Monthly Archives: April 2011

A guide to mass nouns

Posted on April 25, 2011 by

Making plural nouns in English can be confusing. Sometimes you add an “es.” Sometimes it’s just an “s.” Sometimes you add “ies.” And other times you add “en.” Then once you’ve memorized all these rules, mass nouns enter the fray. … Continue reading →

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Prefix and Suffix-athon

Posted on April 22, 2011 by

Native English speakers routinely squash prefixes and suffixes before and after words to alter their meanings. Often they do it without giving much thought as to what the few letters before or after actually mean. For instance, if someone is … Continue reading →

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Funny French Idioms

Posted on April 21, 2011 by

As part of my final in my French class, I will be performing a scene from a famous French play. I don’t know yet what character I will be, but I do know that I will be wearing a unicorn … Continue reading →

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Emails and hyphens and little snails? Oh my!

Posted on April 19, 2011 by

Lesson: Recent AP style changes This is going to be a tough change for me. Since I took high school typing class, every time I go to type the word email, my finger automatically treks to the hyphen key. But … Continue reading →

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The dos and don’ts of “dos and don’ts”

Posted on April 15, 2011 by

Lesson: Forming plurals and the role of the apostrophe A common mistake in English writing appears, strangely enough, when we write lists of dos and don’ts. Many people mistakenly write “do’s and don’ts” (with an apostrophe in “dos”). The proper … Continue reading →

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Baseball slang is in my wheelhouse

Posted on April 13, 2011 by

With baseball being America’s “national pastime,” it’s no surprise its lingo has become so ingrained in our language. For more than a century, it has been commonplace for both sports lovers and the sports adverse to rattle off baseball slang … Continue reading →

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A non-ersatz etymology of the word ersatz

Posted on April 11, 2011 by

ersatz: being an artificial/inferior substitute Ersatz is a great adjective to use when you want to degrade something and sound really smart at the same time. But I most love this word for its story of how it sneaked its … Continue reading →

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Like, is this the return of Valspeak?

Posted on April 6, 2011 by

There are reasons not to rant about Rebecca Black’s viral video and song “Friday.” For one, she’s only twelve years old, and having your debut single named the worst song ever is a heck of a way to start those … Continue reading →

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Till vs. ‘Til

Posted on April 5, 2011 by

David Bowie had the song “Love You Till Tuesday,” but Michael Jackson had “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” Motörhead had an entire album named No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith, but Shirley Bassey just sang “Till.” Sometimes in songs, poetry, and … Continue reading →

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All your base are belong to us

Posted on April 1, 2011 by

In honor of April Fools’ Day, here’s a little collection of funny typos and strange grammar errors.

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