You probably won’t be amazed if I tell you that the past simple and past participle forms of regular verbs in English are formed by adding -d or -ed. You also wouldn’t be very surprised if I told you that that E is usually silent, except when it follows a T or D (e.g. contrast commenced and finished with started and ended).
What about a word like beloved then? Continue reading
Feeling disoriented? Well if it’s early in the morning, just look for where the sun’s rising, and face that way, and then you’ll be oriented again. Quite literally. Continue reading
Lovely, isn’t it? In Italian of course, it’s Napoli. And while the English and Italian names for the city are quite similar, I’ve often wondered: why does Naples have an S at the end of it? Continue reading
People.
For practical purposes, people is basically always right. Except for those few times when persons is right… Continue reading
It’s spelled counsel, of course. Look, I could easily write a lot of words about how stupid Donald Trump is. Mostly because it’s true. But instead, let’s have a look at why the poor man has such trouble with the word counsel.
Q is unique among the letters of the English alphabet in that it always has to be partnered with another letter (not counting loanwords like Quran, Qatar, and Iraq).
Why does it always have to be followed by a U? Continue reading
Or, get in line, if you’re of an American persuasion.
Queue is an interesting word. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 