Judy G. Russell
January 31st, 2008, 04:56 PM
I don't remember seeing any references to this here, and know folks in this section will LOVE this website. So I'm reposting the following from the newsletter of the New England Historic Genealogical Society:
Research Recommendations: AskOxford.com
by Michael J. Leclerc
AskOxford.com is a free online resource produced by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The publishing house of Oxford University in England, OUP is the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary among other things. This site provides tremendous assistance with English words and language, including spelling, grammar, and writing. The AskOxford home page shows you the word of the day, quote of the week, quotes and words from OUP publications, and featured questions from the Ask the Experts section.
The section on Global English points out that English is spoken as a first language by more than 300 million people worldwide, while millions more speak it as a second language. One in five of the world’s population is a competent speaker of the language. There are six main regional standards of English: British, U.S. and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. OUP includes many regionalisms in their publications.
The Ask the Experts section has a database built from questions sent to the OUP’s Oxford Word and Language Service team. For example, you can find their answer to questions such as:
What is the longest word in the English language? [it isn’t what you think it is]
Are there any words that rhyme with orange?
Are there any English words containing the same letter three times in a row? [besides brrr and shhh?]
What comes after primary, secondary, and tertiary? [and do we as genealogists really want to trust vigenary sources?]
Is there a word for nephews and nieces collectively?
Also in the Ask the Experts section, you can find a Jargon Buster tool that gives clear and concise definitions for grammar and literary terms. You can also find collective terms for animals. This might come in handy for describing the time your seafaring ancestor ran into a gam of whales or a huddle of walruses. The World of Words section gives you abstracts from various OUP resources, including the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics and the Modern Welsh Dictionary. In A Word A Year, Susie Dent selects a single word to represent each of the last hundred years. Vox pop was the word of the year in which I was born. You can find a list of the one hundred most common words in English: number one is the and number 100 is us. There is also a list of the Top 100 Quotes from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, with entries from Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. to Barbara Cartland in 1993.
Better Writing contains many tools useful for everything from emails to compiled family histories. Spelling and Grammar Tips will help you to avoid common errors, such as whether you should use which (or who) and that in a sentence, when to use less or fewer, words that often get confused (such as adopted and adoptive or continuous and continual), and common spelling errors. Plain English gives you tips for user-friendly writing, such as making average sentence length 15 to 20 words, avoiding sexist usage, and using only as many words as you need. For those of you confused by emoticons and modern abbreviation, you can discover what your grandchildren mean when they write BBL, KWIM, RUOK, and YMMV. You can also find out what :-* :-V and :-/ mean.
www.AskOxford.com (http://www.AskOxford.com) should be bookmarked in your browser if you do any kind of writing. You will find it an invaluable resource as you research your family history and communicate with others about your findings. BCNU!
Research Recommendations: AskOxford.com
by Michael J. Leclerc
AskOxford.com is a free online resource produced by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The publishing house of Oxford University in England, OUP is the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary among other things. This site provides tremendous assistance with English words and language, including spelling, grammar, and writing. The AskOxford home page shows you the word of the day, quote of the week, quotes and words from OUP publications, and featured questions from the Ask the Experts section.
The section on Global English points out that English is spoken as a first language by more than 300 million people worldwide, while millions more speak it as a second language. One in five of the world’s population is a competent speaker of the language. There are six main regional standards of English: British, U.S. and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. OUP includes many regionalisms in their publications.
The Ask the Experts section has a database built from questions sent to the OUP’s Oxford Word and Language Service team. For example, you can find their answer to questions such as:
What is the longest word in the English language? [it isn’t what you think it is]
Are there any words that rhyme with orange?
Are there any English words containing the same letter three times in a row? [besides brrr and shhh?]
What comes after primary, secondary, and tertiary? [and do we as genealogists really want to trust vigenary sources?]
Is there a word for nephews and nieces collectively?
Also in the Ask the Experts section, you can find a Jargon Buster tool that gives clear and concise definitions for grammar and literary terms. You can also find collective terms for animals. This might come in handy for describing the time your seafaring ancestor ran into a gam of whales or a huddle of walruses. The World of Words section gives you abstracts from various OUP resources, including the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics and the Modern Welsh Dictionary. In A Word A Year, Susie Dent selects a single word to represent each of the last hundred years. Vox pop was the word of the year in which I was born. You can find a list of the one hundred most common words in English: number one is the and number 100 is us. There is also a list of the Top 100 Quotes from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, with entries from Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. to Barbara Cartland in 1993.
Better Writing contains many tools useful for everything from emails to compiled family histories. Spelling and Grammar Tips will help you to avoid common errors, such as whether you should use which (or who) and that in a sentence, when to use less or fewer, words that often get confused (such as adopted and adoptive or continuous and continual), and common spelling errors. Plain English gives you tips for user-friendly writing, such as making average sentence length 15 to 20 words, avoiding sexist usage, and using only as many words as you need. For those of you confused by emoticons and modern abbreviation, you can discover what your grandchildren mean when they write BBL, KWIM, RUOK, and YMMV. You can also find out what :-* :-V and :-/ mean.
www.AskOxford.com (http://www.AskOxford.com) should be bookmarked in your browser if you do any kind of writing. You will find it an invaluable resource as you research your family history and communicate with others about your findings. BCNU!