Eudora13

Here are some more heart idioms...

Does the heart good

To know by heart

Change of heart

Heartfelt/ Heartless

Wear your heart on your sleeve

Give one's heart and soul

SWAG actually used to be an acronym for "Stuff We All Get". Some number of years ago it was used to describe things people used to get for free. Nowadays it's been re-purposed as a shortening of "swagger". Funny how one word gets recycled for a new catch phrase. It will have its time and pass, like all colloquialisms, and maybe one day we'll see it used anew for something completely different.

The acronym sounds similar to the meaning I knew of swag. It's strange how it acquires a totally different root word - 'swagger' - and then ends up as the catchphrase of the millennium. Freebies to feel-free-to-use-me.

This is what urban dictionary has to say about the word and I agree.

Haha! That just about sums it up. But from what I can see, everyone seems to have their own versions of the origin of the word. And the present meaning is as stable as the wind. The last line of urban dictionary's definition, I like.

This is what I was taught!  Was is used when the subject is singular. Were is used when the subject is plural. Also, you is taken to be plural even when you are talking to one person.

I have forgotten about subjunctive verbs. I need to do a brush up.

Exactly the case with me! I seem to have forgotten all my grammar beyond the bare basics. I just speak by way of habit. Unfortunately that won't be of adequate help during exams. "Was" is not just used when the subject is singular. See, that's where the dilemma lies! I still need to get this thing more clear...

So in the subjunctive mood it is always "were" for the verb "to be", no matter what the subject (I, he, it, etc)? I knew it would be were because that's how i say it, but I never knew the grammatical reason behind it.

Wow, this is brilliant! I haven't looked through the entire tutorial yet but it looks more than promising. Particulrly the organisation and style sections. I cant wait to try the tests and evaluate myself. Where was this when I needed it?  I've saved and bookmarked this site. I wish more people get access to such links when they require it. Thanks a lot for sharing. it'll be of great help to many!

This looks like a really useful site. Usually you don't find such resources for free. Thanks a lot for sharing this. Despite being fluent in English, many of us don't know the specific grammatical rules of the language, and just speak from habit. This will help a great deal.

It is one of the most over used and overrated word in the English dictionary. Everyone seems to use it, whether they know its actual meaning or not. In fact what does it mean? Swag as far as I knew, once upon a time, meant a bunch of flowers, or stolen sack of goods. Now it's used in and for everything.

What is the urban meaning of the word Swag now? Besides describing people who wear slouchy Tshirts and baggy pants. Do you use it a lot?

Well I've been schooled in British English but grew up being exposed to American English (entertainment wise) so now I speak a hodgepodge of Britmerican English, if there is such a thing! What I find difficult is the "right" pronunciation. Since I'm a literature student and we have this thing called 'scansion', knowing the right pronunciation is mandatory. Now since I'm doing Brit.Literature, it gets really confusing as to whether it's "liu-te-nant" or "lef-te-nant" in British english. There are many other such cases.

This is indeed a very common mistake, particularly with non native speakers. They should never be used interchangeably. It sounds very very wrong. Thanks for the simply explained lesson, I'm sure many will find it really useful!

Which of the two is correct grammatically?

I wish I were rich.

or

I wish I was rich.

I wish it were done.

or

I wish it was done.

I wish life were easy.

or

I wish life was easy.

I wish he were mine.

or

I wish he was mine.

These tips are good for beginners. English is easy that way. You can learn the basics through such "question" words who, what, where, etc. I wish French was equally easy!

It is never "a hour" but "an hour", due to the silent 'h' and the vowel sound beginning with 'u'. While with "honour" it's "an honour" due to the 'o' vowel sound.

The English language has countless dialects, so it's important to know what the correct and original pronunciation is. Grammar remains constant no matter what the dialect.

Just tried it, it isn't exactly the hardest quiz ever. Some of the answers are a bit weird though. For example, the phrase "_______ that the American Indian crossed a land bridge into North America from what is now Russia."

It can be correctly completed with both past and present terms. The quiz says the correct answer is "It is thought", but the option "It was thought" is just as correct. The only thing that changes is the meaning of the sentence itself, and both are in fact grammatically correct. "it is thought" would imply that people still believe in the assumption and nothing has proven it wrong, whereas "it was thought" would mean that the theory is incorrect, as something has proven it otherwise since then.

This is the  case with many grammar tests, actually. The blanks can be filled with more than one variant of the correct answer while keeping the sentence grammatically correct. What I was wondering though is, does the examiner take all the possible answers into consideration?

And thanks for the link, I'll try the test and see how I score.

I will be taking the GRE exam sometime next year (which is actually sooner than I'm letting myself think!) but the English section looks quite hard. Like you said, learning up the 3000+ words seems like a really daunting task. I've bought a few books and CDs to help me out but I haven't really gotten down to it.

Are there any sites which allows you to give mock exams and evaluates them for you? Paid sites are fine, as long as they aren't too expensive.

I think this wouldn't be grammatically wrong, if the case wasn't as specific as having a pen in the pocket.

For instance,

"I have had my share of bad luck in the past."

"I have had a day off during Christmas when I worked there."

Even the sentence you mentioned doesn't sound wrong if the context is understood.

I don't mind short cuts as long as the pronunciation of the word is not altered. You can be written as 'u', or be as 'b' and the like. But the minute I see things like "mah", "gal", "tym", "ppl", "cz"...ughh. It makes me really angry and annoyed at the person! It irritates my mouth to work at those awful pronunciation!

As a non-native speaker, I haven't read many books in English. I wouldn't even call those books a BOOK. Well, they were all comic books.

Comic books are as much "books" as any classic literary novel! So you like reading comics, that definitely counts.

...when you think you know the language (or languages) but you actually don't!

That reminds me, in Dutch, a common error (which annoys a lot of people) is to use 'irritates' when one means 'annoys'. It's because some verbs have a word similar to 'oneself' or 'me' built into them. Annoys has this, but irritates does not. So people will say "I irritate myself about something" when they mean "I annoy myself [this is correct grammar in Dutch] about something" or "Something irritates me".

Ok, so did I use "irritates me" in a wrong way? If so I'd really appreciate if you can explain why!

Is Couscous really an English Word?

You totally picked the word that I hate uttering, lol. Whichever language 'couscous' was taken from, it was a very bad idea. It sounds ridiculous!

I also feel funny saying hippopotamus, baboon, banana, cha cha, pajamas, boogie... :/

Ilove the word anomie.  It means to lose all sense of community, identity and importance.  Hence the phrase anomic suicide.

I also like the word nihilist.  It means to lose faith in the sincerity, honesty and dignity of surrounding people and social structures. 

Both words accurately describe the general populace's attitude toward life in the 21st century as well as the feel of life in a global capitalist economic system.

I love both these words too! Funny that you should mention them both together.. I liked anomie and nihilism ever since I started studying post modernism in literature.

Besides those I also like efflorescence, dalliance, ephemeral, ethereal, sumptuous, era, elixir....can't think of more right now. I think I like words beginning with 'e'..

The previous thread about the right article before 'hour' got me wondering about 'ear'. While I know that 'a' and 'an' are placed as per the pronunciation of the word that follows, I cant be too sure about this one. Do we say (y)ear or (e)ear. In the first case it would be, a ear, while in the second case it would be an ear.

I've heard of the sentence "Lend me an ear".

Yet, I've always thought that we say "She's wearing a earring on each ear."

Can someone explain this?

I had Shakespeare all through middle and high school and now that I'm studying literature, I have it all over again in greater detail! Very honestly, I hated having to study Macbeth and King Lear, I hated his language and style and couldn't wait to get rid of him. It's ironic that I'm now in a deeper bowl swimming with his plays. Lol.

While I like Shakespeare's works as a dramatist and playwright, and I agree wholeheartedly that he added greatly to the English vocab. It is also true that in modern times, you cannot get on using Shakespearean lingo. The Elizabethan Age has been left behind many decades (and centuries) ago. While we can study the plays now to try and understand that era and relate it to Modern Age, it would be a joke to say that the language can be used now.

My native/mother tongue is Bengali which is nothing like English at all. They have their origins from very different roots as far as I know. But both these come to me naturally since i was put into an Anglo school from when I could just about talk, and my native language was picked up from my parents/family. Sadly, I cant read and write too well in it (Bengali), which is not the case with English. Yeah, I really find that rather sad...