Sarah M

Have you ever heard someone say, “He’s quite a piece of work” and wondered whether that was a compliment or an insult? The phrase “a … Read More

Have you ever wondered whether “ageing” or “aging” is the correct spelling? Both are correct, but their use depends mainly on American and British English. … Read More

Yes, if you’re repeating your own exact words as a direct quotation, you normally need quotation marks. Your identity as the original speaker doesn’t change … Read More

“Stick a fork in it” is an informal English idiom meaning something is finished, complete, or over. It comes from the image of checking cooked … Read More

The difference between having and having had becomes much easier once you stop looking at the words separately and start looking at the sentence’s timeline. … Read More

A verb root is the core part of a verb that carries its basic meaning. When you understand the root, many verb forms become easier … Read More

The difference between checkup and check up is simple once you focus on grammar: checkup is a noun, while check up is a verb phrase. … Read More

If you’ve seen both appal and appal in books, news articles, or online writing, you may wonder whether one is correct and the other is … Read More

Myself vs. my self may look like a tiny spelling difference, but the space changes the grammatical structure and, in some contexts, the meaning. In … Read More

Have you ever wondered whether “thus far” and “so far” mean the same thing? Both expressions describe something that has happened up to a particular … Read More