Archive for 'English Grammar'
Phrasal verbs and their opposites Posted by carol on May 31, 2020
Greetings, everyone! How’s life? A lot of people have been taking these unusual times we are living in as a chance to take a hard look at their lives and rethink their whole routines. Spending more time at home inevitably leads to dedicating more to our hobbies, exploring new ones or looking for ways to practice…
Let’s Test Your English Skills! Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 22, 2020
Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay, CCO Do you have a child taking classes from home? Or maybe you’re a teacher meandering your way around a virtual classroom. Aren’t you a little bit curious about what that learning experience is like? Perhaps you like games and would like to try your hand at a new…
The Many Ways of Anyway Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 27, 2020
As you probably know, Americans are very good at abusing the English language. We fall into habits of misapplying words when speaking and, if we do it often enough, the wrong word becomes part of common speech. This is called a colloquialism. The problem with some English colloquialisms, though, is that they can confuse anyone…
That or Which? Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 30, 2020
Years ago, this blog addressed the problem of when to use that or which in a sentence. Are they interchangeable? Is there a rule to follow? What’s the difference? Unfortunately, this continues to be one of the most common mistakes in English grammar. In fact, it’s so common that people tend to ignore it. But…
When Irregular Verbs Fail Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 16, 2020
Sometimes you’ll hear someone use a verb in the past tense and it just sounds wrong. “I knew it was late as soon as I had woken up.” Woken doesn’t sound or even look like a real word. That’s because its source verb, wake, is an irregular verb. There are regular verbs and irregular…
Call me a cab! The word ‘call’ in English Posted by carol on Nov 30, 2019
You might remember the scene: two man stand by the sidewalk, one of them asks the other: call me a cab! to which the other replies: you’re a cab! well, these two are none other than the great Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the unforgettable 1952 musical “Singing in the rain”. Besides the obvious…
A Simple English Word – Ours Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 27, 2019
These two cats love each other. He is hers; she is his. They belong to my wife and me. They are ours. We all know that English is a very complicated language. Spelling is difficult, grammar structure is frustrating, rules are confusing, and don’t even get me started on homophones. If you want an example…