The wealthy feed on the work of the poor. When I graduate college, the world will be my oyster. Art and science are branches of the same tree. What do all these strange sentences have in common? They could all be made clearer by the phrase “as it were.” What is the meaning of …
English
Slang terms can be confusing, especially for the uninitiated of us. They spike in popularity for a time, during which they baffle us, leaving us scratching our heads and wondering how a word like “bae” or an expression like “On fleek” ever made it into the English lexicon. And, to make matters worse, slang words …
Linguistic politeness facilitates human civilization in a myriad of ways. This concept elicits the fact that people are capable of considering others’ emotions, thereby reinforcing the importance of polite language in communication. One utterly common example of polite language goes by the verbiage “Thank you for letting me know.” Let’s take a closer look at …
I am convinced that I can speak English, at least to a decent level. However, I cannot count the number of times I’ve found myself listening to other people talk in “English” yet be unable to understand them at all. I could even make out a few words here and there, but I was not …
Having the ability to use punctuation marks with ease, and perhaps without consulting Dr. Google, entails advanced linguistic literacy. Being able to appropriately employ words that are commonly misused and misinterpreted suggests the same idea. Since these two areas are two of the most crucial parts in language application, it is essential to discuss them …
There are some expressions that you come across time and again, yet you aren’t sure what they exactly mean. For me, I was never sure what “by the skin of one’s teeth.” It just never made sense to me. How can someone escape “by the skin of their teeth”? Then, I looked into it and …
The rules in English can be confusing. For every concept you think you have a handle on, countless exceptions confound things. And the bigger problem is that these exceptions can be erratic, with no discernible pattern to speak of. For instance, when it comes to the past tense, while the past of “side” is “sided,” …
There are many ways of using the English language, and these vary from place to place. Scotland, for example, has a lot of unique expressions due to the common use of Scottish Gaelic and Scots in the country. Today we’ll take a look at one Scottish phrase, “Dinna fash.” What does “dinna fash” mean? …
Have you ever wondered why and how on earth can a word be flanked with its identical twin in a sentence? If you’ve questioned whether or not this type of phrasal construction is grammatically-correct, then you must be a grammar stickler! Kidding aside, if you’ve landed on this post searching for some answers, then that …