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Archive for the ‘Words’ Category

“Mrs. Smith, can I go to the bathroom, please?”
“I don’t know. Can you?”
“May I go to the bathroom, please?
My son told me that this exchange took place regularly in his class last year. Many of us will have experienced something similar.
The teacher concerned probably responded on auto-pilot without really analyzing the language involved.
I suspect that [...]

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What is a wapentake?

A wapentake is an obsolete administrative area in the north of England. It is a sub-division of a riding. A wapentake originally indicated an assembly point where votes could be cast by the showing of weapons.
Wapentake seemed an apt name for a blog: a vague reference to a meeting place where views and arguments can be [...]

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