All nouns fall into one of two categories: concrete nouns and abstract nouns.
A concrete noun is a noun that can be identified through one of the five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, or smell). Consider the examples below:
In the sentence above, the noun phone is a concrete noun: you can touch it, see it, hear it, and maybe even smell it or taste it.
Many of us have special memories of books that changed our worlds as children. I’ll never forget snuggling up next to my dad while he read a section of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia to my brother and me each night before bed. Here are five books and series for kids that we recommend re-reading as an adult:
The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder Based on Wilder’s experiences growing up on the American frontier, the Little House series paints an intimate portrait of an exciting time in American history.
Many writers wonder if it’s equally correct to use “will” or “would” in an if-clause. The short answer is no, but there are exceptions to the rule. An if- or when-clause (often used to form conditional sentences) generally does not contain “will,” which is the simple future tense of the verb “to be.” One exception is when the action in the if- or when-clause takes place after that in the main clause.
The British Empire hasn’t been in existence for almost three-quarters of a century. At the peak of its might, it covered close to a quarter of the world’s land area and ruled a fifth of its population. But the empire changed, transformed, and passed as all things pass. When the territories Britain had conquered gained freedom, there was one thing that remained as evidence of how grand the empire once was—the English language.
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. They’re asking you real questions, some of them tough questions, and your throat is going dry and you’re talking a million miles a minute and then it’s all over and you’re wondering what just happened.
There are very few things more annoying than a glaring grammar error in an otherwise acceptable piece of writing.
As lovers of language, you and I have a natural instinct to fix these errors. How do we deal, for example, with declarations that tweak our nose?
“I like her to.”
“Its a cold day.”
Seriously, people?!
Sometimes these grammar hiccups seem engineered to drive us up a wall, and they begin to take on a sinister quality.
Even though nauseous and nauseated are often used to mean feeling unwell, many purists insist that nauseous means “causing nausea” while nauseated means “feeling sick.” Casually, it is probably OK to use both words to mean feeling ill. However, in more formal situations, use each word correctly.
Find helpful usage tips, clarifying examples, and spelling tricks below.
