The flexibility of language as a communication device allows humans to convey information either colloquially or formally. While colloquialism emanates a tone of friendliness, formalistic speech entails more objectivity, logic, and conviction. Hence, the formal language is preferable for record-keeping, such as in historical texts, as well as in pedagogical practices. Let’s take a closer …
English
There are many words in the English language that are so versatile that they carry more than one meaning. On the one hand, you have homonyms, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as “tree bark” and “dog bark.” On the other hand, some words can have a single meaning, yet …
Human thought is sometimes represented by expressions that are obscure and vague. The attempt to use precise and accurate language in texts, especially in technical documents, may reinforce some counterproductive effects. One way to address the uncertainty in the written language is by adding non-lexical symbols, such as commas, to assist in the disambiguation process. …
These days, email is everywhere. On the one hand, that means communication is faster and more efficient than it’s ever been before. However, the ubiquity of email has given rise to a whole new set of phrases and words, along with rules on when and where to use them. In this article, we’ll look at …
Many people think that accents are what other people have. This makes sense, because you’re so used to your own voice it’s hard to think that it might be different to other people. Accents, however, are like opinions: Everybody has one. There’s no reason to be upset by this. The different accents we use to …
Do you sometimes feel intimidated by words not typically used in everyday speech? And, have you come to a point wherein you doubted whether a word indeed exists in the world of languages or only in your head? If you answered “yes” to both questions, then you’re living proof that language apparently is a living …
Humans are rational beings in general, thereby entailing the consideration for truth value evaluations in utterances. To express these observations, we use words either to judge the content of statements, or to attach our own mood or emotion towards them. These words are linguistically known as disjuncts or disjunctive adverbials which are essential in adding …
Time plays a salient role in human conversations which means time-related expressions are equally-vital in the process. One of the most functionally used words relevant to time in the English corpora is the adverb of frequency “often.” Besides, punctuation marks such as commas also facilitate the disambiguation of thought representations in the written language, and …
The use of adverbs implies higher-order language processing as they are generally more complex than nouns and verbs. Since adverbs can have multiple functions, they are categorized into various types according to grammatical use. One way to express linguistic content richness is by means of intensification via adverbs of emphasis. Read on to further understand …