Preposition debate By William R. Jones
My departed Mexican friend, Aldo Sanchez, was once the Spanish language teacher par excellence at Jeju Foreign Language High School. His former students are well into their careers now. I hope that they shall read this and recall fond memories of him. Aldo also spoke English very well and one of our personal exchanges, eagerly discussed, was about whether a fly is on the wall meant the same thing as a fly is against the wall.
Such a concept may seem like nonsense and appear uninteresting to many, maybe, because compare and contrast is immediately understood. However, as wordsmiths, we like to engage in war of words. I miss my friend Aldo and our convoluted and inconsequential exchanges. Although perhaps not convincing, our reasoning and conclusion concerning the matter follows.
You might have wondered why Americans spell things differently for quite some time now, but this teacher from Australia is here to help by blowing all the dust away from good old etymology. His series of videos, which have over 65.3K followers, are playfully marketed as “Things I teach children that adults would froth,” with froth being an Australian word used to describe being really excited over something. Among the brilliant videos, one of them has the explanation to the history of different spellings.
Turns out that Noah Webster was behind the English language spelling reform
The teacher admits in the beginning of the video that growing up, he had no clue why Australians and Americans spelled color differently. Turns out there is one man behind this whole ordeal by the name of Noah Webster, who is the mastermind behind the thicker-than-life Webster’s dictionary, hence the name. As the Aussie teacher explains, Webster’s intention was to simplify the language.
100+ Grammar Rules for Writers
Here are more than 100 grammar rules for writers to assist them with better writing skills. Each rule includes a quick breakdown and links to a post that goes into more detail with examples. This list will be updated with new rules as we add them to the site.
Author:
Jun 12, 2020
If you re anything like me, you have a love-hate relationship with grammar. On one hand, grammar rules are necessary for greater understanding and more effective communication. On the other hand, there are just so many rules (and so many exceptions to the rules). It can be overwhelming.
Prepare yourself for comparing the differences of pair, pare, and pear on with Grammar Rules from the Writer s Digest editors, including a few examples of correct usages.
points out grammar mistakes on Facebook Lurkin Mom (@LurkAtHomeMom) February 2, 2017
I’m giving up eating chocolate for a month.
Sorry, bad punctuation.
[screams into the abyss]
SOMETIMES THE WRONG GRAMMAR MAKES THE JOKE SOUND BETTER Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) April 14, 2016
Guys. I have not been so excited in maybe a year. Someone just corrected my grammar online but they re incorrect. Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) August 25, 2015
little known fact: the em dash is actually named after noted dash fan emily dickinson Anne Thériault (@anne theriault) December 10, 2019
Earth, Wind and Fire doesn t give two beans about your Oxford comma. Abbi Crutchfield (@curlycomedy) September 16, 2017