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The Real Reason Shy Toddlers Speak Late
Toddlers who don't talk much may not necessarily have a language delay, new research finds. Shy kids understand words, but when spoken to, they may clam up instead of speaking up.The study is a step...
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Here's Why We Pronounce 'Kansas' And 'Arkansas' Differently
Two state names, Arkansas and Kansas, share all but two letters in the exactly the same order. So why do we pronounce them differently?We can thank the French. Arkansas was named for the French plural...
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15 Annoying Grammatical Mistakes That People Always Make
We've already written about the most common grammatical mistakes, but to find out what word-related wrongdoing really irks people, we turned to the Internet. Quora and Reddit users started two similar...
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6 Reasons Why Everyone Should Really Learn Spanish
We've read the arguments for learning French, but let's be honest: Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or any other language with growing global importance would be a better choice.Spanish may be the...
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A Growing Number Of Firms Worldwide Are Adopting English As Their Official...
YANG YUANQING, Lenovo's boss, hardly spoke a word of English until he was about 40: he grew up in rural poverty and read engineering at university.But when Lenovo bought IBM's personal-computer...
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Why Saying 'I'm Good' Is Correct, And Anyone Who Says Otherwise Is A Fool
If anyone has ever scolded you for responding "I'm good" to "how are you?"— they're wrong.The myth — that you should really say "I'm well"— relies on the idea that modifying a verb requires an adverb....
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Why Ukraine Isn't 'The Ukraine,' And Why That Matters Now
Chances are if you find yourself talking about the ongoing protests in Kyiv, you'll slip up and refer to the country in which Kyiv is situated as "the Ukraine."It's an understandable mistake, perhaps —...
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This Chart Shows How Often We Swear On Twitter — Which Is A Lot
Considering how many people use Twitter on a daily basis, chances are you’ve come across people who swear on it quite a lot, but how often does it actually happen?Four researchers from Wright State...
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23 Sentence Diagrams That Show The Brilliance Of Famous Novels' Opening Lines
In their magna opera, famous authors have written some of the most beautiful and well-known lines in literature. Elements like word order, vocabulary, and grammatical construction give these sentences...
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13 Wonderful Old English Words We Should Still Be Using Today
As the years pass, language evolves.Since the days of Chaucer and Shakespeare, we can all agree English has become less flowery.Some fantastic vocabulary just dropped out of everyday...
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13 Common Spelling Mistakes — And How To Avoid Them
As a whole, English makes absolutely no sense. That becomes particularly evident in spelling.Consider the fictitious word "ghoti," an often cited example of English's confusing sounds. "Ghoti"...
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How To Learn A Foreign Language In 3 Months
Benny Lewis speaks six languages fluently."French and Spanish, English, German, and Brazilian Portuguese..." he ticks them off for me. "And Esperanto."That last one is a made-up language, or a...
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Why A Dollar Is Called A 'Buck'
As with many etymologies, the exact root of this word is difficult to say with one hundred percent certainty. However, the leading theory is extremely plausible and backed up by a fair bit of...
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What's The Most Beautiful Word In The English Language?
What's the most beautiful word in the English language? Different people, using various criteria, will give a slew of answers.Surveying more than 7,000 English speakers in 46 countries, the British...
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Grammar Snobs Lost A Big Fight About The Distinction Between ‘Over’ And ‘More...
At the American Copy Editors Society's annual conference this week, the Associated Press issued a decision that made journalists gasp: Writers can use "over" to compare quantities rather than "more...
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Here's What 'OK' Really Means
We use it to describe how we're feeling, if we agree, or even just to start a sentence — the word "OK."But what do these two letters really mean, and why do we use them so often?One theory claims OK...
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Everyone Totally Misinterprets Robert Frost's Most Famous Poem
Happy 140th birthday, Robert Frost — you're totally misunderstood.But most people don't realize the great American poet was being ironic when he famously wrote that taking the road less traveled "made...
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5 Reasons Why Learning Japanese Is Easier Than You Think
It seems whenever a list of the most difficult languages to learn is released, Japanese sits near or at the top. We can see why, as the language does have quirks and peculiarities that can occasionally...
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11 Surprising Words You're Probably Mispronouncing
With all its accents and dialects, the English language naturally includes variation in sound. But sometimes people just flat out mispronounce words. Take a look at these 11 examples. We bolded the...
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