Tag Archives: interest-writing
-
-
How To Get A Head Start On Your Final Paper
By Ashley Austrew, Journalist and Writer The end of the school year is coming up fast—as if you needed a reminder! Or do you need a reminder? Are you prepared for that end-of-year flurry of exams and those all-important final papers? Before you know it, it will be time for high school and college students to turn in their work—have you started yours yet? We …
-
-
“Supposedly” vs. “Supposably”: Yes, There Is A Difference
Recently, we added the word supposably to our dictionary. And, what do you suppose happened? For one thing, we discovered how strongly people feel about this word—which many assume to be a recently invented term or a mispronunciation. Others quite reasonably think it’s a synonym of supposedly. After all, even Joey from Friends famously and hilariously couldn’t figure out if supposedly and supposably were different words. …
-
5 Crafty Ways To Get Your Kid (And You) Into Poetry
By Ashley Austrew If you’re a fan of poetry, you know how even the simplest of poems can be moving, challenging, and inspiring. It’s for these reasons that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared March 21 World Poetry Day in 1999, and it’s a holiday we’ve been celebrating since. For some, poetry is the language of love, beauty, and passion. But …
-
Insure vs. Ensure vs. Assure: What’s the Difference?
Let’s say you’re in a thorny situation, and you find yourself wanting to offer comfort. Do you have a word or two in your back pocket for this moment? Do you assure your friend it will be alright? Or do you ensure them they’ll feel better soon? … Or is the word you’re looking for insure? Confused? This is a tricky one. Assure, ensure, and insure ultimately derive …
-
Bet You Can’t Guess Where The Word “Glamour” Comes From
by John Dempsey, Writer and Editing Professional Today is National Grammar Day so it’s (not “its”) time to celebrate! Now, many of us may have bad memories of teachers correcting us on “Can I use the bathroom?” and similar common phrases all in the name of grammar. (I don’t know, can you? 🙄) So you may be surprised to learn what those of us who style ourselves …
-
Meet Two Extinct Letters Of The Alphabet: “Thorn” And “Wynn”
The English alphabet, as you likely know, is made up of 26 letters. But it wasn’t always that way. How old is the alphabet? Before we get to the history of specific letters, let’s talk a bit about Old English. English was first written in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runic alphabet, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The Angles and Saxons came from Germany and settled in Britain …
-
What’s The Name For The Dot Over “i” And “j”?
While many languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, add specific accents to the letters or characters throughout their alphabet, the English alphabet has only two letters that include a diacritic dot. This mark is added to a letter to signal a change in either the sound or meaning of a character. What is the additional name of this curious dot that hovers over the ninth …
-
“Assent” vs. “Ascent”: What’s The Difference?
Homophones: love them or hate them, they’re everywhere. These two are a great example. They may sound the same, but their meanings couldn’t be any more different. Assent is a word that indicates agreement or approval. Ascent refers to an upward movement. Let’s take a closer look. What does assent mean? As a verb, assent means to agree or to give in. When used as …
-
Does “Bimonthly” Mean Twice A Month Or Every Two Months?
Both! Bimonthly can refer to something happening “every two months” or “twice a month.” Yep, bimonthly has, fittingly enough, two meanings. What does bi– mean? The prefix bi- means “two,” from the Latin bis, “twice.” The suffix -ly, which usually forms adverbs, is used in bimonthly to mean “every.” It’s used in the same way in several other units of time, including hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly. What does bimonthly …
-
Is It True “W” Can Be Used As A Vowel?
A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y … and W? Yes, the letter W can behave as a vowel. It’s time to level up your Scrabble game, people. And, to all our grade-school peeps out there, get ready to knock the socks off your spelling teacher. First, what is a vowel? A, E, I, O, U, Y, and, as we’ll see, W, are called vowels, but let’s …