary learning strategies   Blairspeak

'Thus we talk of free enterprise, of capitalist societies, ... as though all of these words stand for the same things they formerly did. Social institutions are what they do, not necessarily what we say they do. It is the verb that matters not the noun.' Aneurin Bevan, In place of fear

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