I think that the easiest way to understand the difference between these two words – wander and wonder – is to actually know what they mean and to learn a couple of (short) sentences which will help you remember their meaning later on. In writing, only one letter sets them apart, therefore spelling should not […]
To be perfectly honest, there isn’t much to say about these words, “flower” and “flour”. I chose this pair of homophones because I saw people hesitating before writing one of the two forms. They know what the words mean and they use the proper pronunciation, but it might be a bit difficult for beginners to […]
Sometimes it is possible to know the meaning of a word, to use it properly in a given context, yet to spell it wrong if the word we wrote had a different meaning from the one we uttered. Let us take a simple example, a pair of homophones used quite often in a conversation: his […]
Ah, the “beauty” of -ic/-ical adjectives. Let’s look at historic and historical. The two words are often listed as synonyms, but what do they mean? When do we use them? Open a dictionary (for example, this one) and you will find the following explanations: -historic: istoric, de importanță istorică; *part of history; famous or important […]
Study the way the various meanings of an English lexical item are presented in several dictionaries. Create an entry (or more than one entry) in your dictionary to illustrate your point of view. The item I chose to analyze is home. Its meanings are those of a noun, an adverb, an adjective, a verb. – Longman […]
Today we will focus on another set of homophones: to, too and two. It seems that it doesn’t matter if the ones using these words are native speakers of foreigners, they can appear in the wrong places either because of a typo or because their meaning is unknown. To is often found in front of […]
Homonyms… we encounter them probably more often than we realize. They can be used in jokes and they are at times the source of mistakes. Let’s see what homonyms, homophones and homographs are and have a look at a few examples. Perfect homonyms are words that are spelled and pronounced the same way, but have different […]
Here are some basic things that I hope you all know, plus some extra information. I The basic form of adjectives (and adverbs) 1) Short adjectives – the ones that have only one syllable, or two syllables *and* they also end in –ly, -y or -w; – form the comparative grade by adding the –(e)r termination; […]
Poate că la prima vedere nu știe toată lumea ce este un barbarism. Însă, după citirea acestui articol, garantez că vă veți aminti de aceste greșeli lexico-gramaticale făcute atât la televizor cât și pe internet, fie că este vorba de discuții publice, conversații amicale, articole, melodii neinspirate etc. Barbarismul este un cuvânt împrumutat (fără a […]
The infinitive, the –ing form In many cases we are required to use two verbs in succession. It is very easy to do it in Romanian because all you need is more or less a conjunction. For example: Vreau să plec la şcoală. Nu cred că voi întârzia. Ştiu să scriu un eseu. Ştiu că […]