Memes have become a unique form of communication on the internet, creating new words and fostering new variants of English such as “Doggo Lingo” and “Cat Speak.” Despite being grammatically incorrect, “Cat Speak” has become popular thanks to the power of memes. “Henlo” is a word that owes its whole existence to memes. So what …
Marcel Iseli
It’s, a bit, annoying, when people, put unnecessary commas, in sentences. Let’s eat Tracy! Commas are generally used to signal the reader in taking quick breaks to breathe before proceeding to the next part of the sentence. While commas are essential in separating word series, phrases, or clauses, their unnecessary usage makes sentences awkward and …
Sometimes, a phrase may look simple and have one meaning that is straightforward, but there might also be a cultural association behind it that gives it an additional weight and meaning. You probably already know that a “test” is an examination of what you know about a given topic. However, it is also used when …
Formal, written English has some odd expressions in it. What’s especially interesting about these expressions is that they can take on nearly opposite meanings depending on the tone of the communication around them. Here we’ll look at one such example. What does “thank you for the reminder” mean? In short, this “thank you for …
If you read any style guide, one piece of advice you will come across time and again is to avoid using the same word over and over and over again. The reason behind this advice is that repetitive writing is boring, monotonic, and plain drab. You want to be none of those. In fact, …
Language is full of nuance. That’s part of what makes it so interesting to learn. In this post, we’ll examine the many possibilities for “everything” in Japanese and explore some of the subtle differences between them. How do you say “everything” in Japanese? The best translation for “everything” in most contexts is likely to …
A recurring theme on our blog is how the internet has impacted the English language, giving birth to new words and expressions. For instance, the current president of the United States has been known to “troll” people online using “memes” and “hashtags.” And, we are inundated by “spam” emails every day. However, it isn’t just …
If you’ve read even a single blog post on this website before, you probably know that a lot of language comes down to context. One great example is the difference between questions and statements. Even in English, there are clues like the inversion of word order in a statement like “You are eating.” and a …
Today’s topic is not about rain versus sun (that’s the “weather”) and it doesn’t involve rope, either (that’s a “knot”). Instead, we’re looking at the phrase “whether or not.” [toc] How to use the phrase “whether or not” in a sentence The word “whether” is a conjunction used to show that more than …