Some of the traditional ways of talking about adoption may seem neutral or harmless, but many once widely used terms are now avoided due to carrying negative implications or associations. Taking time to understand and consider these implications is especially important at a time when many discussions and depictions of adoption are criticized for minimizing the perspectives and experiences of children awaiting adoption and people …
Mr. and Mrs.: What do they stand for? The contractions Mr. and Mrs. are short for Mister and Missus/Missis. These contractions, like their longer forms, are used in etiquette to show respect to men and women. Mr. and Mrs. are pronounced the same as their longer forms: Mr. is pronounced as [ mis-ter ] and Mrs. is pronounced as [ mis-iz ] or [ miz-iz …
English has so many words: Big words. Small words. Words with silent letters. And whatever the heck is going on with squeamish. With so many words to choose from, it can be easy to get a little confused from time to time. In fact, there are a lot of words people use every day that they actually get wrong without even knowing it. Right now, …
It’s a question that just about every English learner has asked: “Are there any English words that have no vowels?” The answer to this depends what you mean by “vowel” and “word.” In this article, we explain what vowel means and how English words without vowels can—and do!—exist. We also talk about the examples that some people may or may not believe are actually words. …
Is it better to have wisdom or knowledge? Can you have one without the other? And which comes first? If you’ve ever searched for acumen into these two brainy terms, we’re here to help break them down. Wisdom and knowledge have quite a bit in common. Both words are primarily used as nouns that are related to learning. They’re listed as synonyms for one another …
Maybe you’ve heard the terms ethics and morals and wondered what the difference is. Is a moral precept the same as an ethical code? A lot of people think of them as being the same thing. While they’re closely related concepts, morals refer mainly to guiding principles, and ethics refer to specific rules and actions, or behaviors. In this article, we’ll explain the subtle differences between …
The trio of their, there, and they’re can flummox writers of all levels. It’s confusing; they are homophones, meaning they have the same pronunciation (sound) but differ in meaning and derivation (origin). In this article, we’ll explain the meanings of their, there, and they’re, how to use each word correctly, and provide example sentences for each term. We’ll also give some tips on how to remember …
If you’ve ever wondered whether it was spelled fiancé or fiancée, well, they’re both correct. And they’re both correct because they are actually different terms. English borrowed them from variants of the French verb fiancer (meaning “to get engaged”) in the mid-19th century. The masculine (fiancé) and feminine (fiancée) noun forms were both imported by English speakers, even though English doesn’t typically use gendered word endings. The extra E …
It’s OK. Really, it is OK if you can confuse it’s (with an apostrophe between the t and s), and its (without any apostrophe at all). Mixing up it’s and its is an extremely common mistake. In this article, we’ll explain the difference between its and it’s, provide tips about how to remember the difference, and even cover some related questions. When to use its or …
You might be able to recite the letters considered vowels in the English language: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. But what makes a vowel a vowel? Vowels and consonants are two different categories of sounds that linguists (in the branch of linguistics called phonetics) use to explain how speech sounds work. In this article, we’ll explore the difference between consonants and vowels …
When you come across an unfamiliar word while reading, how do you try to understand its meaning? Chances are you use context clues—even if you’ve never heard of that term. Faced with a sea of unfamiliar words, beginning readers learn many techniques for decoding words and expanding their vocabularies. Teachers use the term decoding to refer to the ability to see a written word and read it …
If you’ve ever wondered why it’s spelled practice in some contexts and practise in others, it mainly comes down to British versus American spelling. But which is which? When to use practise or practice In American English, the spelling practice is the only one commonly used—and it’s used for both the noun (commonly meaning “habit or custom” or “repeated exercise to acquire a skill”) and the verb …
