PhraseMix Articles
Is "I'm loving it" correct grammar?
A few years ago, McDonalds restaurants started a TV commercial campaign with the slogan:
"I'm lovin' it."
Some people complained that it was bad grammar. Traditionally, "love" has been used as a stative verb. Stative verbs (such as "like", "want", "smell", and "feel") are not used...
What's the difference between "care about" and "care for"?
The phrases "care about" and "care for" each have several meanings The best way to learn them is with some examples.
Care for
I didn't care for that movie.
"I don't care for ___" means that you don't like something. You usually use this when you're talking about food, movies, or something bad...
What is the difference between "salary" and "wage"?
Generally, people who get paid a "salary" get their money monthly, and get the same amount each month. A salary usually doesn't change based on the number of hours you work.
If you get paid a "salary", you usually say things like "I make $30,000 a year."
If you get paid a wage, it usually...
What is the difference between a "distant family member" and an "extended family member"?
An extended family member is anyone other than your:
- mother/father
- husband/wife
- children
- brothers & sisters
Uncles, aunts, grandparents, nieces and nephews are all "extended family".
"Distant family" is extended family that's quite separated from you, such as your...
Why you shouldn't focus on the differences between words and phrases.
People really seem to like it when I point out differences between words or phrases. This morning I sent out a Twitter message about my recent post, "I'll just be glad when it's over." The message I sent out got a lot of response - people re-tweeted it and wrote back about it, and about twice as...
Watch out for unnatural translations!
The other day I saw some discussion on a language forum about a project called "Tatoeba". This is a site where users are creating multi-language translations of example sentences. If you register for the site, you can write translations of sentences from one language into another. I signed up,...
How to memorize the phrases
I keep going on and on about how important it is to memorize phrases and other pieces of language in order to become fluent. But I realize that I haven't written much on how you memorize something.
Here's the secret to memorizing phrases: TRY to remember them.
It sounds so simple, and in fact it...
Sometimes rules don't help.
The other day on Lang-8, I answered a post about when to use "it" vs. "that". I think the distiction this poster was asking about is the type of difference that
- takes a long and complicated explanation
- has a lot of exceptions to the rule
- doesn't cause much confusion when used differently from...
A funny list of "True Meanings of Common Idioms"
One of my favorite entrepreneurship blogs, A Smart Bear, posted a list of "The True Meaning of Common Idioms". Check them out - they're good for a laugh.
I've seen lists like this before - comical explanations of what certain phrases "really" mean. A quick example:
"To be perfectly honest with...
Why Memorize? My theory of "hook phrases"
I want to expand a little more on why I think memorization is so important for lanuage learning.
What is memorization exactly? It's different from simply "remembering" something. When you "memorize" information, you focus on it and repeat it over and over. That's how kids learn to say the...
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