The schwa in English is restricted to unstressed syllables. It is a phonetic variant of English vowel phonemes. It appears in many word pairs. This is illustrated with the following ten pairs:
My World
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Schwa in Pairs with Affixation
Monday, May 19, 2025
Three English Prepositions
Three English prepositions which are used very frequently are at, on and in. They are used in a variety of situations such as for time and place. The word at is often used for the most specific point, on for an intermediate interval and in for the broadest period.
The prepositional phrases at Vancouver and in Vancouver are both possible. However, at Vancouver is used in a restricted sense. One example is Toronto is playing at Vancouver. In this instance, Vancouver is the home team and if it is a hockey game, it will be played in the rink used by Vancouver. The prepositional phrase in Vancouver has a much broader sense and can be used in a sentence such as The tournament will take place in Vancouver.
Sentences which illustrate the use of at include The exam is at one o'clock and They live at 221 Main Street. The preposition at is used for time and with street addresses. If the street address is not given, the preposition on is used instead and the sentence becomes They live on Main Street.
For months and years, the preposition in is used. Examples include The French Revolution was in 1789 and I was born in April. For days, the preposition is used as in The party is on Saturday.
The prepositions at, on and in are among the most common English prepositions. They serve many different functions. The examples illustrate that at is frequently used for the most specific time or place, on for an intermediate interval and in for the broadest period.
Friday, May 16, 2025
Spanish Word with Seven Pronunciations
Spanish is a language of many dialects. They can be divided into two, Peninsular and Latin American. However, there are many more. Let us illustrate with seven pronunciations of the word español.
Friday, May 9, 2025
Unique Morphemes
Unique morphemes are bound morphemes that do not have an independent meaning and have no grammatical function. However, they often occur in common words. Here is a list of ten English words with unique morphemes:
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Spelling of Compound Nouns
The spelling of English compound nouns varies. They are sometimes one word and sometimes two. There are no rules to determine if they are one word or two.
Compound words written as one word often consists of two syllables. This is the case with words such as bookstore, textbook and football. However, words such as basketball, newspaper and sunflower have three syllables.
The word bookstore is one word, but shoe store is two. Though both compound nouns end with store, one is monosyllabic and one is not. The compound nouns hotcake and hot dog both begin with hot and have two syllables. However, one is one word and the other is two.
The compound noun nightclub is one word. However, health club is two. Though they both end with the word club, one is written as a single word and the other as two.
The compound noun grapefruit is one word, but passion fruit is two. The compound chocolate cake is two words, but cheesecake is only one. Both passion fruit and chocolate cake have three syllables. However, waterfall and rainfall are both single words even though waterfall has three syllables.
English has many compound nouns.The spelling of compound nouns varies. Unlike in languages such as German which write all compound nouns as one word, English does not. English compound nouns are sometimes written as one word and sometimes as two.
Friday, April 25, 2025
Names of European Countries in Finnish
The names of many European countries in Finnish may not be so easy to recognize. They are often quite different from their names in other languages. Here is a list of twelve European countries with their names in Finnish:
Monday, April 21, 2025
Three Types of Propaganda
Propaganda can be classified into three types. These types are based on the transparency the of source and the intent of the message. The three types are black, grey and white.
Black propaganda is the most deceptive type. The source is hidden or attributed to false sources, and the message is deliberately false. The goal of black propaganda is to manipulate public opinion.
Grey propaganda has ambiguous sources and is a combination of true and false statements. The information is often distorted. As a result, it is difficult for the audience to determine the true intent of the message.
White propaganda is transparent and open. The source of the message is clearly identified, and the information is honest and accurate. However, it is biased towards the goals of the propagandist. The goal is to present information in a manner that makes it likely to be accepted and believed.
Propaganda refers to the use of information to present a particular cause or view. It can be categorized into three types. They are black, grey and white.
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