Sharon It’s easy to mix up fortuitous with fortunate. After all, they both have aspects of luck and chance in their meaning. Fortunate means lucky, derived from the word fortune, which means luck, either good or bad. The Romans thought of fortune as a goddess who could be for you or against you. Fortuitous, on the … Read more
Only one letter separates these two words, but there’s considerable difference in meaning. The word deprecate means to express disapproval of something. A synonym for deprecate in this context is to deplore. Example: He deprecated his sister’s actions. This means that he did not approve of his sister’s actions. The word depreciate means to belittle … Read more
Only one letter separates this oppositional pair. To prescribe is to order the use of or set out a rule. From this we get a prescription, which sets out how you are to take a particular medicine. We also get prescriptive grammar, which is grammar that presumes that there is one set of grammatical rules … Read more
Whenever you encounter another culture, each culture takes something from the other. So it is with English and Japanese. Each language has borrowed from the other. In the case of English, there’s a long list of borrowings. Some of these have no direct English equivalent and describe inherently Japanese concepts. Others come from Japanese via … Read more
There are many expressions in English which reflect our need to classify and put a value on items. Here are a few: First water This is most often heard in the phrase ‘a diamond of the first water’. The expression means the best quality. The best diamonds are nearly as clear as water, and this … Read more
Hang derives from Old English and means to be attached from above without support below. This is one of the core meanings, as shown in the sentence: The picture hangs on the wall. However, there are several other related uses, for example: To let droop or fall – hang your head in shame. To fall … Read more
If you want people to read your web content, you have to make it appeal to them. Here’s how to do it. First, pick a great title – or a good one. A good title is one that tells the reader what your article or post is about. You can use humor or you can … Read more
Opinions are divided on the origin of the expression ‘on the QT’, a slang expression which indicates that the subject under discussion is confidential. Most people agree that it’s simply an abbreviation of ‘quiet’, albeit a strange one, using the first and last letters. However, both the US and the UK claim first ownership of … Read more
When you work as a freelance writer, you often need to alter your writing style to meet your clients’ needs. One day you might be writing for a finance publication; the next day you might supply content for a dating site. This is a normal part of the life of a working writer. Sometimes you … Read more
There’s more to writing for magazines than getting your name into Cosmopolitan. Thousands of new magazines are launched every year and it’s a big market for freelance writers. In fact, it’s even bigger now that so many magazines have an online presence. So, how do you go about writing a magazine article that will sell? … Read more
Whether you are writing a magazine article, a college essay or an email to a client, getting your text free of mistakes is essential. The spell checker helps, but it is far from foolproof. That is where proofreading comes in. Below you will find 8 tips and techniques to make your proofreading sessions more effective. … Read more
The English language is a thief. What we call English isn’t really English at all. Instead, it’s a collection of borrowings from other languages. Latin is the main one, but there’s also a good bit of French and a healthy serving of Spanish. There are thousands of Spanish loan words in English – some claim … Read more