Imagine you’re writing an email to your team at work. There are a lot of urgent tasks to complete, and you want to encourage the team to work quickly. Is it correct to write about “prompt action”? The phrase “prompt action” is a correct and common collocation in English. We usually use it to express …
Margaret Bell
You probably already know that we “drive” a car, but we “ride” a horse or a bicycle. But what if you’re traveling over or across a sea, river, or lake? Is it correct to say “drive a boat”? Though the noun and verb combination “drive a boat” conveys the idea that there is a boat …
There are so many different ways to wish your friends, family members, or coworkers a positive and enjoyable day in the English language. You see these well-wishes everywhere, from casual conversations to formal sign-offs. But what about one of the shortest versions of this greeting: “be well”? It is correct to say “be well,” especially …
Imagine this: You can’t find your pencil anywhere! You’ve looked high and low, all over your desk and even on the floor, and you finally find it underneath your chair. It fell off the table and rolled to where you couldn’t see it, but is it correct to say “below” for this situation? It is …
When it comes to measuring the area of parcels of land — outdoor spaces such as farms and forests — one of the most popular units to measure with is an acre. But what does that mean for its plural form, “acres”? It is correct to say acres. The noun “acre” is a unit of …
If you’ve studied or spoken the English language at all, you’ll probably understand what we’re talking about here. In fact, the topic might not be what you expect at all. But what does every sentence in this paragraph have in common? They all include the word “what”! It is not okay to say what as …