Whitesmoke Vs Grammarly – Which One Should You Buy?

Whitesmoke and Grammarly are two popular brands of writing software that all wordsmiths should have a copy of. Unfortunately, if you're like most writers, you probably even don't have the money to pay for one software.

Grammarly Vs. Whitesmoke The Showdown

This is the reason why you need to have a Whitesmoke vs Grammarly comparison to determine which one is best. We did some research and found some interesting differences that should matter to you. I found a very interesting article on edumuch.com that I felt really covered a lot of what I was trying to find out.

Grammarly has several distinct advantages over Whitesmoke, and vice versa.

Grammarly is really easy to use and it has a browser extension through which you can access it. But even if you don't have an internet connection, it is something that you can use offline.

On the other hand, Whitesmoke has a few nifty features you won't find in Grammarly. For one, it has a translator tool, and you can use it even on a mobile device like a tablet computer. But that's not all there is to it. If you're having problems writing a resume or a cover letter, you can use Whitesmoke's template and customize it. But perhaps the best feature of all which I really, really like is the software's updated thesauraus and dictionary support.

Now I really don't need to worry about repeating the same word over and over again in the same article just because I am at a loss for words. As we've spoken about in past posts, the English language is incredibly hard to master, having these tools in your belt make it much easier.

We're not going to tell you which software to buy, but we are going to tell you to test both software first before before deciding on which one to buy. Actually, you only ever need to buy Whitesmoke because it's the only one that has a price tag.

Grammarly is, thank God, free to use and you can use it to your heart's content, there are extra more in depth and amazing features that Grammarly has if you decide to go with the subscription.

What's your opinion?

Motti Eisenbach - Getting Up Close And Personal With Interjections

We had a sit down with an old friend of ours, Motti Eisenbach, to get his take on writing and essay composition.

Here's what he had to say.


     If one were to ask people walking randomly on the street what an “interjection” was, it can be assumed you would get mostly confounded responses. A small minority would likely have it stuck on the “tip of their tongues” and an even smaller minority might exclaim “Oh! I know this one!”


It has been said by every English teacher since the dawn of time that an interjection is simply a big word to describe a very simple idea. Interjections, in English, are the formal name given to the expression of exclaiming something in a given scenario. Interjections can be inquisitive, commanding, or even playful in nature.


In the literary sense, interjections are almost always written with an exclamation mark (!) at the end of their phrase. This is, of course, excepting the interrogative interjection which ends with a question mark (?) formally, or an interrobang (!? or ?!) informally. Interjections in English can appear at the beginning of a sentence, at the end of a sentence, or as their own clause, statement, or sentence fragment.


Examples of interjections in English would be as follows: Oh!, Wow!, and Amazing! Interrogative interjections would be things like: Really?, Oh?, and What!? A third class of interjections, called imperative interjections exist as well.


Imperative interjections are for issuing a command to someone who is, generally speaking, not in a position to refuse. This sort of language is also used in very heated scenarios, such as when arguing or fighting with a friend. Examples of imperative interjections (also called command interjections) are: Get out!, GO!, or Die!

When interjections are inserted into a sentence, such as in the example of the word “um”, they are said to have no grammatical connection to the sentence itself. To be clear, interjections when writing are quite rare outside of comic books and written fiction, or storytelling. They are certainly quite rare in any form of formal writing in English.


When compared to other grammatical constructions in the English language, interjections uniquely require a context to have meaning, and contain no meaning when standing on their own. An American slang interjection in the 1950s was “applesauce!” to say that what someone had said
previously was unbelievable, or to say that their statement stretched credulity.


Notice, if you would, that if one tried to bring this interjection back into fashion, it would be very difficult for anyone to understand its meaning without having it explained. In this way, interjections require a group effort to maintain their usefulness. If everyone in an area stopped using such unique interjections, they would lose their 'interjective' functions and would simply return to being words.

Notice proper use of an interjection in a recent newsworthy article by yahoo. 

Oh!

Don't forget to practice your interjections any time you get the chance. There are interjections for any situation; be it question or statement. One should never find themselves lost without an appropriate  interjection for any reason. Indeed the majority of our swear words began, and exist today, as interjections! Amazing!

ENGLISH GRAMMAR 101 - CLAUSES

     A clause is a group of words that contain a verb and a subject. You should be able to differentiate a clause from a phrase. A phrase is a group of words that are related and does not have any verb-subject relationship. An example of a phrase is - running to class. You can take an extra step and review all the kinds of phrases in the English language.


   
     Learning words that are used to classify and refer to clause can be challenging to some people. Clauses are categorized into dependent and independent clauses. This classification simply means there are some clauses that can create meaning on their own and others that can’t. A dependent clause can also be called a subordinate clause.

     An independent clause is simply a sentence that is complete. It contains a verb and a subject and together they are able to give a complete sentence in meaning and in context.

An example is:The door opened



Independent clauses can be joined together by a coordinating conjunction to come up with sentences that are called compound or complex sentences.

Coordinating conjunctions – and, but, for, so, nor, or and yet.

Example in a sentence: he opened the door ‘and’ the teacher walked in


A dependent clause is simply a part of a sentence. They contain a verb and a subject, but they cannot fully convey a thought that can be understood. They can make some sense on their own, but they require the other part of the sentence for them to have meaning and context. In most cases they are joined to independent clauses to come up with compound sentences.


Mostly dependent clauses start with subordinating conjunctions/relative pronouns – this makes it even harder for them to stand alone.

Subordinating conjunctions – although, as, because, even if, after, even though, wherever etc.

Example: the bottle broke ‘because’ the man kicked it.

Dependent clauses can play a number of roles – they can be adverbial, nominal or adjectival clauses. A nominal clause acts like the noun or a noun phrase in the sentence. It’s mostly a groups of word that contain a finite verb and a subject and contains: if | that | whether.

Example: we ‘wonder’ whether he went home.



Noun clauses will tend to answer the questions what? Who or whom?
An adverbial clause is a phrase in a sentence that acts like the adverb. It tell you more about how the action was done. An adverbial clause is separated from the others using some of the following subordinating conjunctions: until | unless | until | when | where | while | before | though | since etc.

Example: he will come to see you ‘before’ he drives.

Adverbial clauses can be placed in front of a main clause and the main meaning is maintained.

Example: before he drives, he will come to see you.

There are relative clauses that follow the noun they are modifying. They are mainly indicated using a relative pronoun – which is usually at the start of the sentence. You can also tell by just looking at the word order of the sentence.

Prepositions: Easy Tips For Correct Usage

From English students to fluent speakers, many people struggle with prepositions. A preposition is something that explains the relationship between different words in a sentence. For example, if you had the words "I am" and "the restaurant," you could use the preposition "in" to show that you are in the restaurant.

Sometimes, people don't know how to choose the right preposition for the sentence. In other situations, people don't know where they should place the preposition. It's a good idea to keep these tips in mind whenever you're dealing with prepositions. They'll help you ensure you're using them as intended.

Prepositions Are Common Words

People often see prepositions as something unusual. However, prepositions actually tend to be very common words. You probably use prepositions all the time without even thinking about them. You don't need to see prepositions are some strange and fearful thing, you just need to get used to using them correctly.

Read As Much As You Can

The biggest challenge most people have with prepositions is that they don't know where they should place them in the sentence. It's common for people who don't read a lot to start or end their sentences with prepositional phrases. While this can be acceptable, there are usually more natural places to place prepositions.

Spend time reading, and you'll get a better feel for how sentences are usually put together. You won't have to think about where you should place a preposition; it'll come to you naturally.

Learn Common Prepositions

There are certain prepositions you'll see all the time, words like in, after, between, or on. Make sure you take the time to look up these words and see how they're typically used. It'll be easier for you to make sure that you're using them correctly.

There's Often More Than One Correct Preposition

Some people agonize over which preposition they should use in a given situation. Is it better to say that they're in the diner, or is it better to say that they're at the diner? In this case, both usages are correct, and the best usage really depends on what the person is trying to say.

For example, if someone is expecting to meet you at the diner, you could say "I'm at the diner" to signify that you've arrived. If someone doesn't know where you are, you could say "I'm in the diner" to signify that you're inside the building.

Common prepositions tend to vary from region to region, and people often tend to use prepositions in different ways. Keep in mind that words can have more than one correct usage, and that you don't have to obsess over making sure you use the right word every single time.

Study prepositions and take the time to learn as much about them as you can. The more you know about them, the more you'll be able to use them. Read a lot, talk a lot, and soon, prepositions will come to you naturally. You won't even have to think about them.

The Beauty Of Adjectives

When it comes to definition, an adjective can be defined as the modifier of a noun. In simple terms, these words tell us something about the noun. Most of the time, these are used before the noun in English grammar. As far as the usage of adjectives in the English language is concerned, these do not change with gender such as feminine, masculine or with other forms such as singular or plural nouns.

It is always invariable. In other words, it can be said that actives do not change with the form.


For instance, one always uses big chicken, small taken, big chickens, ten chickens.

What are Possessive Adjectives?

There are many people who do not find using possessive objectives such as her, his, you, our, my or their easy to use. These are also known as possessive adjectives as they tell the reader about the possession or about the owner of something. More often than not, people using adjectives make the mistake of using the wrong form of gender.

Check out examples here, watch the use of the word his.

It is important to keep in mind that the adjective in the English language is invariable and does not change with the gender. Therefore, this is the correct usage when one asks a question with the use of possessive objectives.

Jack asked if you have seen his sister.

Many users make the mistake of writing this sentence as, Jack asked if you have seen her sister.

The use of her sister is wrong. It should be his sister as the adjective his refers to Jack and not his sister. It is important to keep in mind that the sentence would have still used his even if the sentence was referring to the brother of Jack. For instance, if Jack wanted to ask about his brother, the sentence would have been, Jack asked if you have seen his brother.

It does not matter whether Jack is asking about his brother or his sister, the possessive adjective to be used is always going to be his and not her, as it relates to the noun, Jack and it does not change.

In some of the other languages, the usage of adjectives change but this is what makes English grammar and language different from the other languages.

Order of Adjectives

One of the biggest peculiarities of English grammar is the order of adjectives. It has been seen that, more often than not, non-native English speakers do not use adjectives in the correct order. This is one of the many ways in which one can differentiate non-native English speakers from native English speakers.

For instance, if you consider the following sentence with regards to the use of adjectives, you may find nothing wrong with it, as far as the meaning of sentence is concerned but it does tell a native English speaker that the correct order of adjectives has not been followed.

John had a German red old car.

If you want to describe a car, you may use a number of adjectives together to describe it in the manner that you think is right. However, it is extremely important to use those adjectives in the correct order to ensure that one gets the meaning of the sentence as desired. As far as the perfect order of objectives is concerned, one needs to use that adjective first that is an observation about the noun.

(John had an old red German car.)

There are various categories of adjectives and the words in these categories need to be used in the correct order to ensure that you are able to form a coherent sentence using the adjectives.

Opinion adjectives  

Words used for describing the feelings of the writer or speaker towards the noun or the observations of the noun. These typically include words such as delicious, ridiculous, silly, nice, expensive and other such words. These adjectives can be further divided into general opinion words and specific opinion words. The general opinion category includes words such as wonderful, terrible, nice, good, bad and similar words. On the other hand, specific adjectives describe only a specific category of nouns such as delicious food, intelligent people, well-designed buildings and so on. When writing about a controversial topic, opinion adjectives become more frequently used to describe the situation.

There are other types of directives that are used for defining the physical features of a particular noun. For instance, size adjectives such as, enormous, minute and gigantic are used to describe the size of the noun. Similarly, there are age adjectives such as old or young that are used to describe the noun age.

In addition to the above mentioned types of protective, there are shape adjectives such as triangular, round, square or cylindrical. There are also color adjectives such as bluish, whitish, black and other such words.

There are also adjectives of origin such as Australian or American among others. These are used for describing the source of origin of the noun. There are also material adjectives such as glass, cardboard or metallic that are used to describe the material of the noun. In addition to these adjectives, there are also qualified adjectives that are used for describing the usage of noun. Most of the time, these additives end with, ing such as laughing, shopping, baking etc.

If the adjectives are used in the correct order in the English language, you may not have to use commas and the sentence will still be grammatically correct. It is true that it may not look like a gem in the English language but it will still be grammatically correct. When adjectives are used in such a manner that they do not require commas, they are known as cumulative adjectives.

However, if you are confused by the order of various adjectives used in the correct manner, you are not alone. Many experts in the English language consider the order of adjectives to be one of the most confusing things in the English language.

Therefore, it is recommended to read a lot about the correct usage of the order of adjectives and keep using them. Soon, you'll find that you are using them in the correct manner.

Many Types of Adjectives

One of the best things about the English language is that it is continuously evolving. Each year, a number of words are added to the English language. This also makes English a bit difficult to use as a large number of words are added to it each year. Therefore, it is very difficult to account for all of the adjectives that are in English.

It is not surprising that the latest Oxford dictionary has more than 50,000 adjectives. It will be safe to say that in the next few years, the number of adjectives will grow and it will continue growing.

One of the best ways to learn about adjectives and the usage of adjectives is to learn the various groups in which these adjectives are classified. As mentioned above, there are opinion adjectives, color adjectives, material adjectives, shape adjectives and many more.

Usage of Adjectives

People who are new to the English language are often confused by the many adjectives that have similar meanings but are used in a different manner. For instance, ecstatic, smug, please and joyful all in the end, having something to refer to the term happy. The confusing thing is that all of these words mean a different degree and type of happiness.

However, this is also the beauty of English language as there are so many words to define the degree of a word it provides complete control to writers to create an image of the written word in the minds of the readers.

For instance, each of the above-mentioned words can be used to convey different meanings dependent on the choice of the word.

A pleased Jack ate the cake.
An ecstatic Jack ate the cake.
A smug Jack ate the cake.

The above three sentences convey different meanings depending on the word the writer uses.

Adjectives are Powerful 

One of the most common uses of adjectives is the introduction of a character in the story. For instance, most of the time, a character is introduced with an adjective such as ambitious, dynamic, immaculate, amazing, tall or similar words.

For a writer, it is important to build up a huge repertoire of adjectives if one wants to be an amazing writer.ry Did you notice the adjective in the last sentence?

Conclusion

It won't be wrong to say that adjectives are what make the English language such an interesting language. If there were no adjectives, the English language would be dull.

There are many reasons that we need adjectives in the English language but two of the most relevant reasons are that these are not only useful for making the written word more informative but these are also useful for making the narrative more interesting.

As mentioned above, these are used for modifying the noun or for describing the noun. It is not difficult to master the art of using adjectives but one does need to spend some time to master the usage of adjectives.

Needless to say, one can easily learn how to use adjectives in English language if one is willing to practice continuously.

What do you think, are the enormous amount of adjectives a help or a hinderance?

English Grammar - Learn About Pronouns

What are pronouns?

These are words which stand for a noun, a person, or an object.
Below will discuss the different types of pronouns namely: indefinite, relative, demonstrative, reflexive, intensive, and interrogative, reciprocal
This section will list and briefly highlight in briefly the several kinds of pronouns giving examples of use in sentences.

1. Personal Pronouns

They represent a person. It can either be first person. For example, “I am playing football”. And the plural will be ‘we are going to church’.
The second person refers to the people or a person being spoken to. For example, “You will go home
The third person will represent people or people being spoken about. For example, “They went to visit Brenda”

2. Possessive pronouns

Examples include: mine, ours, and hers
 That dress is hers.

3. Demonstrative Pronouns 

Includes (this, that, these, those, such) which can sometimes act as determiners. They are mostly used to refer or in place of a noun.
Example of use as pronouns is shown below.
That is amazing (shows something a person has just seen)
Such is an unbelievable act. (shows an explanation)
Example of use as a demonstrative sowing a relative distance in terms of time or space is shown below.
These (books on the shelf) are interesting to read.
Those (books on the table) I have read.

Demonstratives can also refer to a person if used as a subject.
This is my sister.
 Possessive pronouns can be used to show sigh of distress. For example:
You are going to buy this?

4. Relative Pronouns

Includes (who, whoever, which, that). These help link words and nouns or other pronouns.
For example: The athlete who practices often always wins
Relative pronouns exist in expanded forms and are referred to as indefinite relative pronouns; — whoever, whomever, whatever.
For example:
The teacher will choose whomever she pleases.
She always says whatever crosses her mind.

5. Indefinite Pronouns

The examples of  indefinite pronouns are some, none anybody, somebody, everybody,  all and each. They always function as nouns.  For example:
Somebody was looking for her.
In some circumstances, indefinite pronouns can act as determiners. This may include few, fewer, little, most, all, And Both.
For example:
Few interns will be selected.

6. Intensive Pronouns.

Some of the examples include: myself, ourselves, themselves, and yourself.
The intensive pronouns have a personal pronoun in addition to self which emphasize a noun.
For example:
I myself don’t know the place.

7. Reflexive Pronouns

These are pronouns which end in -self or –selves. They include: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.

The group here cannot cook for themselves.
This can also be used for emphasis. For example: They themselves built the five-storey building in Jerusalem.

8. Interrogative Pronouns

The examples are: who, which and what. They are used to introduce some questions. 

For example, What is the name of this?

9. Reciprocal Pronouns

The reciprocal pronouns are basically used to join ideas.
For example,
My boyfriend and I gave each other gifts for valentine’s day.
It can also be used in a way to show possession. For example:
They drove each other’s cars.

English Grammar, Harder Than Other Languages?

    English, the second most common spoken language in the world, is said to be one of the hardest to learn to speak, read and write properly. Grammar in English, unlike many other languages has many more rules.  While every language has a set of rules that dictates action, as they should, english and its grammar doesn't. The rules associated with english are more focused on specifics and case by case scenarios, rather than a broad umbrella of guidelines. Some languages have grammar specific male and female statutes, while english does not, it more than makes up for it with the added plethora of varying axioms.

  We did an interview with Isaac M. an immigrant to the US from Iran. He speaks multiple languages including; Farsi, Arabic, French, Spanish and English. He had spent his younger years in Iran, then moved to France for school, from there went to Spain until he finally immigrated to America.

   When we sat down with him, he held a staunch opinion on how english, and specifically english grammar was the hardest for him to pick up on despite the fact he lived in the US longer than any other country in his life. He was very clear that living in the US thirty plus years and even going to a private university didn't help. When asked what can be done to remedy the hardship of learning english and grammar to make it easier for non native english speakers he simply said, "Make sure you start children off at a very young age, have them watch good, American educational programs." He put an emphasis on good educational programming as according to him, 'there is nothing worse for children than bad TV'. He also made a note that exposing children to computers and spending time with them was healthy, so far as they were using them for educational purposes.
 

    While this may sound simple, it couldn't be more true. As many educators say, it's imperative for  children to begin learning a secondary language at a young age. The undeveloped mind is like a sponge ready to absorb all it receives. As the old adage goes, 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks'. The brain works in a similar way, notice how while the younger generation can pick up new technology devices with very little struggle, to the elderly they seem like magic. At a certain point it becomes a struggle, and we give up. Isaac explained to us, that as native english speakers, we were at an advantage, it's like being born knowing how to do advanced mathematics.

What do you think?

Please comment, ask your friends that speak multiple languages, or don't speak english as their native tongue what they think.

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