Wait—you weren’t driving while reading this, were you? Are you safe somewhere other than behind the wheel of a moving car? Fine. But now we want you to think back to one thing that you often encounter in other situations: the green light. Since the 1950s, ‘lit up’ has lost its place to ‘lighted’ as …
The number 40 is spelled forty despite the fact that four contains a Friend. Although it is often misspelled fortyThe only widely accepted spelling of this number is forty. Hello everyone. We have an announcement. We are happy/sorry to announce that there never was Friend IN forty. That’s right: the number 4 is fourbut ten …
One of our intrepid editors was listening to a broadcast calling someone a “member of the press crew” and the announcer pronounced the word \KORZ\. This made our editors find it a bit strange: isn’t it usually “hit \KOR\”? The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps play in Frederick, Maryland. Although ‘legion’ refers to a …
In spite of plate And plate listed as variations of something round and flat, each of which seems to have a fancy use. Plate are seen more often in the music industry and throwables such as Frisbees, while plate is the preferred spelling in computer jargon, such as floppy disk. In the dictionary, plate And …
In spite of is a conjunction meaning “in spite of the fact that” or “despite,” as in “Even though it’s raining, a ray of sunshine can still be seen through the clouds.” If you really want to, you can spell it too altho. That was a long time before texting was invented. Origin of Alto …
The plural of leprechaun To be leprechaun. While leprechaun occasionally appearing in edited prose, it is considered by many to be inaccurate. To help remember the correct spelling, try memorizing the plural forms of words like shelf And leafas in “a group of scarf-wearing goblins hiding under the leaves.” The mischievous creature called leprechaun seem …
When a sentence is in positive voice, the subject of the sentence is the person who performs the action expressed by the verb. inside passive sentence, the subject is the person or thing that is acted upon or affected by the action of the verb. The passive voice is usually formed with the form of …
reformation refers to a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to refer to the thing itself (like employed for “worker”), or less commonly, the word for an object used to refer to a part of that thing (as when society denotes “high society”). IN metonymya word associated with …
Both doctor appointment And doctor appointment acceptable to describe a medical visit. In the first case the ‘S, instead of showing ownership, actually shows association; Appointments of this nature are linked to the doctor. In the following case, the noun doctor being used adjective to describe the type of appointment. Grammar, self-healing. Let’s say you’re …
Bring is the most common past tense and past participle of bring. Words similar to ring, singAnd spring modified with “a” or “u” for the past tenses and their participles, like resounded And crossbarBut brang And given birth in painalthough recognized by many dictionaries, is considered by many to be non-standard—even further than the standard …
Among punctuation marks, dashes have a certain fanfare. They push the reader aside, and then drag that reader to the next part like a good dancer in the lead role. There are different punctuation items that can be described as dashes and we’ll look at them all, but we’ll start with the most useful and …
If you were thinking of splitting, what would you call the work you’re doing in terms of work? “Give up”? “Resignation”? Or perhaps “retirement” or even “abdication”? And you should also consider “skipping”? We can’t help you make a hiring decision, but we can certainly help you know how to talk about it. ‘Resign’ is …
Figurative language refers to words or phrases that make sense, but are not literally true. If you say “that news hit me like a ton of bricks,” you’re using figurative language; listeners understand the news you receive is deeply emotional and also know that you are not really hit by 2000 pounds of bricks (because …
Everything is wonderful! Update: we’ve been told that not everyone agrees with that statement. What do you think about… Everything (in this article) is (about words) Great! Better? However, everything is great when you are part of a group. We’ve also noticed that some people out there object to using the word in a way …
skillful describes unusually creative or intelligent people, and things created or done in a particularly unique or clever way. Innocent describe people and things that show simplicity and straightforwardness, innocence or childishness. adjectives skillful And innocent differ by a letter and their different letters are next to each other on the QWERTY keyboard, making them …
We regret to inform those of you interested in this matter that from pulpit can really and without embarrassment refer to what is also known as the podium. This is a podium. But it is also a podium. But back up a bit. podium in its original English usage as an architectural term. The first …
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames the noun immediately before it. In the sentence “Carol, my boss, has just been called for a meeting,” “my boss” is a renaming of “Carol.” What is an application? An adverb is a noun or noun phrase that renames or modifies another noun or noun …
What is conjunction? Conjunctions are words that join other words or groups of words. There are three types: coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions. Don’t be afraid of words like correlate, lower gradeAnd combination; they won’t harm you, and we’ll explain what they mean in just a minute. What is coordinating conjunction? Coordinating conjunctions …
Basic things Adjectives are words that describe something or someone. Dirty, pale, caring, And special are all adjectives. They often (but not always) appear immediately before what they are describing. Here are some examples: “ONE sloppy dog sitting in the window.” (so messy is an adjective, and dog is what is described.) “She wears a …
Most of us have been taught that a noun is a word that refers to a person, place, or thing. While this is true, it is helpful to think about thing as a broad category; One thing not necessarily something you can hold in your hand (a mountain, a place, and a feeling can all …
What is a verb? ONE verb is a word that shows an action (‘I will jogging to the store’), appearance (‘Bananas ripe overnight’), or state of being (‘I also have the right exist like you’). Almost every sentence requires a verb, otherwise nothing will happen! Transitive verb There are two main types of verbs: transitive …
Adverbs are often thought of as modifiers for verbs, and this is really the role they usually play in a sentence. Here are some examples: “The cat crept quietly go downtown.” (quietly is an adverb that modifies the verb sneak) “I have a stomachache so I run slow.” (Slow is an adverb that modifies the …
A preposition is a word—and almost always a very small, very common word—that indicates direction, place, or time, or introduces an object. I sent a letter ARRIVE Friend. (ARRIVE is a preposition of direction) someone is In door. (In is a preposition of place) We will come via noon. (Via is a preposition of time) …
What is ‘immutable’? terms invariant (also known as out of habit And aspect is) refers to a common feature of African-American English in which the verb form is inflected To be—i.e., it’s simple To be as opposed to forms To be alike To be or Present—used to indicate that something happens often or out of …
Knowledge usually refers to information or perception that someone has about a subject, whether from education or experience, as in “she has a lot of direct knowledge knowledge about the video game industry as both a player and a designer.” Wise instead refers to someone’s good sense, judgment, or insight (“he demonstrated wise by not …
blonde And Yellow are two spellings of the same word. If you want to follow the traditional spelling convention, use Yellow for girls and women, and blonde for boys and men. You can describe this image as Yellow or blonde blonde And Yellow are two spellings of the same word. As an adjective, blonde And …
Comparative are adjectives used to say that something is of a higher quality than something else. For example, the comparison of smooth To be softer bristles (as in “her coat is softer bristles coal mine”) and the comparison of Good To be better (as in “I thought this pretzel came out .” better than others”). …
Whoever is used to mean “anyone” or “whoever it is”: “Whoever comes first should open the window.” According to most English teachers, it should only be used in the subject position – i.e. in the place of Surname in “They come first.” At the object location—the location of Surname in “I See Them Coming”—whoever should …
