Colons, Dashes and More

More grammar wisdom from the New York Time’s Philip B. Corbett. Colons, Dashes, and More

30 Common English Idioms and Their History

Here’s a delightful list of the thirty most common English idioms (figures of speech) and their historical origins. You’ll learn the origins of the phrases like “green-eyed monster,” “apple of my eye,” “skeleton in the closet” and many others.

30 Common English Idioms

Capitalization in Titles

Wondering how to capitalize words in titles? This short explanation tells you how to correctly capitalize titles.
Capitalization in Titles

Politicians, Watch Your Grammar!

A new study conducted by psychologists at the University of California, Merced and Indiana University, Bloomington, shows that the grammar politicians use affects election outcomes. Using the perfect aspect, in this case the past tense with the word “had,”–instead of the imperfect aspect, “was having,” which conveys continuing action into the present–improves your election chances in upcoming elections by a significant amount, at least for negatively perceived behavior. See http://scim.ag./grammar-matters

How To Write With Ordinal Numbers

This concise post tells you how to correctly write with ordinal numbers.
Writing With Ordinal Numbers

Are You A Grammar Geek? 35 Signs To Watch For

This funny and interesting post is worth looking at. How to tell if you are an English grammar geek:

35 Signs That You Are A Grammar Geek

English Grammar and Correct Usuage Quizzes

This site looks very challenging and probably is very good for your English. It’s full of English grammar quizzes for you to try at your own pace. I think you will find it interesting and useful. Some of the quizzes include prepositions, using the correct tense, filling in missive words, passive voice, and many others. Each quiz is ranked by difficulty and there are different levels of difficulty for each type of quiz, so you can choose which is best for you. Take a look at:

http://www.NonStopEnglish.com/

Learn English Through Song

(This post is from guest blogger Angelita Williams)

Textbooks–they’re my own personal form of Ambien.   I’ve never been able to figure it out, no matter what it is, one page and I’m out like a light. But let me play with my Ipod and the music carries me for days.  I boast about being able to learn an entire new song in just a few hours.

You might not think of it as studying but in a sense that’s exactly what you are doing. You listen and repeat, listen and repeat, until the lyrics are permanently implanted in your head. And unlike material gained through books, songs can radiate through your head for days or even weeks before they’re entirely flushed down the drain.

So, what better way to study English than learning it through song? You get to learn vocabulary while hearing its proper pronunciation, though you might want to stay away from rap or anything too modern just for now, since colloquialisms are best learned at a more advanced stage, when you can tell the difference between correct and incorrect idiom usage. Below are some quick tips on how to study your lyrics:

1. Pick a song that you like but that is not too complex. It’s extremely important that you get the correct lyrics so that you can decipher the right meaning of the song. Lyrics mode is a great site to get accurate lyrics.

2. Read the lyrics in their entirety. You don’t need to understand everything but try to see if you can at least get a good feel of what the song is about. Is it a romantic song? A sad song? A happy song? Is it abstract or literal? Try to compare and contrast the English song to something familiar in your native tongue. It’ll help you see similar and cultural differences from your own.

3. Re-read and circle all the words/phrases you don’t know and would like to learn. Sometimes context clues will give you a better understanding of what the word means but if necessary, by all means look up their exact meaning in a dictionary. A dictionary might also be useful in finding other interesting phrases or words.

4. Hear the song three to four times before you decide to chime in karaoke style. Read the lyrics a few times right before bed and also try listening to the song while you sleep. Even in your slumber, your brain will still retain the information. Listen and repeat until you got it down.

5. Test yourself. There’s a neat Web site called Lyrics Training that is especially designed to help non-English speakers learn the language. As a series of song lyrics run down the screen its up to you to fill in the missing words. You can choose from a huge selection of contemporary songs in their bank that are divided into easy, medium and hard difficulty levels.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online college courses.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.

They’re In Their Car Over There: Never Confuse Your Homophones Again

(This post from guest contributor Alexis Bonari.)
Homophones are those words that sound the same and are often even spelled in similar ways, but mean different things. They can be frustrating to both students of English as a second language and native speakers who get hung up on trying to figure out which word to use in a certain context. The following are some common mistakes made with homophones that you can easily avoid by learning how to use each specific word.

Compliment vs. Complement

The word “compliment” is used to describe or refer to a positive comment given to a friend, as in “Rita complimented Sue on her new Mozart wig.” Something “complimentary” is given as a bonus, nicety or extra feature, as in “The hotel offered a complimentary breakfast.” When you use the word “complement,” you should be describing something that completes something else. For example, you might say, “This white wine really complements the seafood dinner.” An easy way to remember this is to think of “complete” when you say “complement” because both words use “e” as their second vowels.

Principal vs. Principle

“Principal” often refers to rank of importance, as in “principal request,” and can also be used to mean the head of a school or a sum of money. “Principles” often refer to a person’s rules of action or conduct, as in “He was a man of good principles.”

Their vs. There

The word “their” is possessive and indicates ownership. For example, you could say that “Fred is their pet octopus.” When using “there,” you should be talking about a place or location, as in “The Earwax Museum is over there.”

Peace vs. Piece

A frequent mistake made with these homophones is “piece of mind.” You can give someone a piece of your mind, but peace of mind is entirely different. “Piece” indicates a part of something else, as in “a piece of pie,” but “peace” is strictly a state of harmony or absence of war.

Stationary vs. Stationery

The word “stationery” only refers to paper used for writing notes or letters, as well as writing materials like envelopes and pens. It should never be used instead of the word “stationary,” which refers to a state of stillness or lack of movement.

Affect vs. Effect

When you use the word “affect,” you should be using it primarily as a verb. It is used to describe an action performed on something, as in “The incessant snoring negatively affected his marriage.” Only disciplines like psychology and psychiatry use the word “affect” as a noun, so you probably don’t have to worry about it. An “effect” is primarily some change, result or consequence of an action, as in “She never paid attention to the list of side effects.” This word also describes phenomena like “the Doppler effect.” It can be used in its verb form to mean instigate, bring about or cause, as in “The new crocodile pond in the front yard effected a change in foot traffic.”

Contractions

If you’re ever in doubt about a homophone, think about what you’re trying to say. If you use a contraction, remember that it’s a combination of two words and that the apostrophe signifies a missing letter. Confused about “your” vs. “you’re”? The latter is a contraction and means “you are,” while the former is possessive. If you stop to think about the meaning of contractions, you can avoid many homophone mistakes.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She often can be found blogging about general education issues and college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

100 English Grammar Blogs Posts

If you are looking for an assortment of English blog posts about every sort of topic related to grammar, spelling, and punctuation here it is:
100 English Grammar Blog Posts