Tag Archives: grammar
Affect or Effect? Posted by Gary Locke on Jun 4, 2020
Not long ago, I received a text from an old friend. “Hey!’ he wrote, “Which of these sentences is correct? “It doesn’t have the effect that we were hoping for.” “It doesn’t have the affect that we were hoping for.” I quickly replied that he wanted to use #1. His response was, “Thanks! This is…
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…
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…
When English is Tense Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 31, 2019
In my capacity as Social Media Manager for Transparent Language, I oversee our blogs and our Word of the Day service. These are offered free as a way to help language learners. They are also quite interesting, and I learn a lot from them. I also learn from our subscribers. Many of you make keen…