100 Exquisite Adjectives By Mark Nichol Adjectives — descriptive words that modify nouns — often come under fire for their cluttering quality, but often it’s quality, not quantity, that is the issue. Plenty of tired adjectives are available to spoil a good sentence, but when you find just the right word for the job, enrichment ensues. Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! 21 Responses to “100 Exquisite Adjectives” Rebecca Fantastic list! Why People Secretly Fear Creative Ideas Why creative ideas are often rejected in favour of conformity and uniformity. Does society really value creativity? People say they want more creative people, more creative ideas and solutions, but do they really? For one thing teachers don’t generally like creative students. For all the talk of creativity in business, industry and academia, there’s evidence that it’s implicitly discouraged in these areas as well. A recent study has tested this idea that there’s a disconnect between what people say about creativity and what they unconsciously think (Mueller et al. 2011). They used tests that typically assess implicit or unconscious racism. Across two experiments Mueller and colleagues found that when people felt uncertain they were: more likely to have negative thoughts about creative ideas,and found it more difficult to recognise creative ideas. This supports the idea that people don’t like creative ideas because they tend to increase uncertainty.
British and American terms - Oxford Dictionaries Online British and American English often spell the same word differently, for example: labour/labor, enthrall/enthral, or centre/center. You can find out more about these differences here. There are also many cases in which the two varieties of English use different terms to describe the same thing. Back to usage. You may also be interested in Shall or will? Commonly confused words Can or may? 5 Ways To Hack Your Brain Into Awesomeness Much of the brain is still mysterious to modern science, possibly because modern science itself is using brains to analyze it. There are probably secrets the brain simply doesn't want us to know. But by no means should that stop us from tinkering around in there, using somewhat questionable and possibly dangerous techniques to make our brains do what we want. We can't vouch for any of these, either their effectiveness or safety. #5. So you just picked up the night shift at your local McDonald's, you have class every morning at 8am and you have no idea how you're going to make it through the day without looking like a guy straight out of Dawn of the Dead, minus the blood... hopefully. "SLEEEEEEEEEP... uh... What if we told you there was a way to sleep for little more than two hours a day, and still feel more refreshed than taking a 12-hour siesta on a bed made entirely out of baby kitten fur? Holy Shit! We're pretty sure Kramer did this once on Seinfeld. How Does It Work? #4. #3. 1. 2. 3.
How to use a semicolon SARCASM IN RELATIONSHIPS Sarcasm – a mocking or ironic remark (American Heritage Dictionary) Irony – the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning (American Heritage Dictionary) Sarcasm is a large component of social interaction and conversation. Sarcasm is an indirect form of speech intentionally used to produce a particular dramatic effect on the listener (McDonald, 1999, p. 486). Many people relate sarcasm to irony, but there is a big difference between the two. The subject of sarcasm is complex because many factors are involved. Negative sarcasm, where positively worded utterances convey negative attitudes, is used frequently in everyday language. Sarcastic remarks, like this, are usually accompanied by exaggeration, and intensifiers may be used on the words that state the opposite of how one truly feels. Sarcasm has been found to be “morphologically simpler and more flexible to use than direct forms” (McDonald, 1999, 487). People have different views of sarcasm in relation to humor.
Grammar Chants for ESL By Kenneth Beare Updated December 30, 2014. The use of grammar chants to learn English are useful for all learners and ages. Chants can be used to learn vocabulary and grammar and are a lot of fun to use in classes. They are especially effective when used to help students learn problematic forms. The chants on the site cover a wide range of simple grammar and vocabulary subjects for lower level English learners. English learning chants use repetition to engage the right side of the brain's 'musical' intelligence. continue reading below our video Play Video Using a chant is pretty straight-forward. Here they are: Have fun! Prepositions of Time - At and OnPrepositions of Time - In and AtPrepositions of Place - In and OnPrepositions of Place - At and OnQuestion WordsContractionsBasic Numbers - American EnglishBasic Numbers - British EnglishSome and AnyQuestion WordsQuestions with 'How'IntroductionsQuestions with 'Like'Verb + GerundVerb + InfinitivePronounsSimple Present (I, You, We, vs. What She
Is Self-Control A Limited Resource, or Driven By Motivation and Attention? By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 13, 2012 New research disputes the belief that self-control is a limited resource — a behavior that can literally be used up at times. In the new study, researchers Michael Inzlicht and Brandon Schmeichel argue that the prevailing model of self-control as an emotional bank account may not be as accurate as researchers once thought. Self-control or self-discipline is essential daily life. The resource model of self-control has been widely accepted with over 100 papers supporting it. But Inzlicht and Schmeichel point out that a newer crop of studies are yielding results that don’t fit with this idea of self-control. Recent studies have shown that incentives, individual perceptions of task difficulty, personal beliefs about willpower, feedback on task performance, and changes in mood all seem to influence the ability to exercise self-control. Source: Association for Psychological Science
25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing I read this cool article last week — “30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself” — and I thought, hey, heeeey, that’s interesting. Writers might could use their own version of that. So, I started to cobble one together. And, of course, as most of these writing-related posts become, it ended up that for the most part I’m sitting here in the blog yelling at myself first and foremost. That is, then, how you should read this: me, yelling at me. Then go forth and kick your writing year in the teeth. Onto the list. 1. Right here is your story. 2. Momentum is everything. 3. You have a voice. 4. Worry is some useless shit. 5. The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward in quantity. 6. I said “stop hurrying,” not “stand still and fall asleep.” 7. It’s not going to get any easier, and why should it? 8. 9. The mind is the writer’s best weapon. 10. Complaining — like worry, like regret, like that little knob on the toaster that tells you it’ll make the toast darker — does nothing. 11.
The Ultimate Student Resource List - Stepcase Lifehack It’s back to school time, yet again. In the spirit of the season, I decided to gather together the best tools, websites, and advice I know of to help make you a more effective and relaxed student this semester. Since I know you’re broke, it’s all free! 10 Free Applications Every Student Needs Unless you have money coming out of your ears, you probably won’t want to shell out the cash you’ll need to get Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, EndNote, and so on — even with your student discount. OpenOffice.org: A top-quality, full-featured office productivity suite — word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, graphics editor, database, the works! 11 Online Tools Students Should Check Out Or 20, depending on how you count. Email: GmailRegister for a solid, plain-jane email address from Gmail, something like FirstnameLastname@gmail.com. 15 Websites for Students (Aside from Lifehack) 30 Pieces of Advice for Students from Lifehack.org 7 Online Research Resources
Comics :: Grammar This is a grammar comic about the proper usage of who versus whom. A look at the meaning of "flushing out an idea." This comic will LITERALLY make butterflies explode out of your underpants. A guide explaining when to use i.e. instead of e.g. A little bit ironic, dontcha think? The most feared punctuation on earth. The right way to use an apostrophe (in illustrated form). All artwork and content on this site is Copyright © 2016 Matthew Inman. 60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to make drastic changes in order to notice an improvement in the quality of your life. At the same time, you don’t need to wait a long time in order to see the measurable results that come from taking positive action. All you have to do is take small steps, and take them consistently, for a period of 100 days. Below you’ll find 60 small ways to improve all areas of your life in the next 100 days. Home 1. Day 1: Declutter MagazinesDay 2: Declutter DVD’sDay 3: Declutter booksDay 4: Declutter kitchen appliances 2. If you take it out, put it back.If you open it, close it.If you throw it down, pick it up.If you take it off, hang it up. 3. A burnt light bulb that needs to be changed.A button that’s missing on your favorite shirt.The fact that every time you open your top kitchen cabinet all of the plastic food containers fall out. Happiness 4. 5. 6. How many times do you beat yourself up during the day? 7. Learning/Personal Development 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes Does your writing stand out? Do you worry whether your writing is good enough? I can see you nodding your head. You are not alone. The good thing is that writing is a journey. On this journey, you can either travel the long road – or use shortcuts. Using shortcuts means learning to spot and fix mistakes in order to write better. Here are seven instant fixes that will improve your writing. But … what is good writing? Inexperienced writers think that ‘good’ writing is elaborate. No, good writing is simple. 1: The art of natural Check out an example of elaborate writing below (I’ve sourced examples of writing from free Kindle books chosen at random). This is from a story about a young girl who is at home with her young brother when a thunderstorm strikes. An ebony abyss claimed the den. I take this to mean, “The room went dark.” Maybe the author consulted a Thesaurus to create a sentence with special words. Your words should sound natural. I reckon you’d get a strange look … 2: Is it obvious? Careful!