What are Comma Splices (and how can you avoid them)?
A problem many native English writers and foreign English learners have in common is combining independent clauses without the appropriate punctuation or conjunctions, often seen with what we call comma splices. I thought this would be an interesting topic to cover,...
How Phrasal Verbs Can Form Compound Nouns
I always find it interesting to look at ways that words connect, so we can see how one type of word might become another. I was struck by a specific area of this recently while editing a crime novel, which included a lot of compound nouns that stem from phrasal verbs....
Celebrating 10 Years of English Lessons Brighton
It’s my tremendous honour to share that this February marks 10 years of articles on this website, and it’s still going as strong as ever. In celebration, I invite you to join me in looking back at the site’s history, some its achievements, and the...
What are Imperative Verbs and Sentences?
Imperative verbs are used as commands or instructions in English. They are sometimes called “command words” and may be considered bossy or authoritative, as they are typically used to tell someone what to do. However, they can also just urge people towards an action,...
Kate Skates at Christmas: Phrasal Verbs Exercise
Christmas is nearly upon us again, so it’s time for another holiday-themed exercise to get you in the merry spirit. I’ve decided to revisit the same style of exercise I produced for Christmas last year: a short story gap-fill exercise to test your understanding of...
Using Commas with Lists & the Serial Comma
Today I’m going to look at another specific use of commas in English, particularly how we use them in lists, and how the controversial serial comma or Oxford comma works. This builds on a couple of articles about specific uses of commas that I’ve shared in the past:...
Spooky Relative Clauses: A Halloween Exercise
It’s October which means it’s Spooky Season, and time for another themed article. Today, we’re going to practice relative clauses with a Halloween theme. For a quick introduction, relative clauses are clauses that add additional detail to nouns. They are connected by...
What Are Countable and Uncountable Nouns?
When discussing grammar, nouns can be described as either countable or uncountable. I’ve been meaning to cover this for a while, as we’ve got a few articles relating to these definitions but not one that defines them, and describes what to look out for. After some...
Combing Different Tenses 3: The Present Simple
A while ago, I began a series of articles to show how each tense can be combined with the other tenses, but we only covered the past tenses (with the past simple and continuous here and the past perfects here). The idea was to demonstrate how a single aspect can...Want to Master English?
ELB has produced a series of bestselling English guides, available from all major retailers, with over 45,000 copies sold worldwide. Click a cover to learn more!
