English language resources

The UOC has put together a collection of resources to help you improve your level of English. You'll find exercises, sample test papers, lessons, and practical and theoretical contents. There are resources produced by the UOC alongside other materials to help you learn the language while enjoying yourself with karaoke, music or radio programmes.

It has a network of webpages and online services which offer sections on grammar and comprehensive vocabulary in British English, with a magazine, a newsletter, games, lessons and tests. It also includes content on British culture, traditions and customs.

The majority of content is offered as complete courses, although they are made up of separate modules, allowing users to independently plan their study. Grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and guidelines are just some of the content that can be found there.

A style guide designed for teaching, research and administrative staff and language professionals who have to write institutional documents in English. It has been produced by the universities of the Vives Network.

^{Bain, Mhairi, et al. Interuniversity style guide for writing institutional texts in english. Barcelona: Xarxa Vives d'Universitats, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/73907}

These guides are the result of a joint effort of the Writing@CSU project and the Colorado State University Writing Center. They address issues related to the publication of work that uses quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.

The University of Central Florida University Writing Center is a resource for writing, including research and scholarly writing.

A selection of tools and resources to help Catalan speakers learn English.

Section of the EnglishClub website with guides to help users write in English: from the alphabet to spelling rules, as well as abbreviations, punctuation, the use of capital letters and how to avoid plagiarism. This free webpage offers guidelines on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The chats, videos and forums make it highly interactive and the webpage can be customized by the user.

Academic writing section from the University of Warwick's Faculty of Social Sciences. It focuses on how to produce academic writing, specifying its component parts, resolving queries, providing examples and specifying the procedure to be followed. It highlights writing style and there is a section on books for improving it.

Portal with a wide range of resources to help with writing in English. Students and teachers can find material to work on many different subjects. The site is divided into sections covering General Writing, Research and Citation, Subject-Specific Writing, and Job Search Writing, among others.

At the end of the text, links provide information on the vocabulary, with definitions, pronunciation and examples to help acquire new words and understand their meaning. This free webpage offers guidelines on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The chats, videos and forums make it highly interactive and the webpage can be customized by the user.

Magazine published in English dedicated to the city of Barcelona and aimed at visitors. It offers news items on current affairs and cultural and sporting activities, as well as a summary of the best bars and restaurants. It features lesser-known areas of the city, streets of particular interest and a summary of social and political news.

Section of the East of the Web website dedicated to stories in English. Organized by genre, they can also be searched by author or title. It offers users the option to read online or print or download the text to read on portable devices.

Website with links to newspapers in English from around the world. They are organized according to geographical region and the link takes the user directly to the selected newspaper's webpage. There are also other information options, such as websites, lesser-known weekly publications or those aimed at a specific audience.

Videos are organized by difficulty level and there is the option to complete exercises and fill in song lyrics with words from a drop-down menu. It is also possible to see the translation of the inserted words.

Site for browsing and listening to BBC radio stations and podcasts in English. There are live broadcasts of numerous different programmes as well as podcasts organized in categories.

The largest pronunciation guide in the world, the place where you can find millions of words pronounced in their original language. Registered users can add their own new words.

This dictionary offers the definition from several dictionaries, as well as the translation. It also returns words related to the search carried out.

This study method is based around short lessons and practical exercises. Pronunciation, intonation, silent letters or similar sounds, which is just some of the content that can be found here.

The exercises of this website are user-friendly and intuitive with images, phonetic symbols and different examples with recordings.

Section of the Learn English Today website for learning English through word games. Crossword puzzles, constructing sayings, guessing games and tests are just some of the content featured on this webpage. It also provides printable games organized according to their level of difficulty.

A question and answer site for linguists, etymologists and serious English language enthusiasts.

A useful and fun guide to mixed-up, mangled expressions, foreign language faux pas, confusing terms and commonly mispronounced words.

There are sections dedicated to vocabulary and typical conversations in English. There are also tests and the option to download audio and video files.

This section looks at English verb conjugation. It outlines and specifies when each tense should be used. There is the option to ask questions by sending a message.

As per its own description, this is the "foremost single volume authority on the English language [...] informed by the most up-to-date evidence from the largest language research programme in the world".

To access it, choose from the options on the left-hand side to sign in via your institution (the UOC or another university) or your library.

Merriam-Webster produces the leading dictionaries for US English. All Merriam-Webster products and services are backed by the largest team of professional dictionary editors and writers in America, and one of the largest in the world.

The Inter-Active Terminology for Europe (IATE) is the EU's inter-institutional terminology database. IATE is used in the EU institutions and agencies for the collection, dissemination and shared management of EU-specific terminology.

Linguee is a unique translation tool combining an editorial dictionary and a search engine with which you can search billions of bilingual texts for words and expressions.

A tool to find the word selected and offer its definition, synonyms and antonyms or translation into other languages.

The search tool on the diccionari.cat home page lets you choose from a range of Catalan dictionaries, including a Catalan-English bilingual dictionary. Change your selection to go from English into Catalan or vice versa. It provides information on usage, register, regional variations and pronunciation, and Catalan entries are aligned with the Institute of Catalan Studies' criteria.

A 100-million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent a wide cross-section of British English, both spoken and written, from the late twentieth century.

When you enter phrases, it displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (eg “British English”, “English Fiction”, etc.) over the selected years. This can help writers find and select the preferred terminology or the most popular turns of phrase.

Portal giving open access to the largest and most widely used online corpora. Search for frequencies, usage examples and collocations of words and phrases in different contexts in which English is used. Users may register free of charge.

"Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, Grammar Girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules."

"I am interested in how people communicate. Words are powerful tools and deserve careful use, but language usage changes constantly."