Belief bias refers to the tendency to evaluate the strength of an argument based on its plausibility. Instead of considering the validity of the argument itself, we rely on our prior knowledge and beliefs. In other words, if an argument aligns with our beliefs, we tend to accept it.
As a result of belief bias, we often fall for “believable” arguments and reject “unbelievable” ones without properly examining whether they are valid.
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief about a future outcome that helps to bring about its own fulfillment. This happens because the unconscious expectations that we hold can influence our actions and ultimately cause the initial prediction to become true.
Self-fulfilling prophecies can be either negative or positive and can influence outcomes in various contexts, such as education, healthcare, and work.
Stative verbs describe a state or condition that is stable or unlikely to change (e.g., “ know,” “feel,” “believe”).
Stative verbs usually refer to thoughts, emotions, or senses that the subject of the sentence is experiencing. Stative verbs are often contrasted with action verbs or dynamic verbs, which describe the action that the subject is performing (e.g., “run,” “find,” “make”).
A base word is the most fundamental part of a word that has meaning. The meaning of a base word can be changed by adding letters at the beginning (prefix) and/or the end (suffix). However, base words can also be used as standalone words in English.
For example, the word “untrained” has three parts:
prefix base word suffix
“Train” is the base word (i.e., the smallest part of the word that makes sense by itself and cannot be further divided). The prefix “un-” adds a negative meaning to the word, and the suffix “-ed” means “characterized by.” The word “train” is also the base for other words like “trainee,” “trainer,” or “training.”
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, feelings, and behaviors to inanimate objects, nonhuman animals, or nature. Anthropomorphism can occur consciously or unconsciously and is a common way people perceive the world.
Although anthropomorphic thinking is an innate human tendency, it can cause us to misunderstand natural phenomena or animal behavior.
A root word is the most basic form of a word that cannot be further divided into meaningful segments. Root words are used to form new words by adding letters at the beginning (i.e., a prefix) and/or the end (i.e., a suffix).
For example, the word “unfaithful” is made up of these different parts:
prefix root word suffix
By adding a suffix and/or a prefix to a root word like “faith,” we can make other words such as “faithful,” “faithfully,” “unfaithful,” and “unfaithfully.” These words are linked both in terms of spelling and meaning and are called a word family.
Contractions are words or phrases that have been shortened by omitting one or more letters. Typically, you can identify a contraction by the apostrophe that is used to indicate the place of the missing letters.
Contractions, which are sometimes called “short forms,” are commonly used in everyday speech and certain types of writing to save us time and space.
Title case is a capitalization style or convention used for writing the titles of published works.
A capitalization style defines which words or letters should be written in uppercase and which ones should be written in lowercase. In title case, the first letter of each word in the title should be capitalized except for certain small words like “a,” “the,” and “of.”
Title case is used for capitalizing the words in a title, subtitle, or heading. It’s commonly used in newspaper headlines, as well as the titles of books, movies, and video games. Due to this, title case is also known as “headline style.”
Sentence case is a capitalization style or set of rules describing when to use lowercase and uppercase letters in headings and subheadings. Whether you are writing a research paper, a blog, or a newspaper article, you may have to decide which words need to be capitalized.
In English, the standard is to capitalize the first letter of a sentence. All other letters should be in lowercase with a few exceptions, such as proper nouns (e.g., “Texas”), abbreviations (e.g., “Dr.”), and acronyms (e.g., “NATO”). Because this style follows the same capitalization rules as sentences, it is called “sentence case.”