The indefinite articles a and an are used to refer to a general or unspecified version of a noun (e.g., a house). Which indefinite article you use depends on the pronunciation of the word that follows it.
Indefinite articles can only be used with singular countable nouns. Like definite articles, they are a type of determiner.
Pathetic fallacy is not a logical fallacy. It is a literary device or figure of speech that often occurs in literature when a writer attributes human emotions to things that aren’t human, such as objects, the weather, or animals.
Pathetic fallacy is used to reflect a character’s emotions. For example, if a character has lost a loved one, they may hear “mournful” birdsong.
A pathetic fallacy can be a short phrase or a whole sentence and is often used in novels and poetry. Pathetic fallacies serve multiple purposes, such as:
Pathetic fallacy and appeal to pathos sound similar but they refer to entirely different things.
In other words, pathetic fallacy and appeal to pathos both relate to pathos or emotion but to a different end.
When forming the possessive of a plural noun that already ends in “s,” you should add an apostrophe after “s” and not add an extra “s.” For example, the plural noun houses becomes the possessive noun houses’.
This is different from forming the possessive of a singular noun (e.g., “house”) or an irregular plural noun that doesn’t end in “s” (e.g. “men”). In those cases, you add an apostrophe followed by an “s”: house’s; men’s.
Yes, the conjunction because is a compound word, but one with a long history. It originates in Middle English from the preposition “bi” (“by”) and the noun “cause.” Over time, the open compound “bi cause” became the closed compound “because,” which we use today.
Though it’s spelled this way now, the verb “be” is not one of the words that makes up “because.”
Yes, today is a compound word, but a very old one. It wasn’t originally formed from the preposition “to” and the noun “day”; rather, it originates from their Old English equivalents, “tō” and “dæġe.”
In the past, it was sometimes written as a hyphenated compound: “to-day.” But the hyphen is no longer included; it’s always “today” now (“to day” is also wrong).
Some synonyms and near synonyms of every time include:
“Everytime” is sometimes used to mean “each time” or “whenever.” However, this is incorrect and should be avoided. The correct phrase is every time (two words).
Nobody and no one are both indefinite pronouns meaning “no person.” They can be used interchangeably (e.g., “nobody is home” means the same as “no one is home”).
No one (two words) is an indefinite pronoun meaning “nobody.” People sometimes mistakenly write “noone,” but this is incorrect and should be avoided. “No-one” is also wrong.
Yours truly is a phrase used at the end of a formal letter or email. It can also be used (typically in a humorous way) as a pronoun to refer to oneself (e.g., “The dinner was cooked by yours truly”). The latter usage should be avoided in formal writing.
It’s formed by combining the second-person possessive pronoun “yours” with the adverb “truly.”
There are numerous synonyms for the various meanings of truly:
| In a truthful way | Absolutely | Properly |
| Candidly | Completely | Accurately |
| Honestly | Really | Correctly |
| Openly | Totally | Exactly |
| Truthfully | Undoubtedly | Precisely |
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Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding the suffix “-ed” (e.g., “walked”).
Irregular verbs are verbs that form their simple past and past participles in some way other than by adding the suffix “-ed” (e.g., “sat”).
There are many ways to categorize verbs into various types. A verb can fall into one or more of these categories depending on how it is used.
Some of the main types of verbs are:
Cardinal numbers (e.g., one, two, three) can be placed before a noun to indicate quantity (e.g., one apple). While these are sometimes referred to as “numeral adjectives,” they are more accurately categorized as determiners or quantifiers.
There are many ways to categorize adjectives into various types. An adjective can fall into one or more of these categories depending on how it is used.
Some of the main types of adjectives are:
Indirect quotation means reporting what someone said (or wrote) but not using their exact words. It’s similar to paraphrasing, but it only involves changing enough words to fit the statement into your sentence grammatically (e.g., changing the tense or the pronouns).
Since some of the words have changed, indirect quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks.
Quotes within quotes are punctuated differently to distinguish them from the surrounding quote.
Make sure to close both sets of quotes!
The use of single and double quotation marks when quoting differs between US and UK English. In US English, you must use double quotation marks. Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.
In UK English, it’s most common to use single quotation marks, with double quotation marks for quotes within quotes, although the other way around is acceptable too.
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