December 14, 2013

Weekly Finds: December 14, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


16 business jargon words we never, ever want to hear again

Check out the author's list of the worst offenders.

READING


Benjamin Franklin’s Phonetic Alphabet

Franklin’s vision for American didn’t stop with independence and iconography. He also proposed a redesigned alphabet – a new language for a new nation.

WRITING


The Impact of Writing on Our Brain

Check out this interesting set of trivia on writing.

SPEAKING


I now pronounce you … Wait, how do I pronounce you?

Pronunciation is a source of constant controversy – and is it controversy or controversy?

GRAMMAR


Prepositions: The super-handy and horribly confusing widgets of language

To, from, of, by: The little linguistic bits that we use to fit in gaps and hold things together or keep them apart. The author argues that it's all arbitrary.

VOCABULARY


'Hobbitses' and Frankenstein: how pop culture's words become official

Though fantasy and sci-fi have invented hundreds of new words, only a few pass muster to make it into the dictionary.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


Stop Listening To The Positive Thinking Police

Ignoring your stress isn't "positive thinking." Learn how to acknowledge it and build constructive thoughts.