Latest Articles from ELB
7 Things Language Software Gets Wrong
Hello, it's been a while, so I have finally have a new article! Today, I’m exploring a language problem that is tricky to navigate: computer language assistants giving inaccurate advice. That is, when you have autocorrect or grammar assistant programs that flag things...
Merry Christmas from ELB!
Season's Greetings one and all! We're reaching the end of the year and are into holiday season so I want to share a quick message for everyone, wishing you all the very best for the end of this year, and for the new year to come. I also have my usual selection of...
Advanced Writing Skills – Free this month!
It's time for the final instalment in my free book series, as explained in my recent blog post, and I've saved what I feel is the best for last, for the festive period! All December, I'm offering Advanced Writing Skills for Students of English absolutely free on this...
The English Tenses Exercise Book – Free this month!
For the next instalment in my free book series, explained in my recent blog post, for all of November, I'm offering everyone The English Tenses Exercise Book absolutely free. In case you missed it before, I'm running this series of free books because I've had less...
The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide – Free This Month
Continuing from the plan I laid out in my recent blog post, we're into the second month of me giving my grammar guides away free on the website. For all of October, you can now download The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide absolutely free. As a quick recap,...
Word Order in English Sentences – Free This Month
As promised in my most recent blog post, over the next four months I’m going to give away each of my books on this website, starting with Word Order in English Sentences. If you missed that post, I thought it time to put out the books a bit more freely, given that the...
Looking to the Future for ELB
Hello from ELB! It has been a little while, so I want to address my increasingly irregular updates. It’s with great regret that over these past few months I’ve been unable to continue my monthly new articles, which I’d otherwise managed without fail for 12 years....
Cutting Words with Efficient Verbs
If you want to say something with fewer words in English, it’s often possible to choose more specific vocabulary. When it comes to choosing your verbs, this can impact entire phrases. Today, I’m looking at a common issue in my fiction editing work, where we have verbs...
How to use Single or Double Quotation Marks
In English, we can indicate quoted text with either single quotes, ‘–’ or double quotes, “–”. Typically it is expected that you use one style or the other, but they can also be combined. This can lead to some confusion as to exactly when you should use double or...