2019-05-03 Short Form Yes, No Questions
Hello! Do you have a minute? …because I want to tell you something about yes/no questions. As you may know, a yes/no question is a question in which the expected…
2019-04-26 Movies Can Teach You about Verbs and Objects
The 1972 film “The Godfather” is one of the most famous movies ever made. It tells the story of a make-believe organized crime family: the Corleone family. Its leader is…
2019-04-19 So and Neither: Short Responses of Agreement
In the American television show Saturday Night Live, actors make jokes of realistic situations and people, like politicians and sports personalities. In one program, for example, sports reporters Pete and…
2019-04-12 The Word ‘Which’ in the News
Imagine you open an American travel magazine. Perhaps you want to read about other countries and the must-see places to visit in them. Or perhaps you just want to improve…
2019-04-05 The Many Ways We Use ‘Of Course’
In the film, “Love, Of Course,” single mother Amy Andolini finds herself alone after sending her daughter to college. But when she gets a job planning the school’s Harvest Festival…
2019-03-29 Grammar and the News: Nouns Modifying Nouns
Imagine you are looking at an American newspaper or news website. You read a few stories, and see terms such as health care, football game or bank policy.These terms might…
2019-03-22 The Passive Voice with ‘Get’
Have you ever gotten invited to a wedding? If so, who got married — or will get married? Where was the wedding and did you have fun? I went to…
2019-03-15 Other, The Other and Another
It’s springtime in Washington, D.C. and I’m so excited! There are a lot of places to enjoy nature, like the National Arboretum and Rock Creek Park. Some spring days here…
2019-03-08 Diminutives Make Many Things Smaller
Hi everyone! Do you feel like playing a little word game today? I do. OK, here it is: I will give you the words. Your job is to identify the…
2019-03-01 Nine Surprising Facts About the English Language
If you read and listen to ourEveryday Grammar program each week, you know it has detailed explanations of grammar, sentence structure and language usage. The show provides a lot of…
2019-02-21 What Is the ‘Zero Article’?
Wow, I sure do love cats! I suppose I didn’t know how much until my social media service informed me I had “liked” eight pictures of cats this week. Maybe…
2019-02-15 Under, Below, Beneath and Underneath
The middle of February is winter here in Washington, DC. I walked outside this morning and the temperature was below freezing! And I made the mistake of wearing light clothing.…
2019-02-08 What Is the Word Order of Adjectives?
Hi, everyone. How’s your day going? This morning, the Metro was loud, hot and crowded…again. And the train driver kept stopping and starting so I lost my footing and bumped…
2019-02-01 Giving and Receiving Compliments
In the country of Japan, being told that your face is small is very high praise for a woman. In Russia, if someone tells you that you look like a…
2019-01-25 How to Express Your Opinion in English
Suppose you are with a group of friends discussing the greatest inventions of the 20th century. One friend says, “I think the computer was the best invention. There’s no question…