Yes, you can end an English sentence with a preposition. Sentences such as “Who are you talking to?” and “That is the topic we spoke about” are natural, standard English.
Can you end an English sentence with a preposition? Read More »
That tiny dot above a lowercase i or j has a name: it is a tittle. The term is rare in everyday conversation, but it has been part of English for centuries.
What is the dot over an i or j called? Read More »
The English word actual and the Dutch word actueel look as though they should match. They do not. This false friend regularly produces sentences that are grammatical but mean something quite different from what the speaker intended.
Actual does not mean actueel Read More »
The English word apron once began with an n. People used to say a napron, but the boundary between the article and the noun gradually moved: a napron became an apron.
Why an apron was once a napron Read More »
The word queue contains five letters but is pronounced exactly like the single letter Q: /kjuː/. The remaining four letters appear to be waiting quietly behind it, which is pleasingly appropriate for a queue.
Why does queue have four silent letters? Read More »
Goodbye feels like one of the most ordinary words in English, but it began as something much more elaborate: a blessing meaning “God be with you.”
How “God be with ye” became goodbye Read More »
Eventually and the Dutch word eventueel look temptingly similar. Unfortunately, they do not mean the same thing. This is a classic false friend, and it can change the message of an otherwise perfectly good sentence.
Eventually does not mean eventueel Read More »
Why does colonel sound like kernel? Discover how English kept an older pronunciation even after the spelling changed.
Why is “colonel” pronounced like “kernel”? Read More »
