Original question: Why is soda water called soda water? The term “soda” in water comes from approximately the 15th century and refers to the use of sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. This originally comes from the Italian sida, which means “a kind of saltwort”, which is where these substances were first obtained. There are a few possible further…
Category: Teaching
Quora – What is the difference between dehiscence and evisceration?
Both of these phenomena are similar but there is a slight difference between the two. Let’s look at some definitions (both from dictionary.cambridge.org): dehiscence – the splitting or bursting open of a pod or wound evisceration – to remove one or all of the organs from the inside of a body In medicine, dehiscence (when…
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Quora – Is the word ‘ginormous’ considered slang or is it an actual English word?
Before I answer your question, I would like to correct a common misconception that is included in your question: slang words are not actual words. Slang words are words that belong to the language from which they originate. I think the question you mean to ask is about the register of the word “ginormous”. Register is a…
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Future in the past – What were you going to do?
In English, there exists a concept called “future in the past”. This is when you talk about how the future was going to be at some point in the past (whether it actually happened or not). Before you continue this article, if you are unfamiliar with either the future tense or the past tense, please…
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Reported Speech – He said, she said
Sometimes when you are telling a story or relaying information someone told you, you don’t necessarily want to say absolutely everything in exactly the same way as it was told to you (i.e. direct speech). Sometimes you simply can’t remember and other times exactly what was said was important. So what do you do instead?…
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Past habits – Over and over again
You can describe past habits (or actions that happened repeatedly in the past) in three different ways in English: used to, would and the past simple tense. Used to If you have learnt about modal and semi-modal verbs before, you may be familiar with used to. In fact this semi-modal verb is the most common…
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Modal verbs – Can vs May
Before reading this article, make sure you are familiar with the uses of can and may. You will need that information to understand can vs may. You may have heard someone say “Can I go to the bathroom.” You might have also heard “May I go to the bathroom”. Can we use both “can” and…
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Semi-modal verbs – used to
The last semi-modal on our list is “used to”, which you will probably be very familiar with. You have probably used “used to” to talk about habits: As a child I used to play near the stream every day. This was an action that happened many times in the past but no longer. You can…
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Semi-modal verbs – had better
Probably one of the more unusual semi-modal verbs is “had better”. While it follows the rules of normal modal verbs, this one is the only one that comprises a verb in the past tense (which stays the same for all tenses) and an adverb. You can use it for a variety of things, such as…
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Semi-modal verb – dare
The next semi-modal verb on our list is the verb “to dare”, which means “to have the courage to do something” or “defy/challenge someone to do something”. But wait, Jamie, you might say: I have seen this verb used normally, such as in the sentence below. How is this a semi-modal verb? Does he dare…
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Showing obligation: “must” vs “have to”
So we have looked at the modal verb “must” and the semi-modal verb “have to” and have seen that they serve very similar roles. They both talk about an obligation – something that is needed to be done. Naturally the question arises: are they the same thing? What are the differences? While they do indeed…
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Semi-modal verbs – have to
The verb “to have” is very versatile. It forms the perfect tenses and also has its own meaning which shows possession. For example: I have a cat. As a semi-modal verb When “to have” is in the form “have to”, it functions like must, showing obligation and is a semi-modal verb. But why is it…
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An Introduction to semi-modal verbs
Before we talk about what a semi-modal verb is, you should be familiar with the concept of a modal verb. What is a semi-modal verb? A semi-modal verb is similar to a modal verb. In fact the prefix semi– means “half” or “partially”. In this case a semi-modal verb is partially a modal verb and…
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Quora – What is the contribution of Samuel Johnson to the English language?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What is the contribution of Samuel Johnson to English language? on Quora While Samuel Johnson had other contributions, he is most well-known for publishing his dictionary A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. This dictionary is considered to be the first reliable English language dictionary. What made the dictionary innovative was the use…
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Quora – Why do certain “og” words — monologue, dialogue, synagogue — have that silent “ue” ending?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Why do certain “og” words — monologue, dialogue, synagogue — have that silent “ue” ending? on Quora These words have two specific things in common: where they come from and how they came to the English language. All three words are Greek in origin (monologos, dialogos, synagoge) that came to English via…
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Quora – How do you enunciate the letter “W”? Is it “Dub-yoo”, “Dub-boo-yoo” or, “Double-yoo”? IS there a ‘proper’ way? It’s driven me berserk ever since phonics class in kindergarten.
Read James Brooks‘ answer to How do you enunciate the letter “W”? Is it “Dub-yoo”, “Dub-boo-yoo” or, “Double-yoo”? IS there a ‘proper’ way? It’s driven me berserk ever since phonics class in kindergarten. on Quora While I pronounce it (using the International Phonetics Alphabet) /ˈdʌb(ə)lˌjuː/ (double-yoo I guess from your question) I would argue that…
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Quora – Where does the word “furlough” come from?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Where does the word “furlough” come from? on Quora Furlough was imported in the 1620s Dutch word verlof (meaning permission) to mean a leave of absence from the military. Verlof is made up of two parts, the Middle Dutch ver- (completely, for) and laf (permission). Laf originally comes from Proto-Germanic *laubo. In English the parts are for and leave. There is an alternate spelling furloe in the 18th…
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Quora – What are the origins of the word “slimy”?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What are the origins of the word “slimy”? on Quora The word slimy appeared in English in the late 14 century. It comes from the word slime, which came from the Old English slim, which in turn came from the Proto-Germanic *slimaz. The appearance of the word slimy has also been seen following a similar pattern in related…
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Quora – What vivid verb should I use when someone “turns into” a zombie?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What vivid verb should I use when someone “turns into” a zombie? on Quora Well, turns into means the same thing as become, so let’s look at synonyms for become: come develop into grow into turn into convert incline mature metamorphose transform shift wax alter to assume form of be converted to be reduced…
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Quora – Is “the parcel arrived this morning” grammatically correct?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Is “the parcel arrived this morning” grammatically correct? on Quora It depends on what you mean. If you are trying to make a statement in the past tense (something that has already happened), then yes, it is grammatically correct. You start with the subject (the parcel), followed by the verb…
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Quora – What does throughout mean in this sentence, “The organization was first-class, with medical volunteers on standby throughout, and drinks stations every few kilometres of the route.”?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What does throughout mean in this sentence, “The organization was first-class, with medical volunteers on standby throughout, and drinks stations every few kilometres of the route.”? on Quora Throughout has two meanings: In every part of a place From beginning to end of a specific time (such as an event) In…
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Quora – What is a single word for ‘stimulating the central nervous system’ in Greek and English languages?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What is a single word for ‘stimulating the central nervous system’ in Greek and English languages? on Quora While I don’t know every single word in the English language, I do not believe that there is a single word to mean stimulating the CNS. The word stimulate is defined as: raise levels…
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Quora – Is ‘liquidy’ an actual word?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Is ‘liquidy’ an actual word? on Quora Do you mean to ask if it is used in the English language? The answer is that it is. Liquidity is used in the financial sector to mean the availability of liquid assets (meaning things like cash) to a market or company. The…
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Quora – Are the ‘th’s in ‘thought’ and ‘that’ pronounced the same?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Are the ‘th’s in ‘thought’ and ‘that’ pronounced the same? on Quora While this depends on where you come from (and therefore which dialect of English and which accent you speak with), following standard pronunciations, the ‘th’ sounds are generally the same in those words. Using the International Phonetic Alphabet, though is…
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Quora – What is the meaning of the word “swam”?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What is the meaning of the word “swam”? on Quora The word swam is the past simple tense of the verb to swim. To swim means to move in water by movements of the limbs, fins, tail, etc. to float on the surface of water or some other liquid to move, rest, or be suspended…
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Quora – Where does the word ‘soggy’ come from?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Where does the word ‘soggy’ come from? on Quora Soggy was first recorded in 1722 and may have come from either the noun sog, meaning “swamp, bog”, or from the verb sog, meaning “to become soaked”. However etymologists have been unable to figure out where those words originate. [1] Origin and meaning of soggy by…
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Quora – What is the origin of the word ugliness?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What is the origin of the word ugliness? on Quora The word ugliness was first recorded in the late 14th century. It comes from the word ugly and the suffix -ness. Ugly appeared in the mid 13th century from an Old Norse word uggligr (“dreadful, fearful”), which itself is from uggr (“fear, apprehension, dread” (perhaps related to agg “strife, hate”))…
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Quora – Is ‘tininess’ an actual word?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Is ‘tininess’ an actual word? on Quora Do you mean to ask if it is used in the English language? The answer is that it is. Tininess means the property of being very small in size. The pronunciation (using the International Phonetic Alphabet) looks like this: /ˈtʌɪninəs/. Other pronunciations may…
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Quora – Is Flourishing an adjective?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to Is Flourishing an adjective? on Quora Flourishing is an adjective because it is used to modify a noun: The flourishing economy (adjective) I pronounced flourish (using the International Phonetic Alphabets) as: /ˈflʌrɪʃ/. There are two syllables with the stress on the first one, which becomes something like: FLUR-ish (the U is pronounced like the U…
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Quora – How do you pronounce “primer”?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to How do you pronounce “primer”? on Quora I pronounce it like this (using the International Phonetic Alphabet): /ˈpraɪmə/. There are two syllables with the stress on the first one, resulting in something like PRI-mah. If you want to learn more about the International Phonetic Alphabet, you can find a guide…
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Quora – How do you pronounce Guadalcanal?
Guadalcanal is the name of an island in the south-western Pacific that was the site of a famous World War 2 battle. The name comes originally from Spanish as it was named (or renamed) by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira. The name is pronounced (using the International Phonetic Alphabet) as /ˌɡwɑːdəlkəˈnæl/. Guadalcanal has four syllables…
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Quora – What’s the origin of the “-ward” suffix in English, in words such as “downward, eastward, toward”?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to What’s the origin of the “-ward” suffix in English, in words such as “downward, eastward, toward”? on Quora The suffix -ward comes from the Old English -weard (or sometimes -weardes when used as the genitive) meaning “toward” or “turned toward”. This, in turn, comes from the Proto-Germanic *werda-, which stems from the Proto-Indo-European *werto- meaning “to turn/wind”. Originally, -ward was used to…
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Quora – It started to rain/raining.Which form of which tense?
Read James Brooks‘ answer to 1) It started to rain/raining.Which form of which tense? on Quora The first example that you give (It started to rain) is the past simple tense. The verb to start is conjugated in the past simple (it follows the regular verb “-ed” ending, which is also known as weak verbs, meaning they…
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Modal verbs – can/could
In the English language, the modal verb pair can/could is one of the most difficult modal pairs to learn as the modals can be used in a variety of situations. These include: to show ability Birds can usually fly to make an offer I can do that for you. to ask permission Can I borrow…
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Modal verbs – shall/should
The modal pair shall/should seem like they should be the easiest modal verbs to learn, so why aren’t they? Unlike most modal verbs, there are some regional and dialectical differences between shall and should. Let’s look at their uses and differences below: Order/command/prophecy You can use the word shall for orders, commands and prophecy when…
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Modal verbs – will/would
Of all the modal verbs, will/would are probably used the most. Why, you may ask. They are used to form both the future and conditional tenses. However, these two do more than just that. They can also be used for habits, indirect order and politeness. Let’s have a look at these uses: Habits + will/would…
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Modal verbs – may/might
What is the difference between the modal verbs may and might? How do you use them? This post explores these questions and more.
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Modal verbs – must/must not
Must and must not are somewhat unique among the modal verb pairs. How can the positive and negative form of a verb mean the same thing??? Read more about it here
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An introduction to modal verbs
Are you having problems with modal verbs? This guide can help!
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Reported Speech in English
In English, there are two types of speech: direct and indirect, also known as reported. Direct speech is when you say exactly what someone else said. Quotes are an example of this: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela Another form: He…
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Past Simple vs Present Perfect
English can be a difficult language to use, especially when it comes to verb tenses (for a comprehensive review click here). Like other (often related) languages, English can use one verb tense but actually refer to a different point in time. An excellent example is when talking about the future. English has two distinct ways…
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Present Perfect Verb Categories
The present perfect is a verb tense that is used very often in English. While many languages either do not have a present perfect tense or use it the same way as the past simple, English uses these two tenses very differently. Unlike the simple aspect (i.e. present simple or past simple), the present perfect…
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Past Simple Verb Categories
The past simple is probably the hardest tense to learn in English in terms of the wide variety of irregular verbs. While these sometimes fall into categories, identifying whether a verb should fall into one category or another can be a difficult if not impossible task. For example, ‘cleave’ (to cut something in two) becomes…
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A Review of Conditionals and Conditional Sentences
Conditionals sentences are an integral part of the English language. They are used every day in many situations; from the bank to driving to giving directions, they can be found just about anywhere. Let’s go through a review of conditional sentences. Basics of Conditional Sentences While conditional sentences come in many forms, shapes and sizes,…
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A Review of Active Tenses in English
A challenge that learners of English often face is the number of tenses in English and when to use them. Especially if their native language has only a few tenses (such as Mandarin), the variety of tenses in English can be daunting. For students whose native language also has a large number of tenses (such…
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Telling the Future: Will vs Going to vs Shall/Should
Like many of the languages related to it, English has more than one way to talk about actions in the future. The first is the future tense, which is the ‘will’ future (and the closely related ‘shall’). The other is the ‘going to’ future. If you are not familiar with the “going to” (present progressive)…
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Hedging
Time to get out the trimmers! No, not that kind of hedging!! Hedging is an important tool that all writers should have in their arsenal, especially when writing in an academic or scientific context. But what is hedging? Hedging is a writing style used to make the meaning of a sentence less absolute. For example:…
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Doublets (and Triplets) in English
Have you ever heard of doublets before? No, I don’t mean a type of old-fashioned men’s shirt used until the 17th century, I mean doublets in the linguistic sense. A doublet in linguistics is two words that have something in common. Usually, this ‘thing in common’ has to do with where the words originally come…
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A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Have you ever typed an unknown word into Google to figure out what it means and come across a website called UrbanDictionary? If not, I highly recommend it. Warning: this website includes many vulgar terms and while it is constantly evolving, changing, and growing in size, anyone can edit it, so many of the examples are…
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The Grammar of Scientific English: Verbs/Voices and Abbreviations/Acronyms
If you think you have graduated from spacing, numbers and hyphens, try this post on for size! How do you feel about verbs/voices, abbreviations/acronyms and Latin? Now we are getting into the hard parts! When someone refers to the ‘voice’ of a verb, they are talking about whether the verb is in the active or…
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The Grammar of Scientific English: Spaces in all the Right Places
The first thing to remember for Scientific English (or any specialised language) is that it is based on the general language, in this case, General English. If you have read my post on the Brief History of Scientific English, you may remember that Scientific English became more commonplace in the 1950s due to the Cold War…
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A Brief Post on the History and Use of Scientific English
So you may have seen my post on The Basic Characteristics of Scientific English, but what is it all for and where did it come from? What is the history of Scientific English? If you have wondered these questions, you have certainly come to the right place! History Elements of Scientific writing has been identified as…
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The Basic Characteristics of Scientific English
The words ‘Scientific English’ often conjure up convoluted, impenetrable sentences in the mind’s eye. What if I told you that it should not be this way? What if I said that Scientific Language (of any kind) should actually be easy for almost anyone to read? Would you call me crazy? Before getting into Scientific English, we…
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Contronyms – a word that is its own opposite
Have you ever seen a word in English and thought ‘I know what that means!’ only to realise that it was being used to mean the exact opposite? If so, you have encountered something known as a contronym. What is a contronym? According to Oxford, a contronym is: A word with two opposite meanings, e.g. sanction…
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Great Green Dragon – English Adjective Order
Have you ever wondered why ‘a red, large coat’ just doesn’t sound quite right in English? Did you know that in English, we have a preference for adjective order? This is especially true when they go before a noun? If you aren’t a native speaker, how can you become used to certain adjectives going in…
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International Phonetic Alphabet and Phonemic Alphabets
/gɛt jɔː ʃwɑː ɒn/ Have you ever seen something that looks like the Roman Alphabet but then it has some extra dots, symbols and letters you have never seen before? Does it follow other words and come after vocabulary (usually)? International Phonetic Alphabet If you answered yes to these questions, then you have most likely…
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Great Vowel Shift
Have you ever wondered why English pronunciation is so difficult? Why are words written one way but pronounced in another? In addition to English’s bastard origins, there was a great event over a couple of centuries of extreme linguistic and phonological importance called the Great Vowel Shift. Questions, questions? So what is this Great Vowel…
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Puns – Watt is Love? Baby don’t Hertz me, don’t Hertz me, no Morse
A pun is a joke that exploits the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings. Puns are rife in languages that have words called homophones, or multiple words that have the same or similar pronunciation but have different meanings. English is rife with…
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The Most Important Word in the English Language and Its History
What is the most important word in the English language? To answer this question, we need to look at some history. History and language For anyone who has studied a little bit of British history, you know that the UK is a melting pot; many different cultures and languages coming together thousands of years in…
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What is the plural of ‘you’ ?
As anyone who is learning English will know, you will have come across the fact that English seems to be missing a way to address more than one person, but does it really? Is there a plural of ‘you’? Is ‘you’ plural? History Old English – a plethora To answer this question, we need to…
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English As She Is Spoke
(This post was inspired by a from Curiosity on English As She Is Spoke. This post is not sponsored by anyone, although it may read that way. Who knows, maybe that will change in the future! *hint, hint*) Hello everyone! So I have been doing a lot of posting on travelling (and some on language…
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MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – Speaking German
Statement: German pronunciation is hard! I have been writing a lot in previous posts about my trip last summer through Spain, France and Switzerland. Now that I have posted about the last stop, I want to get back to German teaching with this post; let’s focus on pronunciation. For those who come from even somewhat…
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St Jordi/St George
As many people who were in a country that has St George as a patron saint will know, yesterday (23 April) was St George’s Day. What fewer people know is that St. George is also considered the patron saint of Catalonia, a region in Spain. As some of you may know, I am not teaching…
