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Words & Grammar
A.Word.A.Day - Do you love words? Then you'll want to get on the A Word a Day (AWAD) mailing list. It's free! Each day you'll get a new word, definition, and brief quote showing how the word is used. Net-mom's on the AWAD list, along with 200,000 other people! The home page has sample words from today and yesterday, or you can look through the archives to see what the list is like.
Common Errors in English - Plenty of people use common words and phrases the wrong way, and this page aims to set them all straight. Learn when to use "its" and when to rely on "it's." Discover why being "very unique" is impossible. Is it "loose" or "lose"? "Immigrate" or "emigrate"? Could you "care less"? Find out here.
Glossary of Poetic Terms from Bob's Byway - Your teacher has assigned a poetry project that's just gone from bad to "verse." There are many unfamiliar words and lots of confusing jargon! Do you know the difference between a sestina a nd a sonnet? Can you write a poem in iambic pentameter? Visit this site to learn all these terms and more. Many are also illustrated with examples.
Golden Books Ramblin' Road Trip - Rev up your engines! You're headed for a great adventure. Pick your vehicle to begin your fantastic voyage. You'll visit faraway lands with Prince Know It All, have a picnic with a bunch of hungry pigs, be a pinch hitter for the Orange Blossoms, and rescue Hippo from a horrible case of the hiccups. And that's just the beginning!
Grammar and Style Notes - Are you a little shaky on the parts of speech? Can you tell a preposition from a present participle? The names may be strange, but you use these elements in everyday conversation. A preposition usually describes the object of the sentence and its location in time, space, or relationship to the rest of the sentence. For example, in the next sentence, the prepositions are capitalized: BEFORE the alarm rang, the cat was ON the table. A present participle just adds "-ing" to the rest of the verb: singing, sitting, walking. This resource teaches the parts of speech in a fun and easy way. You'll also learn about punctuation, building sentences and paragraphs, and yes--even spelling. Knowing the correct names for these grammatical terms becomes very important when you begin to learn another language. You'll want to know what the teacher means when talking about French subjunctives and superlatives!
How Does a Word Get in the Dictionary? - Have you ever wondered how editors of dictionaries choose which words to list and which definitions to use to describe words? This page explains how Merriam-Webster does it, and they should know the best way, because they have been doing it since the 1880s. There are almost 15 million citations for word uses in their database today.
Joe the Dragon - Joe the Dragon is a very friendly dragon. He likes to have as many friends as possible. You can accompany him on his latest journey, seeing loads of interesting places, or you can visit his Lair and try some quizzes or play a game or read a story.
Purdue Online Writing Lab: Writing Resources - Are those commas confusing? How about nouns, verbs, and adjectives--do they puzzle you? Are apostrophes getting you mixed up every time? And what's a preposition, anyway? Come to this writing lab to figure out how you should use all these things. Your reports, letters, and tests will look impressive! There are also many resources aimed at writers who want to be published authors.
Say Hello to the World Project - If you wanted to say "Hello!" to the world, you'd have to speak 2,796 languages, according to the Internet Public Library. Learn to greet others in quite a few languages here, including Tagalog, Swahili, and Mayan. Hear Real Audio files of the words and then practice on your own.
The UVic Writer's Guide - Your teacher assigns you a choice: you can write either an expository essay or a persuasive one. Huh? She explained it, but you still don't understand. This Web site introduces various types of essays, then gives advice on how to get started writing an essay, how to proofread it, and how to solve common writing problems. If you're not up to writing a whole essay yet, there's a section on how to write paragraphs. Can't write a whole paragraph? Stick to the part about how to write a good topic sentence. There is something here for everyone! You'll also find a huge glossary of literary terms and grammar basics.
Wacky Web Tales - Do you like those zany stories where you fill in the blanks and then see what story has been made up using the words you provide? Well, here are some of the zaniest, but that's not all... you can also submit your own web tale for others to be able to fill in the blanks.
Word Detective - This syndicated newspaper column has been running since 1953. William Morris started it, and now his son, Evan, does the honors. A short while after the columns run in newspapers, he posts them on this page. Morris answers readers' questions about the English language and its odd words and phrases, such as "busting chops," "lame duck," or "eyes peeled," and he does this cleverly, with wit and humor. He also has a sampling of The Word Detective , a newsletter that "aims for the large grey area between the Oxford English Dictionary and Monty Python."
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