This Week’s Grammar Mailbox Question: Economic or Economical? “Economic” and “economical”, though both adjectives, are NOT synonyms (= having the same meaning). Economic (adjective): Related to the economy, finances, money matters orRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox Question Comes from a Year 2 BMSIM Student: What is the difference between ‘at’ and ‘in’? AT –AT describes position at a specific point. It’s very cold at theRead More…
Dear Students, On 26th, 27th and 30th October, Mr Benjamin Chadwick will not be available for consultations at the English Language Centre. However, staff from the English Department will be on dutyRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: Lay or lie? Lay, as a transitive verb (vt), means to put or place. It takes a direct object. Lie, as an intransitive verb (vi), means toRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: Fewer or Less? Use fewer when referring to COUNTABLE nouns in the plural. e.g. Fewer students are choosing language-related subjects nowadays. Use less when referring to UNCOUNTABLE nouns or nouns thatRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: What is wrong with this sentence? “Everyone came to our Christmas party and brought their favourite cake.” The problem is related to singular indefinite pronouns TheRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: How does affect differ from effect? The answer is actually fairly straightforward. Affect is a verb that means “to influence.” Though effect can be a verbRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: What are some of the most commonly misspelt words in English? Hurray for auto spell-checkers! Still, over-reliance on such tools may cause us to lose the fundamentalRead More…
The English Language Centre has previously worked together with members of Shax Theatre Group, based at the Unversity of Hong Kong. They have recently been in touch with us to ask ifRead More…
This Week’s Grammar Mailbox question is: What is the difference between “some day” and “someday”? Some day? Someday? “Someday”, an adverb, refers to an unspecified time in the future. E.g. Someday, I willRead More…