Archive for 'English Vocabulary'
Getting to Grips with Homographs Posted by heather on Jan 14, 2012
Last week we had a look at homophones. As a quick reminder, a homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and sometimes a different spelling. Today we are going to take a look at homographs. A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as…
Happy Birthday!! Posted by heather on Jan 11, 2012
Tomorrow is my birthday. I am quite excited because I will be turning 32, which sounds much better than 31 did. I think it might be the fact that 32 is an even number that makes it sound enticing. So what will I be doing for my birthday? On the day itself I will be…
Common Abbreviations in English Posted by Gabriele on Jan 6, 2012
Abbreviated words are everywhere in writing. Abbreviations are so plentiful I thought I’d go over some useful ones here. First though, let us define what an abbreviation is. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Abbreviations are good to use in writing, to save space and time, but they are essential…
“Alot” is Not a Word Posted by heather on Jan 4, 2012
I’ll never forget my first day of fourth* grade. We all entered the classroom complete with fresh supplies of notebooks, folders, pencils and glue. We sat at our desks full of optimism and anticipation and then the teacher, whose name I can’t remember, stood up and wrote something on the blackboard. “alot” No doubt we…
Thanking People Posted by Gabriele on Dec 23, 2011
At this time of year people are often giving and receiving presents from one another. All of the religious and cultural holidays in the United States in December (including: Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa) have some component of gift giving. That makes this time of year a great time to review different ways of saying…
Holiday Greetings Posted by Gabriele on Dec 20, 2011
Holiday greetings are type of greetings that are often spoken with good intention to strangers (people passing by on the street, in stores when you are shopping, etc.), family and friends. This time of year you will hear holiday greetings quite often. This is a way to wish others well and share your own enthusiasm…
Christmas Cookies Posted by Gabriele on Dec 18, 2011
What would a holiday be without food? In the United States, it wouldn’t be much of a holiday at all, that is for sure. One thing you hear a lot of people talking about during the winter holiday season is all the food they are going to eat. The eating starts off with Thanksgiving and…