Study English Grammar » different meaning

When Should You Use ‘Allot’, ‘A Lot’ and ‘Alot’?

Study English Grammar — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:06:54 +0000

If you want to be a pro at English grammar, you need to have basic grammatical skills. Instead of just being important for the examinations that test the subject, grammatical skills are also relevant in the way you communicate to others. In fact, spellings are more important for written tests and evaluations. If you are into a job that requires business writing to be done, you should be specific about the cases that require using words like ‘allot’, ‘a lot’ and ‘a lot’.

For instance you are typing a paper, and you write the word ‘alot’. There is a little red line that appears, but you are clueless about whether you should choose ‘a lot’ or ‘allot’.

‘Allot’

This is a word that means ‘to divide’, ‘accord’, ‘administer’, ‘dispense’, ‘distribute’ or ‘give out’. Here’s an example of using the word in a sentence: “They allotted six square feet space per family”. You must have guessed by now that the word ‘allot’ is used to refer to divide, apportion or grant something. “The raffle tickets were allotted to the class”.

‘A... Read more...

‘Hyphen’ and ‘Dash’ Clash

Study English Grammar — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:34:34 +0000

Always remember ‘Hyphen’ is never a ‘dash’ or the vice versa. Actually when we go on discussing on word processing applications we have to keep in mind the symbols, hyphens, em-dashes, en-dashes. These symbols may look alike but there is acute difference between the two when we actually take into consideration the perfect usages.

Hyphens are small lines that are horizontal in shape. En-dashes are a bit longer than the hyphens and are regarded the width of ‘n’. Where as ‘m’ dashes are a slightly larger than the ‘n’ dashes and are the width of the particular letter ‘m’. These symbols are used to join the parts of the sentence. It is specific that ‘hyphen’ joins adjectives and words. It is the en- dash that connects the ranges. Finally em dash connects thoughts that are related.

When we use numerical letters we use en dash. For example we write “4 – 6 months” Again when try to use a dash in the sense of parenthetical form of punctuation we may use the dash quite frequently.

When we try to use a dash we need to br... Read more...

Grammar should be given importance in Business Communications

Study English Grammar — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 04:11:25 +0000

Many people have a belief that when it comes to business communication it is not very important to maintain correct grammar. But that is not the truth. Even in business communication it is important that you use the right grammar at the right place. This is because the business communication which you send to your clients tells a lot about your educational background. If the communication which you make with the clients reveals that you do not have a proper educational background the chances are high that you will not be taken seriously. In the recent years the importance of written communication has increased with the emergence of e-mails and web pages. Thus it can be said that an organization which has employees who are expert in written communication has a competitive edge over other organizations.

In the first place you need to find out whether the correspondence which you make is error free. But spelling check and usage of correct grammar has become easier with the emergence of computers. But sometimes your writing might be such that it shows that you are really slack and disinterested. Never should you have such an appr... Read more...

The Homonym Riddle

Study English Grammar — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:02:15 +0000

It is known to all that the English language has many words that may seem to you confusing enough. You may wonder to find that some words have the same sound and same spelling but the amusing thing is that they offer you different meaning that may stun you every now and then. Amid many words, the words that may bring before you the great dilemma are “Advise” and “Advice”. I may offer you some idea so that you can easily solve the spelling and meaning riddles.

You may note that the two words have the exact pronunciation yet there is a bit difference in the placement of a letter in the same position. The two words “Advice” and “Advise” are interrelated; still the mystery lies in the perfect usage of the two words. You have to watch keenly how you use the words in a sentence and how they make a sharp difference in the meaning of the sentences.

You would be glad to know that the two words are etymologically same. They are derived from a French phrase that is “ce mest a vis” that means “I seem” or “in my opinion”. The phrase is used to express one’s perception according ... Read more...

How to spell words-alike correctly

Study English Grammar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:56:40 +0000

English is a fantastic language that many of us have a great desire to learn and to speak in English. But many of us find it hard to speak English correctly because of pronunciation of the words. Many words in English are pronounced alike with different spelling. This mispronunciation of words makes it hard to identify the words when someone speaks. This also makes us to misspell the words.

In English some sounds like “t” are silent which comes at the end of word. This makes the chance of misspell the word. For example, let us consider the word “start”, many of us does not spell the “t” sound, which is at the end of the word, this makes the listener hard to identify the spoken word, he might understand the word as “star” which is also a valid word. This affects the meaning of the sentence.

Let us see another example “read”, we can use this word in past tense, present tense as well as future tense. While we use this word in past tense we pronounce it as “red” and when we use the same word in present or future tense we pronounce it as “read”. Hence, based on the sentence we have to pronounce t... Read more...

Grammar – Omission of Letters or Contraction

Study English Grammar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:20:52 +0000

We use the apostrophe mark to indicate the omission in a standard contraction. We’d better explain the rule about this in some detail as this is where a good deal of the chaos over punctuation starts. If we had to identify one area that creates problems for students, it would be this idea of contractions – that is, where a word is shortened and an apostrophe is used to indicate this.

It’s
The first point to repeat is that the apostrophe has two different functions. One, as we have seen above at great length, is for the possessive case; It is Jane’s book. But then the apostrophe is also used in a different way with a different meaning when we use it to indicate a contraction. The most famous contraction, and the one that sinks a thousand exam scripts, is when, instead of writing it is, we write it’s. Here the apostrophe signals that the two words it and is have been contracted into one word and that a letter has been omitted: it’s, then, means it is, or, in some cases, it has, as in: It’s been raining here all day.

Its
Many students know this, but then, often without... Read more...