When you start writing, one of the first thing style manuals teach you is to avoid using the word “very”. So, instead of quantifying an adjective with the rather generic word “very”, find a stronger adjective that does the trick. For instance, rather than describing someone as “very smart”, you could describe them as “brilliant” …
English
In today’s ultra-connected world, one that moves at a break-neck pace, email has become the preferred medium of communication for many professionals. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense: For one thing, emails don’t take up any physical space, yet, at the same time, you never have to worry about losing a …
Here, at Linguablog, we’ve explored various aspects of language. We’ve looked at how language intersects with culture. We’ve delved into how certain words originate and how they morph over time. And, we’ve talked about various grammatical rules that make English the beautiful, rich language it is today. However, one thing we haven’t talked about all …
English can be confusing. Thanks to the language’s many different origins, the vocabulary alone is enough to make anyone’s head spin. You have words that should rhyme but don’t, you have nouns that give you irregular plurals that seem arbitrary, and you have some words whose spelling will confound even the most practiced native speakers. …
Table of Contents What is a Participial Phrase? What is a Participle? What is an Adjective? Present Participial Phrases The Difference Between Present Participles and Gerunds Past Participial Phrases Participial Phrases Exceptions: Irregular Verbs Perfect Participial Phrases Punctuation for Participial Phrases Mistakes to Avoid When …
Showing gratitude is of the utmost importance in both our personal and our professional lives. It makes us feel like we are part of something bigger than ourselves, like we belong. And, this sense of belonging can give tremendous meaning to our actions. Additionally, showing gratitude can make others feel validated and respected, propelling them …
Every time we investigate a certain word, we invariably look at the culture that spawned it. For instance, the term “crow tit” forced us to take a closer look at Korean culture as well as the disparity between different generations. Lately, we have been fascinated by a particular online subculture, that of Twitch. Not only …
Affect vs. effect is a commonly discussed problem; people often still struggle to choose the right one. Which one you should go for, obviously, always depends on the context and the very meaning of the sentence. But is that the same for “no effect vs. no affect?” Well, not exactly, because one of these two …
What is an appositive phrase? An appositive phrase is a special kind of noun phrase that explains or identifies another noun or pronoun. There are two kinds of appositive phrases: Essential appositive phrases (also called restrictive appositive phrases) and non-essential appositive phrases (also called nonrestrictive appositive phrases). How to find out if an …