Tag Archives: English
What Did You Say? Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 17, 2022
You’ve been learning English for a while, and you feel pretty good about your progress. Then, one day, you’re talking with a native speaker, and you didn’t quite understand something you heard. This happens frequently. Don’t worry about it. But, how do you respond? One of the great, and annoying, things about English is that…
Let’s Talk About a Stick Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 6, 2022
Stick is an English word that can be both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it can be, as the image above implies, a dog’s toy that was once a part of a tree. It can also be another name for a billiard cue, a golf club, a baseball bat, a car’s gear…
The English Language Blogs of 2021, Part 2 Posted by Gary Locke on Dec 30, 2021
We’re going to continue our wander through memory lane, reviewing the ten most engaging and popular English language blogs of 2021. The list is based on your response to them. These were the blogs that were opened the most, clicked on, and commented upon. Today, we’re counting down the top five. You can find the…
Looking Back on the Blogs of 2021, Part 1 Posted by Gary Locke on Dec 23, 2021
I’m sure that I don’t have to spend any time describing the past year. We’ve all lived it. Congratulations on that, by the way. Just surviving this year has been an accomplishment, as it was for 2020. But, I’m not here to talk about politics, science, or economics. The purpose of this blog is to…
Strange Combinations Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 11, 2021
When two or more words are combined to form a new word with a different meaning, we get a compound word. There are three types of compound words. They can be closed compounds, joined into one word, like soundproof. Closed compounds are almost always the combination of only two words. They can be open compounds…
The Highly Versatile Em Dash Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 7, 2021
I’ve often remarked on this page that punctuation is a very important and often neglected part of learning English. Of all the little squiggles and lines that make up the world of punctuation, perhaps the most versatile and popular is what we call the em dash. Let’s take a look at what it is, how…
Commonly Used English Alliterations Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 30, 2021
Let me tell you a secret about English speakers that many of us don’t even realize. We love to speak in alliterations. We can’t help it. Our language is filled with alliterative phrases that we use every day. Even for those who don’t know what alliteration is. Understanding Alliteration I found myself the other day…