Since the word ‘contract’ means to shorten or squeeze together, it seems logical that a contraction is two words made into one by putting an apostrophe where letters have been omitted.  Words like can’t (can + not), don’t (do + not), and I’ve (I + have) are all contractions.
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Usage of Contractions in Sentences
They’re is a contraction for they are. Let’s rewrite the given sentence using contractions: They are happy to see me. Its contracted form would be: They’re happy to see me. Observe how we’ve contracted they are to they’re.
What are Binomials?
Binomials are expressions with two words joined by a conjunction (connecting word).For example: rock and roll more or less The order of the words in the expression cannot be interchanged; for example, we can’t say ‘roll and rock’ or ‘less or more’.
Meaning of the Given Binomial
Let’s go through the examples of a few common binomials.Neat and tidy means clean, organized, tidy not messy or untidy.Example 1: Her house is always very neat and tidy: there’s never anything out of place.Odds and ends mean various small, unimportant, inexpensive items.Example 2: I need to clean out my desk; the drawers are full of odds and…
What are collocations?
A collocation is a group of words that usually go together. For example, in English, we usually say ‘heavy rain’. It’s grammatically correct to say ‘strong rain’ or ‘big rain’, but both of these sound completely strange. A native English speaker would never say ‘big rain’. Example 1“This is strong coffee”. The collocation here is strong and coffee. But…
Compound Words
A compound word is a word which is made up of two or more words that have a single unit of meaning. For example: fireworks, basketball, full moon, etc.Â
What are Irregular Plurals?
Most English nouns form their plural by adding either -s (books, bands, bells) or -es (boxes, bunches, batches). These plural forms are said to follow a regular pattern. These noun forms are called regular plurals. But not all nouns forms follow this regular pattern. In fact, some of the most common English nouns have irregular plural forms such as woman/women and child/children. These noun forms that follow this…
Foreign Word Plurals
There are many words in the English language that have been derived from foreign languages like Latin or Greek.These words have two possible spellings for their plural forms: the English spelling and the foreign plural spelling.For example: Word: formula, Latin plural: formulae, English plural: formulas Some words have only the Latin plural spelling.For example: larva – larvae; alga…
Abbreviations and their Types
Abbreviations are words that are shortened.There are three ways of abbreviating words:1) Abbreviations can be formed from the first letters of the word or phrase. In such cases, we normally say them by spelling out each letter: Personal Computer = PC World Health Organization = WHO 2) For some written abbreviations, individual letters or sounds…
Usage of Different Word Forms
Words often take different forms such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. Let’s take a look at the given sentences:Example 1: “Respect your parents and teachers.” (respect – verb)Example 2: “Be respectful to your parents and teachers.” (respectful – adjective)Example 3: “Show respect to your parents and teachers.” (respect – noun) We have used different forms of the word ‘respect’. You…
“It’s time” Expressions
We can use the expression its time + subject + past verb form to refer to the present moment. To understand this let us look at: Example 1 “Gosh! Its almost midnight. Its time we went home.“ ‘Its time’ with a verb in the to-infinitive form can refer to the speaker and the listener together. Example 2 “Come on. It’s time to…
Complete the sentence with the correct word
It is important to identify which word best fits the sentence.For example, in the given sentence:I _____ her to visit me. (insisted, requested)Here, ‘insisted’ should have been followed by ‘that’. Hence, the right word that fits the sentence is ‘requested’. Â Â
All vs Both
We use ‘both’ to refer to two things or people together. ‘All’ is used to refer to every individual or member of a group, with no exceptions.For example:All the children left early. Both the children left early. Â
Begin vs Start
Both ‘begin’ and ‘start’ indicate the initial or commencing point of something. However, they are not entirely interchangeable. ‘Begin’ is more formal than ‘start’. When we talk about machines or the opening of a new business, we use ‘start’, not ‘begin’.In general, we use ‘start’ (but not ‘begin’) when we wish to denote the setting out…
Incorrectly Used Words
Many words have similar spellings and are therefore used incorrectly. Care must be taken to ensure the right spelling of the word is used and that the word fits the context in which it is used in the text.For example:Â He holds no delusions to the past. -incorrectHe holds no allusions to the past. -correct
Frequently confused words
There are many words in the English language that may be confused with other words because they have similar spellings and/or meanings. For example: accept, except advice, advisethen, thanbear, bare
Word Family
Word families are groups of words that have common features or patterns. For example, at, cat, fat and hat can be grouped into one family because they have at in common. There are several word families. Some examples are ack, ad, ail, age, ame, ank, etc.
Word Meanings
Words spoken in any language have specific meanings and usages. The meaning of the word also depends on the context in which it is used. For example, the word “bright” in the sentence “He is a bright child” can mean two things. Either it means “filled with light” or “smart”.In this context “bright” would mean…
Using an Absolute Participle
We can transform sentences using an absolute participle followed by a noun clause to retain the same meaning. For example: Though she means well, should we follow her advice?This sentence can be transformed as:Admitting she means well, should we follow her advice?
Using an Absolute Participle
An absolute participle followed by a noun clause can be used to express contrast. For example:The wind blowing hard, the man did not turn up his collar.This sentence means that even though the wind was blowing hard, the man did not turn up his collar.