Tag Archives: American English
Writing the Date in American English Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 17, 2020
One of the things that distinguish the United States from almost every other country is also one of the most basic. We write the date differently. In the U.S., the date is written mm/dd/yyyy, or sometimes mm/dd/yy. For most of the world, this is backward (or, more accurately, sideways.) Why we do this has been…
Ways to Say You Don’t Understand Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 10, 2020
In English, when you are presented with something that you don’t understand the most normal thing to do is tell someone, “I don’t understand.” Or, “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.” However, we have lots of ways to express that same feeling. And, depending on the situation, another expression may be more suitable. Whenever a…
English Acronyms and Initialisms Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 9, 2020
We’re living in a world of acronyms and initialisms. They are both forms of abbreviations that have filtered into our daily lives in a multitude of ways. You see, and probably use them yourself, in text messages and social media. They are all over the news right now. And you likely have been using them…
English Words of Support Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 2, 2020
For the last several weeks I have been hearing a common phrase on television and radio, in teleconferences, and among friends – “We’re all in this together.” This is meant to encourage people to feel better about the situation we’re all in. It’s a way of saying that, as difficult as this may be, you…
Cabin Fever Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 26, 2020
Do you have cabin fever yet? It’s an English language phrase of American origin, expressing a feeling of restless anxiety and boredom from being indoors for a prolonged period of time. It is also something that you may soon be experiencing. Literally billions of people all over the world are finding themselves in self-isolation, or…
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…
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…