Linguistics
Word Matrix: Hume<hume> from Old French humide, umide “damp, wet” or directly from Latin humidus “moist, wet,” variant (probably by influence of humus...
January 27, 2019- Word Matrix: Humid
<humid> from French humide or Latin humidus, from humere “be moist” Word Sums Humid Humid + er = humider Humid +...
January 26, 2019 - Determiners Are Not Adjectives
Traditional grammars categorize determiners with either adjectives or pronouns. But determiners are not adjectives. Repeat after me: Determiners are not adjectives....
January 12, 2019 - Christmastime Is Here: The Etymology of Christmas
Christmastime is here. Or is Christmas time here? From where and when does the word Christmas come? And is Xmas a...
December 13, 2018 - Pluralizing Last Names: Never Use an Apostrophe
One way in which nouns differ from other grammatical forms in the English language is grammatical number. Prototypical English nouns have...
November 16, 2018 - The History of All Hallows’ Eve: The Etymology of ‘Halloween’
Halloween, Hallowe’en, All Hallows’ Eve — English speakers use many names for the holiday that occurs each year on October 31....
October 28, 2018 - Why Is ‘Love’ Not Spelled ‘Luv’?
Have you ever thought about the English language and considered the orthographic system downright wacky? Many words have a “silent e”...
August 30, 2018 - No Doubt the “Silent B” Owes a Subtle Debt to History
School children all over the English-speaking world bemoan the many “silent” letters of English spelling. The orthographic system of the English...
August 28, 2018 - Are You Wondering About the ‘R’ in February?
English spelling appears inconsistent at first. From silent letters to doubled letters, the orthography of English seems downright wacky to native...
August 27, 2018 - The Functions of “Silent E” in Written English
E is the most common vowel and letter in the English language. Many words end in e in written English. In...
August 7, 2018 - Types of English Adverbs: Manner, Time, Place, Frequency, Degree
An adverb is a “word that describes a verb, adjective, other adverb, or clause.” An adverb phrase consists of an adverb...
July 13, 2018 - English Adverb Clauses
Traditional grammars describe adverb clauses as dependent or subordinate clauses that consist of a subordinating conjunction followed by a clause and...
July 11, 2018 - English P-words
P-words are prepositions and adverbs that no longer perform prepositional or adverbial functions including particles in phrasal verbs, quasi-modal verbs, and...
July 10, 2018 - Grammatical Form of English P-words
P-words are prepositions and adverbs that no longer perform prepositional or adverbial functions. P-words are also function words, which are defined...
July 9, 2018 - Using Coordinating Conjunctions as Coordinators
Notional grammars define conjunctions as words that “link together other words, phrases, and clauses.” Coordinating conjunctions are a type of conjunction...
July 7, 2018
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