Answers

Does punctuation go inside or outside of quotation marks?

We use quotation marks in English in several situations:

• when quoting exactly what someone said or wrote

  He said, "Don't bother cooking dinner for me."

• when naming the title of an article, song, TV episode, etc.

  I sang a song I wrote called "Only Once".

• when writing about a word or...

Why don't I use the English that I've learned?

A reader asked me this question:

When English speakers ask me something, my response always contains the same old vocabulary and phrases. Instead of using new English that I've learned, I always go back to the simple way of saying things. How can I stop doing that?

So how can you make yourself...

What's the difference between "jail" and "prison"?

Do you know the difference between the words "jail" and "prison"? Learning the difference can teach you not only about these words, but about other words related to crime, courts, and punishment as well.

The meaning of "jail"

If you get arrested, the police take you to a jail. Jails are operated...

Should I use "Can I", "Could I", or "May I"?

A student sent me a question about how to ask for permission in English:

I have a question about when to use "Can I...?", "Could I...?", or "May I..."to ask someone for permission. For example, If I(a student) asked you (the teacher) to do something, should I use "Could I...?" instead of...

What's the difference between 'small' and 'little'?

This is a question that I answered on Quora.com. Someone asked "What is the difference between 'small' and 'little'?" Here is what I wrote:

This english.stackexchange page has a detailed discussion of the difference between 'little' and 'small': Difference between "little"...