Category: vocabulary

An interjection is a word or short phrase that indicates some sort of emotion. They are common in conversation but are used sparingly in formal writing, if at all. Some common interjections are ouch, wow, dear, uh, oh, ooh, well, hi, ah and hey. Depending on where they are and what punctuation is used, they…

In English, each sentence has a mood, that is expressed through the verb. Verb moods are indicative, interrogative, subjunctive/conditional and imperative. Imperative Mood An imperative statement is a command, advice or instruction; it can be quite strong or to be just a suggestion. This type of sentence does not typically name a subject as it…

Homographs are words that are spelled the same way and with the same letters but have different pronunciation, meanings or both. There are very few ways to keep these straight other than learning them through use. Below are a few examples that people new to English are sure to run across. Homographs Notice how the…

Etymology is the origin of a word and the study of how its use and meaning have changed over time. For instance, some words with a Latin origin have variations to their plurals. Instead of adding -s, the following four words change form. Some of these uses have faded out almost completely during this century,…