i was your bad habits . . . the things you knew you shouldn't have been doing and yet you have done them anyway. i was the sleepless nights you've had— tiring, demanding, regretful, yet indulging. i was those episodes of binge eating— impulsive, consuming, unreasonable, yet satisfying. i was the lies you told your... Continue Reading →
When you go to class on a daily basis, do you say that it is something you do everyday or every day? The words everyday and every day are easily and commonly confused in English. They look pretty much the same when you write them out on paper—separated by just one tiny space. Plus, when... Continue Reading →
There are currently at least 171,476 words listed in the English dictionary. This may sound comforting as we have a variety of words we can use to express ourselves more articulately. At the same time, it also poses confusion, especially with words that somehow share the same root. For example: when you move to a... Continue Reading →
When you want to express the difference between two objects, do you say different from or different than? This one is also rather tricky like the pair we discussed yesterday. One cause of confusion is the word itself: different. It is an adjective that compares two or more objects, but it is not a comparative... Continue Reading →
When you point out the similarities of two or more objects, do you say compare to or compare with? Prepositions have always been the bane of second language speakers of English; a simple change of preposition in a sentence can change the entire meaning of the message. In this installment of Word War, we are... Continue Reading →
When English is not your first language, idiomatic expressions can be challenging: for example, when someone has the wrong idea about you, are they barking up or at the wrong tree? Such expressions can be confusing at times, especially ones that are not normally used in daily conversations. Not only that they can confuse the... Continue Reading →
When you speak with a specific speech pattern, is it because of your intonation or your accent? Throughout my career as a communications trainer, I have met a lot of people who use intonation and accent interchangeably. Normally, my trainees tell me that they need to focus on their accent because their intonation is inconsistent. It... Continue Reading →
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