by Phil Williams | May 11, 2021 | Definitions, Grammar
I’ve had an interesting correspondence with a reader who identified an implied negative which is rarely explored in grammar guides – where a negative sentence is created without any explicitly negative words. These can be more difficult to spot than regular negatives,...
by Phil Williams | Apr 13, 2021 | Definitions, Exercises, General English, Grammar, Words
Here’s an issue that confuses native English speakers: when and where to use an apostrophe with it. This has been covered a lot online, because these two words are very commonly confused, but I still get asked about it so hope my own explanation might reach a few more...
by Phil Williams | Feb 9, 2021 | Definitions, Grammar, Vocabulary
It’s been a while since I did a comparisons / common mistakes post, but the difference between “any more” and “anymore” is one that I’ve seen quite a lot lately. In fact, I sometimes stop and think about it myself when writing, because their meanings are closely...
by Phil Williams | Oct 15, 2020 | Definitions, Grammar, Vocabulary
Welcome to ELB phrasal master guide. This article explains the purpose and grammar of phrasal verbs, and describes how they fit into sentences (as adapted from the book Word Order In English Sentences). It also provides a list of phrasal verbs with definitions and...
by Phil Williams | Sep 8, 2020 | Definitions, General English, Words
I’ve had a few blog comments lately addressing how English is used or taught differently, and thought it would be a useful exercise to produce an article covering how we discuss varieties of a language. Some of the most active articles I have are ones where people...
by Phil Williams | Jul 7, 2020 | Definitions, Words, Writing skills
A common theme in my teaching is exploring the difference between clearly defined grammar rules and where English becomes flexible. Sometimes variations in English fall into regional or linguistic uses, but often it is a case of style, which can be defined by rules...