For the past eleven days I have marvelled at the prowess of sportsmen and women from all around the world who have run, jumped, rowed, dived, sailed, shot, lifted and all the other sporting verbs to an extent mere mortals glued to the television cannot even begin to comprehend.

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The teacher, an American expat, spoke to the class solely in English, almost unheard-of in French schools where foreign languages are taught in French by French natives, and we were all handed a phonebook-sized block of paper, full of lists of verbs and pronouns, useful tips, press clips (largely from The Economist) and other things to learn.

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In other words, scientists have been looking at the book of life and identifying all the nouns but missing the verbs.

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