Contronyms – words that are their own opposites
If you look hard enough, you’ll eventually find that almost all rules in English have exceptions and even contradictions. It’s a result of it being such an expansive and adaptive language. One of the most curious (and perhaps frustrating) areas of English that we can...
What are homonyms, heterographs and heteronyms?
I had an idea to discuss contronyms this month, which are a specific type of homonym, but I realised I don’t have an article on homonyms here. These are an interesting (and difficult) aspect of English, where we have a great many words that can either look or sound...
What’s the difference between accept, except and expect?
Time for another comparisons / common mistakes post, as I had a few requests towards the end of last year regarding some commonly confused words. Today’s ones look very similar (and can sound very similar) but have very different meanings, so they’re good...
English Idioms & Sayings: Exercise 2
This is a continuation of my Idioms and Sayings exercise series, which I started last month. As a reminder, I’ve put together a list of 45 interesting, popular sayings which I’m putting into 3 short exercises, with the third one to come soon. Check the first exercise...
Popular English Idioms and Sayings: Exercise 1
I’ve had a few requests recently for exercises relating to idioms and sayings. This is an interesting topic to get into because the language used for idioms, proverbs and other popular expressions in English is commonly used but the meanings can be difficult to...Want to Master English?
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