Tahira Hanif

Imagine you want to tell someone about a time something happened in the past or that will take place in the future. You imagine using a time marker should be enough, but what if you need to be a little more formal? That’s where “as of” comes in. It is correct to use “as of” …

Imagine you’re at a friend’s house, and, as always, they go to the kitchen to get refreshments. When you expect something to happen, is it correct to use the phrase “as always”? It is correct to use “as always.” This idiomatic phrase shows that you expect an event or situation to occur. When it does, …

While we might not live in the time of Christopher Columbus or Marie Curie, we still make discoveries every day. When we stumble across a funny website, we may say, “Look at what I came across.” “Come across” is a grammatically correct phrasal verb to show we have discovered something by chance. We can also …

Before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, America consisted of multiple colonies with differing religious perspectives, forms of land ownership, and economic activities. For instance, what were the main economic activities of the Southern colonies? The main economic activities of the Southern colonies were agriculture-based. The colonies had ample land, which they used for cash …

Imagine you are scripting a speech for a company event. You know that your tone needs to be formal, and you think of the word “thus.” But is it correct to say “and thus”? It is correct to say “and thus” to show a cause-effect relationship. “Thus,” as a standalone word, is an adverb you …

Many of your teachers have probably explained that you should only start sentences with certain words or parts of speech. Conjunctions have always been a no-no, but what about adverbs? You can start a sentence with the adverb “also.” It is specifically a conjunctive adverb that we use to connect two independent clauses. “Also” indicates …