Intro
I hope this issue of the Grammaticus Newsletter finds you well! It's been a relatively quiet January over here - I was very happy that we finally had some lovely, proper snow, and I had plenty of time to catch up with my reading.
This time I'm sharing with you a couple of new blog posts, with a selection of older ones: book reviews, poetry, English grammar posts, listening tips, and more... Until next time, have fun! :)
Books & Literature
Book review: “Taoism for Beginners” by Elizabeth Reninger
Reninger provides a clear and concise overview, with some practical advice for those who choose to spend more time exploring Taoism, ancient and/or modern. Having finished the book, I was definitely eager for more!
“Winter Trees” by William Carlos Williams
Like many other of Frost's works, this poem is wonderfully simple and minimalist: the poet uses an extremely common image only to transform it into something delightfully rich and filled with meaning.
Book review: ‘The Snow Child’ by Eowyn Ivey
Eowyn Ivey’s debut novel The Snow Child, first published in 2012, is a genre-bending tale of longing, conflict and struggle, set in the majestic wilderness of Alaska. An interesting wintertime read, but probably not for everyone.
Learning English
“Spellbound” by Emily Brontë
If you’ve ever felt trapped, unable to act, feeling oppressed as if by an unseen force — or a sense of inescapable doom, you might find this poem relatable! (Vocabulary exercises for English language learners included in the post!)
English words of the year 2025
Brush up on your knowledge of contemporary English with my retrospective of the Words of the Year (WOTY) 2025, selected by leading lexicographers.
Grammar help: used, used to, get used to…
The verb ‘to use’ is a key element in several widely used grammatical structures that students sometimes confuse or don’t use properly. In this post we’ll go through them, explain their meaning and, finally, practise a bit.
Listening tips
BBC Radio 4 | In Our Time: Dragons
Dragons have breathed fire into folklore, literature and popular culture from the ancient world to the Christian Bible, the tales of Tolkien to The Game of Thrones. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this ubiquitous mythical creature.
Listening tips: Norse mythology
In this instalment of my monthly listening tips, I’d like to share a few podcasts and radio programmes on the subject of Norse mythology. If you don’t know much about it, some of them will serve as a good introduction to the topic, while others go deeper into very specific aspects of the Norse culture.
Using podcasts in English language learning
Podcasts are a very simple and easily accessible tool that can do wonders for your language learning. Now that almost everyone has a smartphone and access to the internet, it’s very easy access a vast array of audio resources for your listening pleasure.