Do you speak British or American English? Depending on your answer, you may differ on which spellings you favor.
Center and centre have the same meaning. Center is the correct spelling in American English, but British English writers usually prefer centre. Notice that center (and centre) can be a noun, adjective, or a verb. Seeing the two words in real-life examples may help you to visualize how to use them.
List-making can turn your natural talents and passions into superhuman productivity. It’s a skill that needs to be honed, but whatever your project, there’s a list technique for you. If you want to take your list-making game to the next level, take the quiz to find out which list you should use to organize your next project!
What is your favorite kind of list? Which list will you use for your next project?
Pair: two of something, usually that are similar or go together. For example:
Pear: a fruit. For example:
Pare: trim (something) by cutting away its outer edges; cut the skin off of something; reduce (something) in size, extent, quantity, or number, usually in a number of small successive stages.
By Laura Wallis for The Stir by CafeMom
I come from a long line of English teachers on my mother’s side. I remember being corrected on my grammar pretty much as soon as I could speak—for my grandmother, my full grasp of the distinction between “bring” and “take” was as vital as covering my mouth when I yawned. Speaking and writing correctly was just good manners.
These days, though, the school of thought on correcting kids has relaxed somewhat.
This poll is part of a series that Grammarly is running aimed at better understanding how the public feels about writing, language learning, and grammar.
Please take the poll and share your thoughts in the comments. We can’t wait to hear from you!
If you are interested in more, check out last week’s poll.
Word order in English is fixed for most speaking and writing.
In English, sentences start with a subject and are immediately followed by a verb. In questions, this order is switched.
To learn more about grammar and to help us celebrate National Grammar Day this March, visit our new resource page.
Nobody writes a perfect first draft. Whether you love the red pen or hate it with a passion, your first draft will require some polishing. The trick is to write prose that’s brilliant yet brief, colorful yet concise. Here are five tips for writing concisely.
Cut Weasel Words
Even the best writers fall prey to weasel words. These pesky critters sneak into your writing, take up space, and contribute nothing.
A possessive noun is a noun that possesses something—i.e., it has something. In most cases, a possessive noun is formed by adding an apostrophe +s to the noun, or if the noun is plural and already ends in s, only an apostrophe needs to be added. In the following sentence, boy’s is a possessive noun modifying pencil: The boy’s pencil snapped in half. It is clear that the pencil belongs to the boy; the ’s signifies ownership.
You only have to observe a dog rooting around in the trash can to realize that dogs don’t understand what could happen if they eat spoiled food. Humans, on the other hand, have the power of reason. Rotten meat is dangerous. They can imagine various possible consequences—a tummyache, a trip to the hospital, expensive prescriptions, and so on. Conditional sentences reflect humans’ capacity to hypothesize.
March MADness has been long. It has been frustrating. It has reminded us all of those things we don’t like about our office-mates. But, take heart! We are one poll away from exiting the Not-So-Sweet 16 and choosing the Final (Infuriating) Four!
Our last poll of the Not-So-Sweet 16 is a doozy, pitting a classic Seinfeld gripe against the world’s most irritating interjection.
Language changes over time. The popularity of words, especially slang or words related to technology or trends, ebbs and flows. Some long-forgotten words, however, are worth resurrecting. If you’re looking to add a retro update to your vocabulary, here are a few words and phrases from the last hundred years to try out.
1920s: The cat’s meow: The best or greatest. Your iPhone case is the cat’s meow!
You know that embarrassing moment when you’re part of a bar sing-along, and as you confidently wail gibberish lyrics to a classic song, the other patrons turn to look at and silently judge you for being totally clueless? Misheard lyrics, while hilarious, are a sure way to lose your credibility as a music lover. Help prevent a friend or even yourself from ruining a sing-along to a classic hit by finally learning the real lyrics to these often misquoted hits.
Should all educators have to pass basic grammar in order to teach? Several months ago, Grammarly polled, and over 30,000 people cast their votes. The overwhelming majority, 94 percent, answered yes. But what kinds of skills should be tested? Most states require teachers to pass a test of basic skills, but each state has unique licensure requirements. Generally, the states who use tests focus on math, writing, language arts, and reading comprehension.
The job hunting process can be long and stressful. You’ve crafted the perfect resume, sent out countless cover letters, and now you’ve finally heard back that you’ve got a phone interview. This should be a walk in the park, right? An obligatory step to confirm you’re a real human.
Until you find yourself on the phone with the interviewer and they’re not just chatting you up.
It’s the cutest day of the year—March 21, National Puppy Day! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to look at dog pictures and wanted to share our favorites. These adorable reading buddies will make your heart melt.
Potato plans to pick up reading habit now!
just planning out our meals for the week ?#ChickenWithBacon #Bacon #AndMoreBacon #Muwahahaha
How great is it to travel? To meet new people, see new places, experience different cultures, live life the way life is lived somewhere else. Plenty of good things are associated with travel, but there’s one particular issue that can make traveling annoying: the spelling. Travel is easy enough to spell and not at all confusing, but “traveling,” “traveler,” “traveled”?
The average recruiter spends about six seconds looking at your resume, and you’ve got to make every one of them count. Do resume objectives help or hurt you?
A resume objective is a short statement that outlines your career direction. Objective statements were once the standard on every job-seeker’s resume. A decade or so ago, you wouldn’t have sent out a resume without one.
Murder, torture, mass death by plague…not exactly the stuff of children’s literature, right? Actually, if you read the rhymes of Mother Goose, it is. Most people don’t realize the macabre history of these innocuous-sounding rhymes, but dig beneath the surface, and you’ll find Mother Goose poetry is chock-full of gruesome imagery.
In fact, many of today’s nursery rhymes are sanitized versions of the grim originals.
Guest post from Tilia Klebenov Jacobs
“My book is about, um, me. Is that okay?”
This is the question I get most often when I teach novel-writing classes. And I say go for it, because every novelist is a memoirist and every memoirist is a novelist. Even the most earnest nonfiction writer must of necessity apply a little fiction here and there, if only because she probably wasn’t taking notes on that watershed conversation thirty years ago. By contrast, the novelist can create a completely fictional character, but as often as not writes about himself. Far from being a cop-out, this can add richness to one’s prose.
