Language: how does it work? And how do you remember the difference between words that look alike like magnet And rich man? The ancient Greeks used the term ‘magnēs lithos’ for exotic minerals with intriguing properties. ONE rich man is defined as “a person with rank, power, influence, or distinction usually in a particular area.” …
In English, it is often difficult to tell whether phrases, such as as or other than, is acting as a preposition or conjunction, or just a combination of individual words. This slip also occurs with more than, is found in grammatically balanced compound sentences as well as sentences with subordinate clauses. (If any of these …
Draft And draft can be used to refer to an “original sketch or plan”, “beer on a faucet”, or even “to pull or pull a load”. In American English, draft used for all of these, except for fancy bars that would have foreign “draft beer”. In British English, draft used for plans and sketches, while …
Country scene refers to a work of prose describing a rustic or pastoral scene. This is different from the adjective ideal meaning ranges from “perfectly suitable” to “represents the standard of perfection.” From “idill” we get “idyllic” which means “pleasant in its natural simplicity” and for some scenes idyllic is ideal. When something is described …
use doesn’t get much love, which is hardly surprising. It has two important strikes against it. The first is its ending: words with -ize suffixes tend to annoy people (we’ll pause here for those who want to hate on encourage a time). And second is its length: two syllables longer in total than its simple …
Suddenly, if you’re making something like an appetizer, you don’t need to grind it with a mortar and pestle—you already have a blender. Suddenly, every dish after every meal didn’t need to be washed by hand; it went into the dishwasher. Suddenly, if you want to boil some water, you don’t have to spend half …
Evil behavior And clamps: they are homophones, which means they sound the same, but have different meanings. And we mean different. That’s fascinating stuff, really. Evil behavior is more common of this pair. Often contrasted with virtue, bad behavior is used to refer to a wide range of behaviors and do’s, from just blushing to …
Many English aristocratic titles are used in governmental and social traditions, hierarchies and ceremonies, not to mention costume dramas. Polite manners allow correct headings—but they can sometimes be confusing. Here is a quick guide. If you haven’t already, take this time to put on your big, fancy hat. Royal titles are simple: The reigning monarch …
While you may not be getting enough sleep lately, believe us: you are not sleep deprived. You are sleep deprived. corrupt And deprive look horribly alike. Just one vowel in the second syllable distinguishes them in appearance. But in terms of meaning, there’s more going on. THEREFORE. TIRED. FROM. ALL. THAT THING. IMPORTANT. JOB. corrupt …
adjectives Justice And wise are close etymological relatives, which often leads people to believe that they have overlapping meanings. Indeed, there was a time when they shared a meaning: “to have or exercise correct judgment”; however, in modern English, only wise used in that sense. Before examining the current usage of both words, let’s take …
The English language is impressively rich, as anyone with an eye on new words will tell you. New words appear by any of a number of different methods — adding a prefix or suffix to an existing word, making a verb for a noun or naming a verb, or — loving everyone’s favorite — combine …
the difference between chilli, chilliAnd Chile, usually a matter of location. In American English, chilli is the most common spelling for hot peppers as well as stews and sausages. In British English, the preferred spelling is chilli. In Spanish-speaking countries and regions of the United States, Chile is the most common variant. If you’re a …
Some words seem to lead a charming life, able to take on new meanings and sensations whenever they feel like it, without attracting the slightest bit of disparagement. Runfor example, has produced dozens of meanings, and no language critic has yet compared it to literally. Whenever run adds a new meaning that people more or …
Sometimes a word will change meaning seductively, as when a famous writer takes it by the neck, shakes it a few times, and by great force of will give it a new meaning (this doesn’t happen as often as we’d like to think it does). Other words take on new meanings in less appealing ways, …
For centuries, only one of these words existed in English, and it was the word used to describe people and things that hung things, and the devices on which things were hung or hung, as well as like historical objects and sometimes hangs itself. We will give you seven predictions. This is a word that …
The earliest awareness of include, “made up of” (‘cake consisting of eggs, sugar, and flour’), is generally considered the only correct usage. Its use of meaning “to prepare, to constitute” (‘cake consisting of eggs, sugar, and flour’) is well established, although you may be criticized for using it. Beginning in the early 20th century, some …
Imagine we are traveling through time, crossing a whole decade and ending in a whole new century. It is the year 2100, and we are at the dawn of the 22nd century. Yes, that’s what’s coming: the 22nd century. All its years will* begin with 21, extending to the distant year 2199. And as we …
One of the immutable truths of life is that every language changes, as long as it is a living language that is still spoken and used. The second truth is that it only takes a language to change that there will be people complaining about the change. And the third truth is that complaints about …
When we hear the word majority it is usually in a sampling context, such as a poll. You count the members of a group, and if more than half share a trait, then you can say most of the group shares that trait. 8,300 signal and rail switch repairers nationwide—most of them based in California, …
There is a subtle distinction in usage instinctively And instinct. instinct often used in the sense of “instinctively controlled” when describing a particular behavior (as in “an instinctively response”). instinct has an analytical rather than “instinctive” meaning, more commonly used by scientists when defining a process or pattern than any particular behaviour. adjectives instinctively And …
General rule in modern English for the plural of nouns with the suffixes -S And -es derived from Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English), a primitive language distantly related to German. That language is also the source of the rule for forming the past tense of verbs by adding -d or -edand many of our …
Verbs wet And brush one’s teeth share an identical pronunciation and, as homonyms, have certainly caused some confusion among writers. Often, they are mistakenly swapped for the phrases “to wet the whistle” and “to stimulate one’s appetite”. Examples of misuse are—unfortunately—quite easy to find. With over 125 restaurants, market-goers can stimulate or quench their hunger …
When we measure a three-dimensional object, we usually talk about it in terms of length, width, and depth (or sometimes height). There are adjectives that correspond to each of these three nouns: long, wideAnd deep (or High). For example, a swimming pool might be 70 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. But …
Bring And take sometimes used in the same context, which makes people who have strong feelings about such things very uncomfortable. Just what is dealing with bring And take? And do you ‘bring’ or ‘bring’ some beer to your friend’s place? Sometimes we apply one or the other which is obvious to any native speaker: …
Recently, we noticed that there is a small and polite group of people who are not too fond of the word. despite. This group, who we can call despitemake them unhappy with the word known by calmly and rationally explaining their position… oh, who are we kidding… despite make them known by writing angry letters …
IN metal, medal, vigorAnd interfere, we have seen the same message in all four words. However, their basic meanings are different. However, their pronunciation is not too different. Metal refers to a substance that is typically lustrous, conducts electricity and heat, and can melt and reshape. Iron, aluminum, lead and platinum are classified as metals. …
In spite of skip And give up has a distinct meaning—skip means “go ahead” and give up means “do without” – no wonder to find skip instead give up. Most standard dictionaries accept such usage, so feel free to state that you “will skip dessert” or “will skip dessert”, with the only caveat that you …
Grammar teachers will sometimes talk about dependent and independent clauses. What is the difference between them? The clause depends or does not depend on what? And what about the provisions that remain in their parents’ family plans? First, let’s start with clause. A clause is a part of a sentence that contains a subject and …
Some people who have opinions on such things will assert that my self should only be used in two situations: as a reflexive pronoun, as in “I burned when I took the cake out of the oven,” or for emphasis: “I made the cake myself.” But their opinion does not exclude statements such as the …
The subjunctive mood expresses a wish, suggestion, request, or desire in a sentence that usually has two clauses, with a verb like wish (or suggest, request, etc) in one clause and the second verb is in the subjunctive. In the sentence ‘I wish I were president’, the verb ‘were’ is in the subjunctive. Anyone who …
Verb shake take its standard past form shake (“he shook my hand”) and, in most cases, shake as its standard past participle “she was shake her husband is awake”). The bartender shook the cocktail perfectly. As usual, that past participle is also used in passive constructions, more often not figuratively to make someone feel uncomfortable …
Depending on where you’re from, you can pronounce ‘vase’ in one of three main ways. Is one of them considered “standard”? Peter Sokolowski explains. TRANSCRIPT When someone brings you flowers and asks if you have anything to plug in, you can say “Yes, there’s a vase in the cupboard.” That’s how you would say if …
from while likes to be busy. It is included in the dictionary with four parts of speech. The use of ‘wile away’ is common enough to deserve credit. The first is a noun: take off your coat and stay for a while. There is a combination, meaning “in that time”: someone called while you are …
We use the noun name as a way of referring to praise (such as for an achievement) or the reputation and fame resulting from that achievement. English word derived from Greek kydoswhere it means the same thing. She is equally frustrated, when the motorcycle returns to the Gopher Prairie, to find that she is proud …
happy And Funniest has been used as the comparative and superlative forms of the adjective happy for more than a century, although many people prefer to use happier And happiest. Some people find it interesting to use this word happy as an adjective. Others were more than happy to inform this group that happy is …
In first grade, we were taught that the letters One, e, I, o, FriendAnd sometimes y are vowels. Most of us have probably accepted what we’ve been told (it’s just another “rule” we have to follow), and never questioned why the last part is true (there are other things to ask, such as snack time). …
stupid And stupidest are real words in good condition. Although there are many (often conflicting) rules about superlative and superlative adjectives, there is no rule against it. stupid And stupidestand words that have a long history of use. If we want to describe a person who has bet that he can eat a bunch of …
Renter often refers to tenants or apartments from landlords, as in “we make sure to travel light at night so as not to disturb the tenants living below us.” principles refers to a shared principle or belief, especially one shared by an organization, movement, or profession, as in “one of the fundamentals of online cartoonists.” …
The adverb has been subject to more than its dubious rules for centuries. As early as the 19th century, writers were warned not to put adverbs between verbs and words. ARRIVE, a piece of advice that, oddly enough, remains in some currency to this day. Likewise, poor sentence adverbs (“an adverb that limits or describes …
