Language and Learning Online is a collection of resources to help you improve your academic performance. These resources include online tutorials, interactive exercises, and examples of Writing for Subjects.
You can use the Resource Finder to help you track down tutorials, examples and interactive exercises or browse by skill area from the menu above. You can also download copies of our QuickRef handouts.
What is an error in English?
The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I'll leave to linguists the technical definitions. Here we're concerned only with deviations from the standard use of English as judged by sophisticated users such as professional writers, editors, teachers, and literate executives and personnel officers. The aim of this site is to help you avoid low grades, lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of amusement at the way you write or speak.
What is the purpose of the game?
Phrase Detectives is a "Game with a Purpose", meaning that the data we collect will be used to help improve computer systems. The data will be used to train anaphora resolution systems that can be used to improve text summarisation and search engine indexing, which will ultimately lead to a better Web experience for you.
Who should play the game?
The game is aimed at English speakers of all ages. Read the instructions and complete the training tasks to get a good idea of what you need to do.
You can also adjust your profile settings to match the level of texts you will be given. If you are a native English speaker then "medium" is usually the best setting.