Welcome back, all! I want to point at a lovely little cluster of English idioms this week: we “stand in” for people, we “fill their shoes”, we “step up”, we “cover” for someone. Notice how physical they all are — feet, shoes, standing, stepping. English imagines identity as a kind […]

Welcome back, everyone! Here’s a small thing about English that I find quietly strange: we say we “take” a photograph, and that we “capture” a moment. Both verbs are a little violent. We seize time, trap it, hold it still. A photograph is, in the language we use for it, […]

Welcome back, all! Two small words are on my mind this week, because they happen to be the ones this prompt hands you: “I’m back.” It’s astonishing how much freight those two words can carry. A contraction and an adverb, and yet the whole emotional temperature of a story can […]

It’s been a moment, but I am proud to present to you all the First Language English 50 Excellent Descriptive and Narrative Essays 2026 edition! See what excellent IGCSE First Language English writing looks like – and learn how to produce it yourself. The 2026 edition brings together 50 carefully […]

Welcome back, everyone! I’ve been thinking this week about how much of description is really about absence — about learning to see what isn’t there. English gives us a rich vocabulary for things that are present and busy, but describing an empty room asks something harder of you: you have […]