English Language and Literature Blog

Dear Editor, I am writing in response to your article “ Thx for the IView! I Wud ♥ to Work 4 U!! ;)” published on July 29, 2008. This article is very interesting from different angles, perspectives and opinions. First of all, my personal opinion on Textspeak is that it can be appropriate, but that is dependent on the situation and the language that is used. An example from your article from Ms. Johnson said “she received a candidate's thank-you note with words such as "hiya" and "thanx,"” which in this scenario I agree is unacceptable especially as the candidate knows that Ms. Johnson is the president of a recruitment agency. In the third paragraph Ms. Johnson states that more and more people are becoming too casual when communicating specifically when it comes to chasing career opportunities and using their mobile phones as the medium. Yes, I would say that using Textspeak amongst friends is acceptable but when dealing with people you know very little a...

Little Mix [THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MADE FOR AN ONGOING ENGLISH PROJECT. THE INTERVIEW HAS BEEN MANUFACTURED, BUT INCLUDES REAL INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR PAST AND WHAT IMPACT THEY WANT THEIR MUSIC TO HAVE!] Interviewer : This girl group were the first group, let alone the first girl group to ever to win in the X Factor, and were the first to make it past week seven in the X Factor live shows and in 2014 the girl group teamed up with BeatBullying, one of the biggest anti-bullying organisations in Europe. So why did you “Little Mix” first decide to go into the music industry? Perrie Edwards: Growing up, both my parents were singers in an unsigned band called Alexander’s Palace. Although my parents were both singers, I never had any ambitions to become a singer. Although I did a few school shows, I always thought I was just a normal singer and always stayed at the back. Before entering the X Factor, I was planning on starting a performing arts degree, although I did a few school show...

I agree that language shapes our identity, but it doesn’t define the type of person we are. The language(s) we speak can shape our identity by giving us possible advantages, especially when traveling around the world being international students. In most cases, the more languages a person speaks the more opportunities are available, however some languages have more power than others. For example, me only speaking English could be more powerful than someone who speaks five languages that are rarely used in the world, but someone who knows English and Mandarin has more of an advantage in life than me. The ways our language(s) shape(s) our identities, is/are by giving us opportunities that open different doors depending on which languages we speak and how many languages we speak. People are defined by their friends, their family and their culture. For example, their culture could define a person by the movies/films they watch, the music they understand, the literature they read and t...