The passive tense
When writing academically or professionally, the passive tense (or passive voice) is often used to place emphasis on the thing rather than the person who did the thing. This allows us to avoid...
View ArticleThe future tense
There are a number of ways to present the future tense in English, each with their own function and form. This post will present the different approaches and for every form, the function and practical...
View ArticleHomonyms
This post explores the nature of homonyms as a word class. A definition and examples are given before moving on to consider polysemy, homographs and homophones, which are all part of the same word...
View ArticlePrefixes and suffixes
The use of prefixes and suffixes in written and spoken English, known as affixation, allows us to extend our vocabulary range by modifying the beginning (prefix) or ending (suffix) of root words in...
View ArticleWriting an abstract
Academic, scientific or medical papers all make use of an abstract to summarise the work. This allows an interested reader to get a feel for the paper, and perhaps holds the key to whether the work...
View ArticleOrder of adjectives
When more than one adjective is used to modify a noun, or when nouns are used to modify another noun, the order of adjectives needs to follow a particular sequence. For example, we could say a...
View ArticleThe conditionals: first, second and third
Conditionals are structures used in English grammar to describe events or states that may happen/be true in the present and future, or that might have happened/been true in the past. In this post the...
View ArticleMore Latin abbreviations
By engaging with the literature either in published books, journal articles or other academic material, you will undoubtedly encounter common Latin abbreviations (cf., et al., etc.). Then, in the case...
View ArticleMore conditional forms
Having explored the function of the first, second and third conditionals in a previous post, here we consider more conditional forms that do not necessarily follow the conditional clause + dependent...
View ArticleIndefinite articles and abbreviations
Understanding the correct usage of indefinite articles and abbreviations can be a challenge for both native and non-native English speakers. Should it be a MRI scan or an MRI scan; a UNESCO heritage...
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