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We may often find ourselves distinguishing between two words that sound the same but have different meanings. In today’s post, we have a threesome of such words. That’s because palette, palate, and pallet are all said the same way, but each has a unique meaning and spelling. To help you tell them apart, let’s begin …

A subordinating conjunction is a word or a phrase that begins and therefore introduces a dependent (subordinate) clause. The subordinate conjunction marks how the dependent clause will modify the independent clause with information such as manner, place, time, contrast, cause, or a condition. Some common subordinating conjunctions include: after except that that although if though …

A lot, alot, and allot: These words are all used often in writing. Some people also consider them to be either interchangeable or the same word with different spellings. In truth, a lot, alot, and allot are not the same. Two of them have separate meanings, and one isn’t even a word at all. For …

You're walking down the street. Someone hands you a piece of paper explaining a community effort. Did that person just give you a flyer, a flier, or something else? Let's answer that. Flyer vs. Flier as a Word Choice In the U.S., a promotional piece of paper using words and pictures to deliver a message …

A phrasal verb, also known as a verb with a particle, is a verb that combines with another word to describe an action. The particles within phrasal verbs will typically be prepositions, adverbs, or both: e.g., in, up, up with, off, on, down, over, and out. Examples It's getting dark out, so I think I'll …

Writers and editors tend to have strong opinions about the Oxford comma. If you don’t regularly work with words and grammar, however, you might not even be aware of what the Oxford comma is although you might be using it (or not) in your writing. Let’s break down what you need to know about the …

An indefinite pronoun is one that refers to an unspecified or unidentified person or thing. Unlike a definite pronoun, it is vague, and it does not have an antecedent. She drives the car. (The pronoun reference is specific to a person.) Anyone can drive the car. (The pronoun reference is general; no particular person is …

Winter might be coming, or you might have a spring in your step. The seasons tell us a lot about climate, mood, and even which fashions and foods are in style. But grammatically, they can sometimes summon a headache. For instance, do you know if you should capitalize the names of seasons when you’re writing …

An interrogative pronoun introduces a question that seeks information. If the pronoun is not part of a question, it is not an interrogative pronoun. There are five interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and what. Examples Who is the new park commissioner? Of whom are we speaking? Whose are the shoes by the door? Which …

One of the ironies of education is that many people receive four-year degrees in the U.S. each year but aren’t sure whether their achievement needs to be written with an apostrophe. Even if you did well in English and grammar courses earlier on, such a detail may not be something you address every day. Do …