How do I love thee? Let me count the schwas.Not exactly what Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote in Sonnet 43, but we like it all the same. Why? Because it finally pays tribute to the most frequent vowel sound in English: the schwa. What is the schwa and how does it sound? Simply put, the schwa is a reduced, neutral vowel sound written as an upside-down …
Have you ever wondered how to pluralize some of the most common words you use everyday? Some plural forms are pretty strange . . . and most people don’t know them. Take our quiz below to see if you’re up on some of the most obscure plural words in the English language. If the quiz doesn’t display, please tryopeningin the Chrome browser.
Phrases with convincing fakes . . . we bet you've said some of these—we have too!
Here’s something that’s good to know: No good means something has no use or value, and has no potential of becoming good. Not good means something is bad or undesirable. The correct way to use them isn’t that clear cut. At times, there’s no difference, and they can be used interchangeably. No Good When good is used as a noun, no can quantify or modify …
Did you lose that sock in the dryer … or loose it?Lose is a verb, while loose is almost always an adjective. They’re often confused because of their similar spelling. When to use lose Lose can only be used as a verb. It describes when you “come to be without something” (e.g., to lose a sock in the laundry) or “to suffer defeat or fail …
Inhibit and prohibit are both verbs that mean to prevent or to forbid. Both verbs require a direct object to make sense, and they always involve two parties. Though both words have similar definitions, inhibit and prohibit aren’t interchangeable. In general, someone is inhibited by internal feelings or prohibited by an external source. Inhibit Inhibit is a verb with several meanings, including “to restrain, hinder, …
Are you ready, Grammar Genius? Both ingenious and ingenuous are adjectives. Ingenious indicates cleverness or intelligence, while ingenuous refers to sincerity or a naive nature. How To Use Ingenious When you say ingenious out loud, it sounds like a combination of the words in and genius. Since a genius is an intelligent person, you can use that part of the word to associate ingenious with …
Let’s say you have a bit of extra information that’s too long for parentheses. What do you do? That’s where footnotes and endnotes come in. What are they exactly? Footnotes appear at the bottom of each page they refer to, while endnotes appear at the very end of a text. They usually show up in academic writing. Read on if you want to know more …
Do you know if you’re an alumnus or an alumni? Alumni actually is the plural form of alumnus, a Latin word that means a graduate or former student of an educational institution. Although alumnus usually refers to academics, it can also mean a former employee, associate, or member of any organized group. Alumni refers to more than one alumnus (think of a graduating class). The …
While they appear very similar, sometime, sometimes, and some time have slightly different meanings. Sometime means a vague point in time, and usually refers to a long amount of time. Sometimes means occasionally. Some time refers to a period of time. Sometime Sometime refers to an unspecified point in time. It functions as an adverb, and is also synonymous with someday, one day, or sooner …
What’s the difference between the interstate highway and the intrastate highway? Inter- is a prefix that means between two groups, and intra- is a prefix which means within or inside one group. Inter- and intra- are both prefixes, which are groups of letters that are placed at the beginning of a word in order to change its meaning. Inter- Inter- is a common prefix that …
