Earlier today I came across a tweet that argued against the use of the word back in the phrase some years back. Tweeter Darlink (@NW6Rd) stated: “While standing on the platform some years back…” No. ‘ago’ ‘some years AGO’ #grammar I love adpositions, of which a postposition like back is a subcategory. As a closed, […] More
Yesterday I introduced my 5-year-old to the words <talk> and <walk>. He knows that graphemes can spell sounds, specifically that <l> can spell [l]. But he also knows that letters can perform other functions. Some letters are zeroed. Others are markers. The letter <l> can function as an etymological marker. Both <talk> and <walk> (along […] More
Yesterday I posted on my social media about the spelling of the word <broad>. I just introduced the <oa> grapheme to my 5-year-old. The digraph <oa> typically spells the phone [oʊ] as in <oak>, <boat>, <soap>, <road>, and <hoax>. So why does the <broad> spell [bɹɔd] (or [bɹɑd] in Englishes with the cot-caught merger)? The […] More
I always misspell the word <relevant> as <*relavant> based on a thinking that <relevant> is related to <relative>. I recently decided to look up <relevant> to do a word study in the hopes of teaching myself the correct spelling. If SWI could help me remember the spelling of <tomorrow> by learning that <To + Morrow […] More
<*tion> is not an English suffix. I repeat: <*tion> is not an English suffix. I previously wrote a post entitled The -ion Suffix, Connecting Vowel <i>, and Phonological Markers in which I explain the reason that only <ion> is a suffix. To avoid repeating myself again, I suggest reading my original post first before continuing […] More
I grew up in the 1990s. I entered kindergarten in 1990 and began learning to read that year. Phonics and sight words still stick out for me. I remember being handed lists of “sight words” to learn to read and spell. I would ask questions like “why is X spelled ABC?” The only answers I […] More
You never know where a word study will take you. A while back, my oldest and I did a word study on <cat>. While looking the base up in multiple online dictionaries, I noticed that <cat> is also a street name for a drug called <methcathinone>, which I looked up and discovered is also called […] More
How long do you think people have been sending Christmas cards? If you guessed “not that long,” then you are right. In the history of the holiday, the Christmas card is a modern invention. The first attested date of Christmas celebrated on December 25 was in 336 during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the first […] More
<Anxi> ”uneasy, troubled in mind” from Latin anxius Note: The base is <anxi>. The <i> is part of the base because two connecting vowels cannot occur in a row. Anxi + e + ty -> anxiety Anxi + e + ty + es -> anxieties Anxi + ous -> anxious Anxi + ous + ly […] More
If you have ever browsed my About Us page, you will know that I earned a BA in English studies with a minor in creative writing in May 2007 from Illinois State University, an MS in library and information science in May 2009 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MS in English […] More
Back at the end of July, I investigated the words <add> and <addition>. I undercovered the base <d>, but I misidentified the meaning. As Gina Cooke of Linguistic Educators Exchange pointed out to me on Twitter, at least two distinct <d> base elements exist. The words <add> and <addition> come from the PIE root *do- […] More
I recently came across a tweet in a Twitter conversation that argued that studying morphemes is not always helpful. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. All words consist of at least one morpheme. As a structured word inquirer, I clearly think studying morphemes is helpful, and the example of <reply> […] More
<stude> “learn, examine, show zeal for” from Old French estudiier, from Medieval Latin studiare, from Latin studium “study, application,” originally “eagerness,” from studere “to be diligent” Words Sums Stude + y -> study Stude + y + es -> studies Stude + y + ed -> studied Stude + y + ing -> studying Out […] More
After returning from a two-week family vacation last weekend, I found my sleep schedule completely messed up. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, I decided to peruse linguistics Twitter. I came upon a tweet from fellow word inquirer Sally Cole asking if <add> and <*addit> are twin bases. I quickly fell down a word […] More
<marsupe> “purse, pouch” from Modern Latin marsupialis “having a pouch,” coined from Late Latin marsupium “pouch, purse” Word Sums Marsupe + i + um -> marsupium Marsupe + i + a -> marsupia Marsupe + i + al -> marsupial Marsupe + i + al + s -> marsupials Marsupe + i + al + […] More
To begin, -*tion, -*sion, -*cion, and -*xion are not suffixes. Only -ion is a suffix. A suffix is a bound morpheme that attaches to the end of the stem of a word to form either a new word or a new form of the same word. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of […] More
<galact> “milk, milky” from Greek gala (genitive galaktos, stem galakt-) “milk” Word Sums Galact + ic -> galactic Extra + Galact + ic -> extragalactic inter + Galact + ic -> intergalactic intra + Galact + ic -> intragalactic meta + Galact + ic -> metagalactic pan + Galact + ic -> pangalactic trans + […] More
Notional grammars traditionally verbs as “words that denote actions and states of being.” A verb phrase consists of a verb plus any auxiliary verbs, particles, modifiers, complements, and objects. In grammar, an adjunct adverbial is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes an entire clause by providing additional information about time, place, manner, […] More
<cat> “feline” from Old English catt Words Sums Cat Cat + s -> cats Cat + ed -> catted Cat + ing -> catting Cat + y -> catty Cat + y + er -> cattier Cat + y + est -> cattiest Cat + Bird -> catbird Cat + Bird + s -> catbirds […] More
As I have written many times before, the line between grammatical forms is blurry at best, especially among lexical categories like adjectives and verbs. Adjectives are “words that describe nouns.” Verbs are “words that denote actions, occurrences, and states.” Participles are nonfinite verbs that share characteristics and functions of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. A present […] More
