English Language Blog

I recently had a conversation with someone who is much younger than I am (that’s not hard to do, at my age), and I happened to say that something flummoxed me. She laughed and said, “Flummoxed? I’ve never heard that word before!” Ah. I had entered the anachronous zone, where the common language of someone…

For three days in August 1969, a small community about 100 miles north and west of New York City became the world’s most popular destination for music fans. A hastily organized, some might say disorganized, music festival ultimately resulted in probably the most historic concert in the history of popular music. It was advertised as…

We are all familiar with the standard, more formal expressions upon meeting someone. Hello Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Good morning/afternoon/evening. I’m pleased to meet you. However, what do you say when you know someone well but you’re seeing them for the first time after a day or so? I pass coworkers in the…

Hello, dear readers! Listen to me, I know that prepositions in English can sometimes be a little confusing, but if you insist on practicing regularly, it will be a lot easier to learn. For that reason, today’s post will provide you with some useful English verbs and the prepositions that usually follow them. Remember that, for…

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” That quote, by President John Kennedy on May 25, 1961, set the stage for what may well have been humanity’s greatest moment. There are certainly…

You’ve heard them. They are the combination of a catchy tune and advertising copy. Most of them last only a few seconds. Which is, ideally, all the time you need to absorb the message and get that song stuck in your head. Today, we might call it an earworm. But, for many years it was…

Good afternoon to all! How are you today? With the hot season approaching, sometimes we just feel strongly compelled to just drop everything and take a long trip along the coast, right? I know, but unfortunately I can’t afford to do that right now. That is, I don’t have the time or the money to indulge…