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Concise explanations for writing and communicating in the English language. No advertising. Mobile-friendly. Feedback welcome! Enjoy!

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Semicolons

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that writers should “not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.” He might have been right. It seems exceedingly unlikely that anyone in the history of...

Sentence Structure: For and Since

Use “for” and “since” with perfect tenses to talk about the duration of events which began in the past and continue until the reference point. Be careful to use the correct one for what you want to focus on: the length of time or the beginning.

Silver Linings Playbook – Credit for the Original Author?

Silver Linings Playbook is a huge cultural event. Are your students fans? Do they know it is based on a novel by the same name? Activity Summary: Set up a discussion of attribution; should Bradley Cooper and David O. Russell give more credit to Matthew...

100 Irregular Verbs in English

English has lots of different verbs that don't follow the same rules as other verbs. This is because English has changed a lot over time, and has mixed with other languages.  English used to have two ways of making past verbs. One (that we still have today) is by...

Verb Usage: Present perfect progressive vs. present progressive

These two tenses have some overlap in use, but a difference in emphasis. Present perfect focuses on what has been completed, while present perfect progressive emphasizes that the action has not yet been completed.

Balancing Repetition and Variety

As you learn to write in English, you will learn how to balance repetition and variety, to ensure cohesion. One strategy to accomplish this purpose is to vary the way you refer to people and things. After the first reference to a noun form, you can refer to it with pronouns and demonstratives until the topic changes.

Modal Verbs – an Overview

Modal verbs can be used for a number of purposes, including giving advice, making requests, and expressing degrees of certainty. The grammar of modals is fairly simple, but the vocabulary can be confusing, because many of the same modals are used for several different purposes.

Syntax: Active Causative Verbs

Causative verbs are used to show that someone/something causes a second someone/something to do an action.
The most common causatives are make, have, let, get, and help. There are many others that are used less frequently. Choosing the correct causative for a situation may mean choosing the difference between two ways of looking at the same situation.

Future Tense Verbs for ESL Learners

English doesn't have a way to conjugate future tense verbs. Rather, it uses different auxiliary words and tenses to indicate that an event takes place in the future.  Future Simple Tense One way to form the future tense is with the modal verb "will." This is...

Nouns – Overview for ESL Learners

Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. There are several types of nouns in English, including common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. Types of Nouns Common nouns are general words that refer to people, places,...

Verb Usage: Present simple vs. present progressive

In English, we use the present perfect to describe things that are happening currently. We use the present simple for habits and actions that are repeated frequently, and for states. These two tenses can be used together.

Parallel Structure

Learn to use parallel structures in your sentences for emphasis and sentence variety.

Noun Usage: Countable and noncountable nouns

All nouns in English are either countable or noncountable, and this affects how they are quantified and whether they can be made plural. Many abstract nouns, used to talk about ideas, are noncountable. This issue relates to subject-verb agreement, rules of article use, and the vocabulary used for quantifiers.

Word Form: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

  Use a comparative adjective when you are writing about the difference between two of something. Use a superlative adjective when you are writing about three or more of something. Comparative and superlative adjectives usually take "-er"/"est" suffixes if they...

Stillness

Quick overview of non-verbal mistakes when presenting – and how to avoid them.

Homophones

Because English is a hybrid language of Old German, Latin (via French), some Greek, and a smattering of others, there are a few words that have different meanings, but sound the same. We call these words “homophones” and they can be very confusing for people learning...

Apostrophes

It’s sometimes difficult to know with an apostrophe where its proper place is. The answer is that you put an apostrophe in a word to show that letters have been left out. We call these words “contractions” and we use them a lot in daily speech. If you have trouble...

How to Cite AI Generated Content with APA, CMS, and MLA Style Guidelines

In academic writing, any work that is not of your own original creation must have its source cited. While AI-generated content isn't attributable to an individual, the fact that it is not something you came up with requires documentation. Fortunately, the major style...

The Secret to Eye Contact

“Make eye contact” isn’t very useful advice or criticism. Most of use know we should be making eye contact, not looking at the ceiling or the floor. But how? Learn some concrete tactics to help you fake it until you can make it for real.

Verb Usage: Subject-verb agreement

Subject-verb agreement can be an issue in any sentence in English. Verbs need to be conjugated to their nouns, and this can become more complicated when grammatical subjects become longer and more complicated. Additionally, some nouns can cause confusion about whether they are singular or plural.

ARGUMENT

ARGUMENT AND RHETORIC - THE KEY TO MOST ACADEMIC WRITING!

One of the largest challenges to moving from high school writing to more advanced work is the challenge to write something original. This doesn’t mean you have to invent some whole new theory of life, the universe, and everything. Rather, it means you have to make your reader think.

You can’t just regurgitate a bunch of facts from the internet or your class notes. So how do you turn the general idea of “Holden Caulfield is alienated from his community” into something original? Something that hasn’t been written about hundreds of times already?

Read on Macduff…

USING EVIDENCE

Using Evidence to Win the Day

After developing an original, argumentative thesis, using evidence well is the key to academic writing. Dirty secret: many readers (yes, including teachers) will forgive grammatical errors if you’ve got a compelling argument, have thought deeply about the right evidence to use, and analyze that evidence.

The two are inseparable, really. If you think deeply about evidence – whether key quotes from the novel you are reading or statistics on the subject of your research paper – chances are an interesting, original angle will dawn on you…

style

Write with Style

What does it mean to write with style? Particularly in an academic environment?

It doesn’t mean:

  • Using big words
  • Padding your writing to reach word/page minimums
  • Picking the right font

Writing teachers joke that “flow” is the “other four-letter ‘F’ word” because students use it as such a grab bag catch-all…

Writing style is difficult to articulate. If you’ve ever listened to a master comedian parse what makes something funny you’re in the right ball park.

The good news? Style in academic writing has some pretty concrete and, honestly, low barriers to entry.

grammar and mechanics

put your best foot forward

Grammar and Mechanics includes punctuation, proof-reading, and sentence structure. By the time you are in advanced writing class, little attention will be paid to teaching these basics – you’ll be assumed to know them. And if you don’t? Goofing up relatively simple grammatical issues is the equivalent to showing up to school in your underwear. You might just get away with it if you’re a genius…

Research & documentation

MLA, APA, Rules Rules Rules...

Research is crucial for writers trying to argue a point and be judged as credible. Including quality research, in the age of Google and Wikipedia, is often one of the most challenging aspects to writers moving into advanced high school and college work. Crucial concepts include:

  • Developing quality sources
  • Citing information properly
  • Creating accurate Works Cited pages

Presentation Skills

Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are crucial to success in today’s business world. While details change a lot from company to company and culture to culture, many skills are consistent: eye contact, slide design, handling questions.

Resumes & Cover Letters

Get a great gig with a differentiated resume

Fantastic tips and insights on writing modern, relevant resumes from 11trees’ partner Let’s Eat, Grandma – a resume writing and career coaching startup based in Austin, TX.