Why we say 21st Century for years starting 20…
The way we describe ages, including years or people’s ages, can sometimes seem strange if you consider that years beginning “20” are referred to as “21st Century” (and similarly, years starting “19” were the “20th Century”). There is a very logical reason for this,...
The Impact of Dickens’ Christmas Carol – in Language and Culture
In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote a novella called A Christmas Carol, a story still told today. The story followed a miser (a nasty man who does not want to share his wealth) on Christmas Eve, as he is visited by three spirits that teach him about kindness and caring....How to use suffixes to create nouns from adjectives and verbs
Many words in English can be adapted to be used for different grammatical functions. We often use prefixes and suffixes (extra parts of the word added at the beginning or the end) to change the meaning of a word for a variety of purposes. Adjectives and verbs can be...
Unusual adjective positions that don’t stick to the rules
The general rules for adjective word order (the basics of which are covered in the ELB guide to Word Order in English) are usually understood as most adjectives coming before the noun they describe, with a few exceptions that follow linking verbs, such as to be (when...
Noun complements and adding additional information after nouns
Basic word structure in English shows that a noun either be followed by a verb (when the noun is the subject) or a prepositional phrase or a time (when the noun is an object). However, nouns can be joined by additional information as part of a single grammatical unit....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!
