“By the way” is one of the most common phrases people use in everyday speech. In fact, as common as it is, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ wrote a song about it. Nevertheless, using and punctuating it in writing is a whole different story. Meanwhile, comma use remains to be one of the trickiest writing …
Marcel Iseli
Once you have applied to the colleges or graduate programs that you are interested in, there is nothing to do but wait to see whether you get admitted. You may find yourself refreshing your browser repeatedly, hoping the name of your first-choice college will pop up in your email inbox. No matter how long you’ve …
Hearing bad news is never nice and it can often leave us at a loss for words. It is difficult to respond appropriately when we are shocked because we often need to regulate our own emotions before we can convey what we are feeling to the person in front of us. Many people struggle with …
Getting a text that says, “I have a crush on you,” can mean lots of different things depending on the relationship you have with the person sending it. It’s natural to think that this would come from someone who wants to start dating you, but this could also be sent to a friend as a …
TLC is the name of a girl group that was particularly popular in the 1990s although you can still catch their performances today. It’s also an abbreviation that can be used in a number of different contexts. One of those contexts is descriptions of used cars for sale. Shopping for a car can leave you …
Wishes are a cornerstone of daydreams, stories, and blockbuster animated movies. But what if, when your wish was granted, you found out it wasn’t what you wanted after all? It may sound unrealistic, but that situation is the topic of today’s post. What is the meaning of the phrase “be careful what you wish …
Using commas appropriately saves us from miscommunicating what we really mean. Needless to say, it is quite an important life skill to have. There’s been some curiosity on when exactly to place a comma after the word “besides” – a word that has multiple faces. Today, we’ll be tackling this very issue so we can …
As anyone who’s had to explain to the fire department the metaphorical meaning of “this place is on fire” knows, the context in which you use words is very important. Although you might not be accused of physical violence when you say you’re pulling someone’s leg unless you add no pun intended, misinterpreting the phrase …
Have you ever heard a phrase that you didn’t understand? Or, worse, a phrase that you thought you understood but that turned out to mean the opposite? This may seem unlikely, but the fact is it’s fairly typical. The classic example is “literally,” which originally meant that something actually happened but now often means the …