There are some words that I will always check. Their spelling or meaning don’t come naturally to me, however many times I come across them. I may not always check them in a dictionary or with someone else. At the very least I’ll do a mental check, usually against one of the rules – “fri-Continue reading “Words that I always check”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
My pet hates
There are some things that I can’t get used to, however many times I hear or read them – and however often people say they’ve become part of the English language. Sure, English, like any language, develops and changes as it hits the shores of different lands and mixes with other dialects and languages. ItContinue reading “My pet hates”
Sprung or sprang; swum or swam?
First published on April 28. Edited on April 29 THE death of Prince Philip gave the media another chance to tell the story of how he was considered some sort of a deity for a community of people on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. So it came about that I was listening to anContinue reading “Sprung or sprang; swum or swam?”
An “s” doesn’t always a plural make
“Premises” is one of those nouns in English which exist only in the plural form.
Few or less? Much or many?
They’re questions that cause much debate. Should you use “few” or “less” when trying to compare two amounts? When do you use “many” and when do you use “lots of” or “much”? Even the best of us can get it wrong … headlines from a digital jobs website, above, and a UK newspaper The mainContinue reading “Few or less? Much or many?”
‘A’ or ‘an’
An honest or a honest politician?
An honour or a honour?
There’s a rule in English which says that the indefinite article before a noun beginning with one of the vowels – a, e, i, o, u – should always be “an”. If the noun starts with a consonant, the article should be “a”.
Playing with words
People like playing with words … especially if they’re searching for a catchy name for a business that they hope will make their millions. In most of these examples the “play” is produced by replacing a key word with one that sounds the same but is spelt differently – “barber” for “Baba” for example. TheContinue reading “Playing with words”
Spelling tricks, and how to remember which word to use in English
Sitting day-dreaming in my primary school class one day years ago, I realised the English teacher was saying something interesting about how you could “fry your friend to the end”. A striking image for my then fertile imagination … and a good way to remember how to spell “friend”. And better than that old andContinue reading “Spelling tricks, and how to remember which word to use in English”
The apostrophe, and how to use it
Every time we want to use an apostrophe, we should stop – just like the person who made the sign about “Seed Potato’s” should have. We should think about it, keeping our fingers well away from the apostrophe key. We should consider whether we want to change a singular into a plural, whether we want to shorten a word, or whether we want to show possession.
The puzzle of plurals
If one dairy animal that gives you milk is a cow, and two such animals are “cows”, you could be forgiven for thinking that if one little four-legged animal that gives you wool is sheep, two of them would be sheeps. You would be forgiven, but you’d still be wrong. English is like that. ItContinue reading “The puzzle of plurals”
Whatstheword 