Even though it feels natural to English speakers, capitalizing I is unusual. In fact, English is the only language that does it. Germanic and Romantic languages typically have some conventions for capitalizing proper nouns, like Deutschland (in German) or Place de la Concorde (in French), but English is the only one that insists on capitalizing the personal pronoun. If you still don’t think it’s weird …
We use past tense verb forms like burnt and slept all the time. But what about learnt? Is it a word? Does it mean the same thing as learned? And why do some verbs form their past tense by adding a -t at the end? In this article, you’ll get the answers to these questions and learn all you need to know about learnt and …
An em dash is a punctuation mark that can be used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons. In general, the em dash is seen as being more interruptive or striking than other punctuation, so it is often used stylistically to draw a reader’s attention to a particular bit of information. The em dash resembles a horizontal line (—) that is longer than both a …
The semicolon: is it the most maddening and mysterious punctuation mark? Many writers avoid it altogether. When trying to express thoughts clearly, who needs a “semi” anything? Our task is not to sway your feelings, but to simply provide some definition to your like or dislike. When exactly should one use a semicolon? Fundamentally, what’s the difference between a colon and a semicolon? The word …
Don’t let confusion around the difference between eaten and ate eat you up inside. In this article, we’ll explain when and how to correctly use ate and eaten, explain what makes eat an irregular verb, and provide examples of how the different forms of eat are used in sentences. Ate and eaten are two forms of the irregular verb eat. Ate is the past tense …
In writing, we use a lot of compound words. Compound words include nouns like president-elect and sister-in-law, verbs like back-paddle and flash-freeze, and adjectives like best-case and top-of-the-line. All of these words rely on the same punctuation by using a hyphen to connect multiple words together. But not every compound word uses a hyphen. If you are curious about where and when we use hyphens, …
If you’ve grown up using the word math, you might be wondering about the word maths, which you’ve probably encountered from time to time. Did you chalk it up to a typographical error or guess that the person using it was just putting on airs? The same goes, of course, if you grew up saying maths. Did math sound awfully odd? At this point, you …
Throughout American history, many soldiers have fought for the freedoms that we hold so dearly. Without a doubt, these brave heroes should have a holiday dedicated to celebrating and honoring both their duty and their sacrifice. Of course, it is imperative that we actually get the name of the holiday right while we do so. So, which is it: Veteran’s Day, Veterans’ Day, or Veterans …
There is a commonly stated “rule” of grammar that beginning a sentence with and, or any other conjunction, is a mistake. But this is just not true. This supposed “rule” has no basis in actual writing, and even formal writing features plenty of sentences that start with and and other conjunctions. And we think that is really cool. So, are we going to debunk this …
Sports are not just about athletic ability. They are about mental fortitude, community, and teamwork. The following motivational quotes from athletes and coaches remind us of the importance of being the best we can be, on or off the field. They describe success, how to handle criticism, and how to push ourselves further than we may think possible. All of us—whether we identify as athletes or not—will find these quotes offer much-needed encouragement to "stay in the game."
Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.—commonly attributed to Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson
Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow's game.—commonly attributed to Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente
The key to success is to be able to put everything except the car and the track and the competition out of your mind once you are out on the track.—Janet Guthrie, on being the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500, Indianapolis Monthly, May 23, 2019
When anyone is critical of what I do, I'm just motivated by it. If someone says we're not good enough, then we just do better. If another tennis player says something negative, I say, "That girl will never beat me." We feed off the criticism.—Venus Williams, O, The Oprah Magazine, March 2003
I don’t look into the negativity and the hate. I am here to swim.—Lia Thomas, Sports Illustrated, March 3, 2022
A winner is that person who gets up one more time than she is knocked down.—Mia Hamm, Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide To Winning In Soccer And Life, 1999
Every man at some point in his life is gonna lose a battle. He’s gonna fight and he’s gonna lose. But what makes him a man, is that in the midst of that battle he does not lose himself.—Coach Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights
If we don’t come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don’t care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe … I don’t know, maybe we’ll learn to play this game like men.—Coach Herman Boone, Remember the Titans, 2000
Experience helps you understand what works and what doesn’t. And (personally), I think it has more to do with just wanting to continue to learn on and off the ice. … Whether it’s, you know, skills on the ice or trying to learn how to be a better teammate, better leader, better friend, you name it.—Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby, The Athletic.com, April 28, 2022
The one thing you learn is when you can step out of your comfort zone and be uncomfortable you see what you’re made of and who you are.
—WNBA player Sue Bird, SFGate, December 22, 2018
Takin’ on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doin’ it, you’re probably doin’ it wrong.—Coach Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso
We don't live in our fears, we live in our hopes.—Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 22, 2007
Articles are words that make it clear whether a noun refers to something specific or something general. The English language has only three articles: a, an, and the. This stanza from Emily Dickinson’s poem “A Bird Came Down the Walk” demonstrates the use of all three: A Bird came down the Walk— He did not know I saw— He bit an Angleworm in halves And …
When considering punctuation marks, there are four pairs of marks that may be referred to as a type of bracket. They are parentheses, square brackets, curly brackets, and angle brackets. Of these four, parentheses are by far the most commonly used and are the punctuation marks that most writers are likely most familiar with. Although you may not get many chances yourself to bust out …
The past tense of swim is swam, and the past participle of swim is swum. Why? In this article, we will explain how and when to correctly use swim, swam, and swum, explain why swim is considered to be an irregular verb, and provide examples of how we use swim, swam, and swum in sentences. The verb swim is an irregular verb. Swim is the …