2020-01-03 Grammar for Making New Year’s Resolutions
The New Year can come on different dates for different cultures. Most of the Western world, for example, celebrates it on January 1. This year, the Lunar New Year takes…
2019-12-20 Soccer and Grammar
In recent weeks, search terms related to European football have been popular on the internet. On Monday, for example, Google Trends identified ‘Champions League’ and ‘Champions League draw’ as the…
2019-12-13 Digital Communication: Emojis and Grammar
Writer and actor Larry David is behind some of America’s most popular television shows, including Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The shows often discuss the details of everyday life in…
2019-12-06 Do These Things to Improve Your Collocations
If you have been studying English even for a short time, chances are you have already heard or read hundreds of collocations. A collocation is a group of two or…
2019-11-22 Text Messages and Internet Forums
Today on Everyday Grammar, we will explore two relatively new methods of communicating: text messages and internet forums. We will talk about two common expressions you might see: lol* and…
2019-11-15 Cleft Sentences in Speaking, Writing
This is Everyday Grammar. Today, I want to begin by asking you to listen to two sentences and compare their meanings. Are the meanings the same or different? Here are…
2019-11-08 Appositives: Renaming Words and Other Terms
Imagine you want to improve your writing skills. Perhaps you would like to take an English test or use English in a business email. Today on Everyday Grammar, we will…
2019-11-01 Past Ability: Could, Was Able To, Managed To
Imagine that you are interviewing for a job you really want. Most of the questions are in your native language, but the job will require you to use some English.…
2019-10-25 Subject-Verb Agreement and the News
Imagine you are reading or listening to an American news story. Perhaps it is a health and lifestyle story. Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease on the rise around the…
2019-10-18 Subject – Verb Agreement
Have you ever noticed something strange about sentences involving prices or distances? Do you ever wonder why Americans use expressions like “$50 is too much!” or “Ten miles is really…
2019-10-11 How to Say ‘I’m Not Surprised’
Do you ever hear a story and think to yourself, “I knew that” or “it’s not surprising to me?” This week on Everyday Grammar, we will look at different ways…
2019-10-04 The Progressive: Activities and Places
Imagine you want to talk about what someone is doing. Perhaps you want to add information about where that action is happening. This week on Everyday Grammar, we will explore…
2019-09-27 Verbs of Perception
Imagine that you want to describe an experience. You want to talk about how you perceived something – in other words, what you saw, heard, or felt. In our report…
2019-09-13 Verbs That Change with Gerunds and Infinitives
In English, we sometimes follow a verb with another action. When we do this, we must use an infinitive or a gerund. You may remember that a gerund is the…
2019-08-16 Six Everyday Phrases for Making Guesses
Sometimes, we are asked to give an answer or opinion about something when we don’t have enough information or are not sure about it. We call such an answer or…