🍁 ‘Marilla whisked into the kitchen, grievously disturbed, leaving a very much distracted little soul in the porch behind her. Presently Anne stepped out bareheaded into the chill autumn dusk; very determinedly and steadily she took her way down through the sere clover field over the log bridge and up through the spruce grove, lighted […]
Lesson #140 (Part 2): How To Correctly Identify And Position Adverbs Read More »
🌺 ‘Now, you mustn’t cry any more, but come down with me and show me your flower garden. Miss Cuthbert tells me you have a little plot all your own. I want to see it, for I’m very much interested in flowers.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908) [emphasis mine] Even if you are reading this
Lesson #140 (Part 1): How To Correctly Identify And Position Adverbs Read More »
👱♀️️ ‘I like books and dolls and friends and babies and bicycles and holidays …’ These were the words of a lovely 5-year-old girl called Lois I met several years ago. I still remember her excited face looking up at me as she shared some of her ‘favourite things’. I was reminded recently of Lois’ enthusiasm
Lesson #139: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 2): All About The Unmissable Conjunction ‘And’ Read More »
🌺 “It’s the Magic and— and Mrs. Sowerby’s buns and milk and things,” said Colin. – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (1911). Before we dive into today’s lesson, I have a question for you: is the quotation above, taken straight from an English classic, grammatically correct? Whether you answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, why do
Lesson #139: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 1): All About The Unmissable Conjunction ‘And’ Read More »
Is it ‘its’ or ‘it’s’? If you have ever asked yourself that question, you are in the right place! Even if you are uncertain of the answer, know that by asking that question, you show more awareness of the possibility of making a mistake here than many people do – native English speakers included –
If you read the last lesson post (part 1), you may be wondering when and how you should alter typical word order in your English writing to achieve emphasis. THE ‘WHEN’: ✏️ Firstly, you should only rearrange word order when you want to emphasise one point in the sentence over the rest (as shown with
Lesson #136 (Part 2): Using Word Order For Emphasis In Advanced English Read More »
Several years ago we went to a Russian dance performance and bought these very pretty Matryoshka dolls. We have them nicely lined up in order, from the largest to the smallest, in our sitting room. Today I had the thought, ‘What if I line them up in a different order?’ I took a photo of
Lesson #136 (Part 1): Using Word Order For Emphasis In Advanced English Read More »
As mentioned in the first part of this Mini-Lesson (see previous post), ‘must’ is a modal verb expression commonly observed in written English. We looked earlier at usages of ‘must’ in sentences where the action is taking place in the present or future tense – ‘must’ followed by an infinitive such as ‘must yield’ or
English language learners are susceptible to certain common mistakes, even when they have reached an advanced level. To be honest, native English speakers also occasionally make these same errors. I hope to address some of these common issues this week. Beginning today with our Mini-Lesson Monday, consisting of two lesson posts, we will explore the
Comparative adjectives can also work for describing lesser amounts of something. Again, from Gaskell’s Mary Barton: 📗 ‘The friend whom they met was more handsome and less sensible-looking than the man I have just described; he seemed hearty and hopeful, and although his age was greater, yet there was far more of youth’s buoyancy in his appearance.’
Lesson #133: Common Mistakes Made With Comparative Adjectives (Part 2) Read More »
A common error made by English Learners is the INCORRECT DUPLICATION of comparative adjectives. This is partly due to a lack of complete comprehension of the distinctions between the primary types of comparative adjectives. To recap, comparative adjectives are variations of adjectives that describe a larger quantity of that particular thing. For example, the comparative of ‘good’
Lesson #133: Common Mistakes Made With Comparative Adjectives (Part 1) Read More »
One thing we might overlook when reading the first stanza of Emily Bronte’s poem, ‘Faith and Despondency,’ is how the poet used the imperative tense consistently. When we are first taught the imperative tense, we are usually given examples that emphasise a command or order: ‘Stop that!’ or ‘Listen to her!’ or ‘Buy now!’ As