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Tips, insights, and updates about English learning
was / were / went / said, came: Common words you see every day that actually hide high-frequency irregular past tense verbs
You already know words like was, were, went, said, and came, but did you realize they are actually in the past tense? This article pulls out the irregular past tense verbs hidden in common words all at once, complete with a base-form comparison table and identification tips to help you stop getting stuck when speaking in the past tense.
i before e, except after c: Is This Old Spelling Rule Actually Accurate?
The "i before e, except after c" rule you've memorized for years is actually only half right. This article fills in the key condition (it only counts when it sounds like "ee"), clearly explaining why we use ei after c (ceiling, receive) and ie elsewhere (believe, field). We also list four must-memorize exceptions—weird, seize, foreign, and protein—along with spelling tips and right-vs-wrong examples, so you'll never have to rely on luck again.
ee or ea, oo or ou: The Most Effortless Way to Remember Spellings That Sound Identical
The vowels in feel and meal are exactly the same, so why is one spelled ee and the other ea? Both food and soup are pronounced /uː/, yet their spellings are completely different. To be honest, there are no reliable rules for these spelling combinations, but a system of "memorizing in groups + trying oo first" can save you from a lot of guessing. Part of the "Learning Vocabulary Through Word Analysis" series.
accommodation: How Many C's and M's? Group and Memorize the Double-Consonant Words That Trip You Up the Most
Does accommodation actually have two c's, two m's, or just one of each? Almost all of the most commonly misspelled words in English trip people up on "double consonants." This article strings them together into five groups—cc, mm, ss, rr, and ll. Combined with identification tips and right-versus-wrong examples, you will master notoriously difficult words like accommodation, recommend, and necessary once and for all, and never hesitate when writing again.
pre- (Before), post- (After), re- (Again): Expand a Whole Batch of Vocabulary at Once with 'Directional Prefixes'
The beginnings of many long words actually hide a sense of direction like 'before, after, above, below, between, again'. By learning these eight directional prefixes—pre-, post-, re-, sub-, super-, inter-, over-, and under-—you can instantly guess the meanings of words like preview, postpone, and rebuild when you see them. This is the fourth article in the 'Learning Vocabulary by Deconstructing Words' series, complete with a handy directional comparison chart you can save.
Don't Panic When Seeing New Words: 3 Steps to Guess Meanings by Breaking Down Prefixes and Suffixes
Many intimidatingly long words are actually made up of small building blocks. Once you learn to break a word down into three parts—prefix, root, and suffix—you can guess its general meaning without looking it up in the dictionary. This is the first article in our "Learning Vocabulary by Breaking Down Words" series, guiding you through 3 steps to unlock a whole host of new vocabulary.
5 High-Frequency Roots: Recognize port, dict, vis, scrib, and struct to Unlock Whole Clusters of Words at Once
Do you always memorize vocabulary only to forget it? Actually, many English words look similar because they share the same 'root'. This article will introduce you to 5 ultra-high-frequency roots: port, dict, vis, scrib, and struct. Each root is like a key that unlocks 5 or 6 words at once, allowing you to memorize words by 'families' from now on—making the process faster and much more permanent.
there / their / they're and to / two / too: The Most Commonly Misspelled Homophones, and One Trick to Instantly Tell Them Apart
They sound the same but are easy to get wrong—there/their/they're and to/two/too are some of the trickiest homophones among common words. This article compiles the most easily confused groups from the word list, giving you a meaning-based memory trick for each set so you can choose the right one in a split second and never hesitate about which one to use again.