Academics

When it comes to versatile words, “had” is probably one of the first to come to mind. Unfortunately, useful words can get repetitive, and repetition often looks clumsy in English, so how do you avoid using “had”? When “had’ is a transitive verb, you can easily replace it with a synonym for ownership. However, when …

Unfortunately, there’s no way around it: the intricate rules of subject-verb agreement can be difficult. Whether you are a native speaker or someone learning English as a second language, subject-verb agreement is likely an area in which you may face some challenges. For example, words like “all” often leave people asking: should I say “all …

Depending on the type of writing you are doing, it may or may not be appropriate to use “and” to begin a sentence. Appropriateness often depends on the genre since fiction writing and business correspondence will have different rules and the sentence prior. Still, how do you avoid starting a sentence with “and”? It is …

When working on a writing assignment or talking with a friend, sometimes it’s tough to figure out if you should use the past or present tense with “was only.” “Is “was only” past tense?” The phrase “was only” is past tense since “was” is the simple past tense form of the verb “to be,” with …

We consider patriotism a virtue, and many schools still teach this character trait alongside others like patience, gratitude, and kindness. However, when discussing their nation, many schoolchildren might be confused by one simple question: should it be nations or nation’s? Use the plural noun “nations,” with no apostrophe when discussing more than one national territory …

In certain situations, you might need to get the point across of some sort of minimum or maximum. In a conversation, the easiest way to determine a maximum of the topic at hand would be to use the phrase “at most,” which we can also replace with “at the most” in certain circumstances.  Both “at …