English Writing

Lesson #153: How Writing Is Made Memorable: Three Observations On A Poem

As a short break from the grammatical lessons we have had of late, todays’ lesson will be short and sweet! I have been looking forward to an opportunity to share a favourite poem of mine by William Blake (1757-1827). It is called ‘The Tyger’ (an archaic or old-fashioned way of spelling ‘tiger’) and is often […]

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Lesson #152: ‘If I May …’: Using ‘May’ And ‘Might’ To Ask / Give Permission And Express Possibilities

‘I am sorry I have been so long, ma’am,’ said she, gently, as she finished her work. ‘I was afraid it might tear out again if I did not do it carefully.’ She rose. 🧵 ‘I don’t know how to thank you for all you are doing; but I do love you, and will pray

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Lesson #151: ‘To Put One’s Finger On The Passage’: How The Indefinite Pronoun ‘One’ Is Used In English

📜 Miss Tita confided to me that at present her aunt was so motionless that she sometimes feared she was dead; moreover she took hardly any food—one couldn’t see what she lived on. – Henry James, The Aspern Papers (1888) If you have been studying or reading in English for a while, chances are that you have

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Lesson #150 (Part 2): When Should You Use ‘Shall’ Vs. ‘Will’?

This lesson post completes the yesterday’s, so please make sure to read it before this one. The last principle or rule for distinguishing how to use ‘shall’ vs. ‘will’ in English: … 📝 #5 When describing a future action or decision in a non-interrogative context, should you use ‘shall’ or ‘will’? The best way to

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Lesson #150 (Part 1): When Should You Use ‘Shall’ Vs. ‘Will’?

📘 ‘I beg, Catherine, you will always wrap yourself up very warm about the throat, when you come from the rooms at night; and I wish you would try to keep some account of the money you spend; I will give you this little book on purpose.’ – Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817) Have you

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Lesson #149: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 2): An Overview Of Essential Time Words And Verb Tenses

🪔 “Yesterday was a quiet day, spent in teaching, sewing, and writing in my little room, which is very cosy, with a light and fire …”– Louisa May Alcott, Good Wives (1869) Here we continue our lesson by reviewing seven sets of key verb tenses and time words that often go together. In Part 1 of this lesson, we reviewed

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Lesson #149: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 1): An Overview Of Essential Time Words And Verb Tenses

🪔 “I’m the man of the family now papa is away, and I shall provide the slippers, for he told me to take special care of mother while he was gone.” – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868) As yet another month comes to an end, I have been thinking about

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Lesson #147: An Advanced English Sentence Structure That All Native Speakers Use

📗 ‘Having decided to conquer the Land of Oz and to destroy the Emerald City and enslave all its people, King Roquat the Red kept planning ways to do this dreadful thing, and the more he planned the more he believed he would be able to accomplish it.’ – L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of

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Lesson #144: Five Small But Important ‘Fruits’ Gathered From Gaskell’s ‘North And South’

I thought it would be nice for a change to take a short text from a classic and analyse it in today’s lesson.  So I have the pleasure of re-introducing one of my top favourite novels, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), having been inspired today by this biscuit tin which I bought last year when I

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Lesson #143: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 2): Three Things Your Writing Needs If You Want To Be Understood Well

In the first part of this lesson (see previous post), we talked about small changes you can introduce in your writing that make a huge difference in how others read and understand it. After all your effort writing something, the last thing you want is for someone to skim or even ignore all you had

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Lesson #143: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 1): Three Things Your Writing Needs If You Want To Be Understood Well

I am dedicating today’s lesson to three important points that I often find missing in work that I proofread. These three points might seem obvious or too minute to make a difference, but trust me, they will help to clarify your writing greatly. Clear writing is always the first step towards great writing. … 📝

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Lesson #141 (Part 2): American Vs British Punctuation: How To Use British English Quotation Marks

📘 ‘Why do you say “poor Rosamond”?’ said Mrs Plymdale, a round-eyed sharp little woman, like a tame falcon. – George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871) As observed in our last lesson post (Part 1 of this lesson, ‘American vs British Quotation Mark Punctuation’), there are 4 main rules on how to punctuate quotations in English. Today we will

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