Prepare your middle school kids for high school with these vocab activities Do you have a middle-schooler preparing for high school? Challenge them with over 10 vocab activities designed for high school age students. Learning about roots of words Roots can form words in our current language by reconstructing original words from a parent language. Learn more about roots of words by looking for some …
If your television or tablet has been taken over by non-stop Disney movies, you’re not alone. Screen time is increasing in plenty of households as parents try to make do with schools closing while working from home. Before you start wringing your hands and getting down on yourself, we’ve got a little bit of good news: Kids’ minds don’t have to be frozen by all …
From existential threats to existential choices “I’m trash!” was the insistent cry of Forky, the googly-eyed spork whose struggle to be a toy was at the heart of the summer blockbuster Toy Story 4. Forky’s plight was entertaining, yes, but it also resonated with a deeper sentiment—and word—that defined so much of 2019. We know what you must be thinking: Forky? The dictionary? 2019? Well, …
Expand your kitchen skills by learning a few techniques you may not have previously known and some vocabulary for somethings you already knew.
There are a lot of words to refer to people who move from one place to another. Some are used in overlapping ways, but there are key differences between many of them, including whether the person is coming or going, and for what reasons. In this article, we’ll break down the differences in meaning and use between the words immigration and emigration, the related forms …
What does a.m. mean? The term we associate with the morning, a.m., is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ante merīdiem meaning “before midday.” What does p.m. mean? P.m. is an abbreviation of post merīdiem, meaning—you guessed it—“after midday.” These two terms help keep ambiguity at bay in the 12-hour time system. What does m. mean? There is a third, lesser-known abbreviation in this system: …
The terms motherland and fatherland both refer to one’s native country, one’s country of origin, or the home of one’s ancestors. So, what’s the difference between motherland and others fatherland? What are the origins of motherland and fatherland? Whether a particular group uses (their language’s equivalent of, if they have one) motherland or fatherland is a matter of culture, tradition, or, in some instances, personal preference. In …
On Independence Day (July 4th), we ooh and ahh at the fireworks bursting in air, but did you know that the different types of fireworks effects have their own names? What’s a peony firework? The peony is one of the most common kinds of aerial pyrotechnic effects. It is named for a variety of plants with large, showy flowers. This firework display has a flower-like explosion …
English has a rich, extensive vocabulary. Problem is, sometimes those words run into each other, resulting in a tangled set of homophones, words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings. The word set we’re examining today can send writers into a spiral of uncertainty when it comes to word choice, particularly in the context of one expression: piqued my interest, peaked my interest, …
Grey and gray are both accepted in the English language. They refer to a color of a neutral tone between black and white, and can also be used metaphorically to convey gloom and dullness. However, gray is the more popular spelling in the US, while grey reigns supreme in the UK as well as Ireland, Australia, and other places that use British English. For centuries, …
If you want to see some live classical music, you could go to the New York Philharmonic, for instance, or the Chicago Symphony. Are they the same? Are they different? Why is English so confusing? OK, we are going to stop playing the world’s smallest violin and get to the base—er, bass—of it. First, what is an orchestra? An orchestra is “a group of performers on …
Ah, another confusing pair of homophones (words that sound alike but are different in meaning). And, we’re not going to be discreet about it: these two can be confusing. So, let’s try to keep them discrete. What does discreet mean? Discreet means “judicious in one’s conduct or speech, especially with regard to respecting privacy or maintaining silence about something of a delicate nature.” Or, more …
