Happily, here is a solution called Linguix Definitions. With this brand-new feature of the Linguix’s Browser extension, you can get word definitions right on the web page. Just right-click any word and choose Look up in Linguix to get its definition and a list of synonyms along with the link to the complete Thesaurus entry.

Install Linguix for Browser to check the definitions of more than 200,000 English words found anywhere on the web!

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The problem is that too many words used when describing food just don’t really describe anything at all. Or else they are just too cliché, or in the worst-case scenario, put people right off the food that you should in fact be encouraging them to eat.

Here is a list of some of the words that just don’t cut it when talking about food, along with some alternatives that will hit the spot just that much better.

Tasty

The problem with the word ‘tasty’ is that it really tells us nothing. All food, almost without exception, has a taste of something (anyone with an imagination can, therefore, describe it), so using this word, which has really come to mean that something tastes ‘good’, really gives us no detail at all. It’s a bit like saying something tastes ‘good’!

Alternatives: Absolutely any description of the food that reveals in detail why the taste is positive.

Spicy

The problem with this word is it is now used to mean something which is laden with chili, when in fact its connotation is that it is full of spices, which of course can include anything (and perhaps no chili whatsoever).

Alternatives: Why not actually mention the spices that are prevalent in the taste, or if it is full of chili, then say that. ‘Hot’ definitely doesn’t hit the mark either, because you could just as easily be talking about the temperature.

Delicious

This word is useless because not only is it subjective (something that is delicious for one person may absolutely not be for another) but it is now so ubiquitous that it has become practically meaningless.

Alternatives: Talk about the blend of flavors, and if it really is something that you would recommend, then be specific as to why.

Moist

Did you know that the word ‘moist’ is regularly voted as one of the most hated words in the English language? The problem is the sound of the word (for some people), and also the word’s connotation (for others). You see, it has become somewhat connected to bodily fluids.

It’s not really a bad word to use if truth be told. A cake that is soft and ‘liquidy’ really should be described as ‘moist’, but for this irrational dislike that people have for the word. It’s probably best avoided, which is a shame really because for accurate descriptions it really should be a winner.

Oh, and it’s synonym ‘soggy’ should never be used! Never.

Alternatives: juicy, rich with liquid.

Moorish

This invented word has come to mean something that entices you to eat (or drink) more. That can really be applied to so many things that it again becomes a redundant term. A synonym is addictive, but this word has too many negative connotations to be considered a worthy alternative too.

Alternatives: Enchanting, bewitching, beguiling.

Organic

Where do we even start with this word? Organic has become a buzzword for anything and everything that goes against the mass-produced norm, but the irony is that organic has become so prevalent that it itself has become mass-produced.

Of course, the principle is a good one. It is the right one. The problem really is that the word has become so ubiquitous on a vast range of products that we have lost sight of what it actually means.

Alternative: Talk specifically about the food journey involved with the product so readers get a real sense of where it came from

Foodie

A foodie has come to represent some sort of special class of people who really cares about food and understands it. But really, when you think about it, with a few exceptions, we are all foodies (not least because without it, we wouldn’t last very long). The problem with a foodie is that it is exclusive like it’s a club that not everyone can be a member of, and when it comes to food, that’s just not the case.

We all have foods that we are enthusiastic about, and we have our own way of preparing and enjoying the food that we eat. We are all foodies, so the word itself is really a redundant expression.

Alternatives: Chefs, professional cooks, or just avoid the term completely.

Yummy

This word is cute when you are five years old. Anything older and it is simply a bit immature and, a bit like ‘tasty’ and ‘delicious’, not really descriptive at all. Yummy (which has also found itself attached to the word ‘mummy’ in recent times to describe something else equally as poorly, not to mention in a way that is very un PC too) is juvenile and gives no real description to the food you are applying it too. So, find something else.

Alternatives: Again, absolutely any description of the food that reveals in detail why the taste is positive.

Nosh

This is an old slang word simply meaning ‘food’. The problem is that it makes food sound really unappetizing, so it really shouldn’t be used at all. It’s a lazy term that harks back to a time when people really didn’t put the time and effort into cooking that the activity deserves. Nosh is from a bygone age, therefore, and really needs to be replaced.

Alternatives: Cuisine, food, dish.

Gastro

Gastro is a shortened version of the very scientific-sounding word ‘gastronomy’, which means the preparation and enjoyment of food. But there are two problems with the word gastro. The first is that it sounds like some sort of medical problem. The second is that it is way too scientific and clinical for something that really should be much more passionate, heartfelt, natural and accessible. Plus, for many British people, in particular, it represents a craze that has somewhat seen the demise of the classic English pub: the dreaded gastro-pub. It’s either a restaurant or a pub. Make up your mind!

Alternatives: Again, what’s wrong with ‘food’? 

The post Words to Avoid When Writing About Food appeared first on Linguix Blog.

I can play the guitar

I am able to play the guitar.

Ability

In these examples, they can be used in exactly the same way. And that is because, to all intents and purposes, ‘can’ and ‘be able to’ are both used, primarily, to express ability. Of course, both of these examples above are in the present tense, so matters get a little more complicated when we change that tense.

In the past

The past form of ‘can’ is ‘could’. ‘Be able to’, because it is using the verb ‘be’, can be easily adapted into any tense. So, therefore,

I could play the guitar when I was younger.

I was able to play the guitar when I was younger.

So, again, when talking about ability in the past, ‘could’ and ‘be able to’ operate in the same way. But only if we are talking about general abilities. In the case of a single action, ‘could’ is not possible.

Yesterday, I was able to meet lots of interesting people at the meeting.

Yesterday, I could meet lots of interesting people at the meeting.

However, if that single event involves a stative verb, then it would be possible.

Yesterday, I was able to see the screen really clearly from where I was sitting.

Yesterday, I could see the screen really clearly from where I was sitting

In the future

There is no future form of ‘can’ (‘will can’ is an absolute impossibility). Therefore, if you want to express a future ability, ‘be able to’ is your best friend here

In the future, I will be able to play the guitar.

You could also make a more complicated sentence, such as:

In the future, I will have the ability to play the guitar.

However, when talking about future plans and arrangements, you can use ‘can’ (as well as ‘be able to’):

I can attend the appointment next Monday.

I am able to attend the appointment next Monday.

These two sentences have exactly the same meaning.

So, in summary, when talking about ability, ‘be able to’ is a much more flexible option.

Semantics

We may also choose to use these two forms a little differently to emphasize the difference between a permanent ability, and the ability to do something at the moment. Here is another example:

I am able to play the guitar, but I can’t play the guitar at your wedding because I am unavailable that day.

In theory, you could invert those two terms to produce the same meaning in context, but the preference would be to use ‘be able to’ in order to talk about a permanent skill, rather than the ability to do something on any given day.

Talking about permission

‘Can’ and ‘be able to’ are not only about ability but are connected to permission too. Look at these examples:

My teacher says I can use a dictionary in the classroom.

My teacher says I am able to use a dictionary in the classroom.

In these instances, ‘can’ and ‘be able to’ are the same.

However, when it comes to talking about permission, even in the present tense, you cannot always use both options. Here’s another example:

My teacher says I can bring a dictionary to the exam tomorrow.

My teacher says I am able to bring a dictionary to the exam tomorrow.

In this case, ‘be able to’ would not be used to express permission in a specific, once-off event.

My teacher says I am allowed to bring a dictionary to the exam tomorrow.

This would be correct and has the same meaning as ‘can’ in the sentence above.

However, in one last twist, you could (or you are able) to use ‘be able to’ in this situation, if you are talking about your ability to do something:

My teacher says I can bring a dictionary to the exam tomorrow. = permission

My teacher says I am able to bring a dictionary to the exam tomorrow. = ability

Although the second sentence doesn’t really make any sense, it focuses more on the ability to do something, rather than the giving of permission.

In conclusion

‘Be able to’ definitely offers more flexibility than ‘can’ in terms of conjugating to verb tenses. However, the meanings are not always the same, and there are certain circumstances where either ‘can’ or ‘be able to’ are not logical.

Always consider this question: am I talking about ability or permission? Once you have ascertained this, and then you have decided upon the correct verb tense, making the right decision in terms of ‘can’ and ‘be able to’ should be achievable.

The post Can VS Be Able To appeared first on Linguix Blog.

English has more than its fair share of all three of these things. Let’s have a look at some of the most troublesome examples of tricky words and punctuation in English, and look at ways to avoid making those mistakes in the future.

Apostrophe plus ‘s’, or no apostrophe plus ‘s’?

This is an age-old concern, when do I use the apostrophe plus an ‘s’, and when do I not use the apostrophe?

Think carefully about what apostrophes do. Most of the time they replace a missing letter, or they express possession.

About the only exception to that rule that you need to know is when you are using ‘its’ for possessions. As you will see here, there is no apostrophe.

Why?

Because if you did, it would be confused with the abbreviation of ‘it is’, when the apostrophe represents the missing ‘i’. Hence. ‘it’s’.

What is its name?

It’s really nice.

It’s true, then, that you would use an apostrophe plus ‘s’ in all other cases where there is a missing letter or a case of possessive. For example:

Mum’s coming over later.

That is mum’s car.

Now, of course, in context there is no way that you could confuse the meaning of the first ‘mum’s’ = ‘mum is’, and the second = the car belongs to mum.

Who or whom?

This one can cause a few issues, but it all boils down to whether you what to use a subject pronoun or object pronoun.

In short, if the word is replacing a subject pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, they), then the correct word is ‘who’. If the word is replacing the object pronoun (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) then the word you are looking for is ‘whom’. Here are some examples:

He is the man who lives next door. (Who is he?)

He is chatting to a girl whom he knows from work. (He is chatting to her)

But in reality, whom is nearly always replaced with ‘who’, and this is accepted practice, so the second sentence above could be:

He is chatting to a girl who he knows from work.

Affect or effect?

This is a really easy one to solve. ‘Affect’ is the verb, and ‘effect’ is the noun. That’s it! Here are some examples:

How does working there affect your health? (verb)

Working there has had many negative effects on my health. (noun)

Can I start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’?

Yes, of course, you can. Even in formal writing. It’s interesting that this seems to have become a rule, because it has never, in fact, been a rule. Don’t start every other sentence with these words, but every now and again it’s fine. It’s also quite literary too, so outlawing it would basically deny nearly every great writer there has ever been in the English language.

‘And what are you reading, Miss –?’ ‘Oh! It is only a novel!’ replies the young lady: while she lays down her book with affected indifference or momentary shame.

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

‘But the Emperor has nothing on at all!’ cried a little child.

Hans Christian Anderson, The Emperor’s New Clothes

Should I use an ‘Oxford comma’?

An ‘Oxford comma’, so-called because it is a rule of the Oxford University Press, is when you use a comma before the final ‘and’ in a list. Here is a simple example:

I like to eat pizza, pasta, fish, and chips.

Here the Oxford comma is seen after the word ‘fish’. The other commas in the list are known as serial commas and are always correct.

The problem with omitting the Oxford comma is that it can change the meaning of what you are trying to say.

I like to eat pizza, pasta, fish and chips.

So, is that three different types of food (pizza, pasta, fish and chips), or four different types of food (pizza, pasta, fish [on its own] and chips [on their own])?

The point is that, by omitting the Oxford comma, you can make a sentence ambiguous. So it is always much better to use it because it leaves no doubt that those items are separate. And it is far from only the Oxford University Press that prescribes this comma. The vast majority of style guides do that.

So, should you use an Oxford comma? Yes!

When do I use a hyphen?

A hyphen should be used to connect two words that are acting together as one word.

That is nearly always true in adjectives that are comprised of two words. For example:

Easy-going person, self-respecting professional, old-fashioned shirt etc.

However, do not use the hyphen when the first word is an adverb:

Highly prized award, rarely seen animal.

However, when it comes to nouns, there are just no rules. The tradition is that these words tend to start out as two words, slowly evolve to include a hyphen over time, and eventually become one word. Who makes this decision? That’s a complicated question: too complicated to answer here.

The best advice with nouns? Check a dictionary. But even then you may find some differences of opinion

But here are some more examples of when you should use a hyphen:

He is a 23-year-old. (to express ages)

Twenty-one, fifty-seven (numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine)

Anti-inflammatory, self-absorbed, ex-girlfriend (with some prefixes, including always with self and ex)

My uncle had a concealed-weapons permit. (to avoid ambiguity. Removing the hyphen here could change the meaning)

The post Confusing English Words and Punctuation Rules appeared first on Linguix Blog.

As an English student, or someone who is actively trying to improve your English, it’s a nice challenge to check these 100 words to see how many you know (most probably all), but to then think carefully about how many you actually use. This is called your ‘active’ vocabulary, and it should be something that you are seeking to build upon all the time (more of which later).

The 50 most common words used in English

But back to those 100 most common words. They are the most common because they are the most essential in building sentences. Here are the top 50:

1.     the
2.     be
3.     to
4.     of
5.     and
6.     a
7.     in
8.     that
9.     have
10.  I
11.  it
12.  for
13.  not
14.  on
15.  with
16.  he
17.  as
18.  you
19.  do
20.  at
21.  this
22.  but
23.  his
24.  by
25.  from
26.  they
27.  we
28.  say
29.  her
30.  she
31.  or
32.  will
33.  an
34.  my
35.  one
36.  all
37.  would
38.  there
39.  their
40.  what
41.  so
42.  up
43.  out
44.  if
45.  about
46.  who
47.  get
48.  which
49.  go
50.  when

Why this list is useful

These top 50 words are so instructive because they are clearly the most useful words available to speakers of English. Much can be learned from categorizing these words to see what types of words are the most useful for students of English to learn.

Here are the categories that make up the top 50:

Prepositions (13) – to, of, in, for, on, with, as, at, by, from, up, out, about

Pronouns (10) – I, it, he, you, his, they, we, her, my, she,

Misc. (6) – one, that, their, there, this, all

Verbs (6) – be, have, do, say, get, go

Conjunctions (5) – and, but, or so, if

Question words (4) – what, which, when, who

Articles (3) – the, a, an

Modal verbs (2) – would, will

Adverb (1) – not

The list is really informative for many reasons, but what is particularly worth noticing is the fact that there are no adjectives or real nouns included.

The most useful words to us are the words that appear to do very little at all (prepositions), determine who or what we are speaking about (pronouns), simple verbs, and words that link sentences (conjunctions).

They are not always the words that we, as students, focus on when we are learning. And although most of us will know all of these words, how many of us can say that we are able to use all these words correctly every time? (and don’t forget we can use a tool such as Linguix to get definitions of any words we need in English).

Common errors

Looking again at the categories of words, it is noticeable how many of them feature words that are typically used incorrectly.

For example, prepositions are one of the most common areas of mistake in relation to non-native English speakers. Most of the time these prepositions make little logical sense at all and must be learned simply by heart. But learning the prepositions of time, for example, (in, at, on) is one of the first exercises we learn in English, and so should be something that we are able to do correctly after a relatively brief period of time. And considering all three of these prepositions feature in this list, it would seem they are a priority.

Other words that are typically used incorrectly are articles (the, a, an). The reason for this is clear: because many languages don’t even have articles and many of those that do use them differently to how they are used in English. But again, as all three of these words feature in the top-50 words spoken in English, their correct usage would appear to be a priority.

And so it is with many of the types of words that feature in this top-50 list. Pronouns are often incorrectly allocated by learners, conjunctions can cause all sorts of problems (particularly ‘if’ with conditional sentences), and questions can also be a particular weakness, despite the fact four-question words feature in this list.

What this tells us

The list of most used words in English can be used as a guide by learners to consider their weaknesses in English, and what their priorities should be. The fact is, most learners focus on the wrong kind of vocabulary (adjectives and nouns) instead of these often-overlooked words that are so integral.

The other point to make is that this is not just about building ‘passive’ vocabulary – the words that you know – but ensuring that this passive vocabulary becomes ‘active’ – words that you actually use, and use correctly.

So, although it is important to keep learning new words in English, your priority should be to use the ones you already have correctly!

The post The 50 Most Common English Words (And How to Use Them to Improve Your English) appeared first on Linguix Blog.

You may feel a little restricted with the words you can use because of the requirement for simple, plain and inoffensive language. But that doesn’t mean you have to be predictable and, well, dull. 

Without further ado (so), let’s start now by identifying some of the main culprits, and looking at suitable alternatives to make your English writing just that little bit more interesting:

Some

When it comes to quantifying something, some just doesn’t get the job done. Can you be more specific? And that is the point. This type of vague language only succeeds in frustrating the reader, who cannot say, with any great conviction, how many you are actually talking about.

Alternatives: couple, several, dozens, one, two, three, four etc.

Good

This has to be the worst adjective in English. Okay, maybe not quite, but it’s certainly the most overused, and the one that describes the least. Think of a surly teenager who doesn’t want to reveal any information about anything, but at the same time doesn’t want to give the impression that anything is wrong. Good tells us nothing. It is so undescriptive, it is laughable. There’s really no good reason to use it (well-spotted!).

Alternatives: interesting, informative, enjoyable, uplifting, eye-opening (depending on the context).

Great

Great is good’s slightly less annoying, but more excitable big brother. We know that it’s better than good, but it’s also a word that fails to deliver the idea that it really should. No one can get excited about great, even though that is exactly the feeling that great should convey.  But when it comes to attaching a value to something, instead of using a word such as great, which really means nothing, seek to use a word that is more descriptive and explicit, or go for something which makes a valid comparison.

Alternatives: even better than the last time, incredibly rewarding, of magnificent value.

Other

Other is a word that is incredibly practical, so it’s not as annoying as something like good, which really has no value at all. The problem with other is that it just turns up too frequently in writing, so here you just need to think about repetition, and go for something a little different each time.

Alternatives: additional, alternative, further, supplementary.

More

More. This word even sounds dull. But it’s similar to other, both in meaning, and in that it is incredibly practical. Instead just look for those nicer sounding alternatives.

Alternatives: additional, alternative, further, supplementary, extra.

Best

This word is horrible for two reasons. Firstly, because a lot of the time, it just isn’t true. We live in a society now where everything is brilliant or terrible. Everything is either the best or the worst, ever! But it actually isn’t, is it? What you are saying is a massive overstatement. So, avoid using such superlatives when they do not apply. Secondly, it’s all about opinion anyway, so just because it is the best for you, is it really the best for others? Scrap this word! 

Alternatives: the most suitable, the most fitting, the most practical, one of the most…

Important

Everything is important. Or nothing is. It all depends who you are talking to, or what you are talking about. And what is important for one person isn’t important for another (see best). And another thing, important doesn’t mean best in English: this is a false translation from other languages.

Alternatives: crucial, essential, vital.

Like

Like is a word that is shockingly overused in speech, but it is also creeping in more and more to English writing, which is a cause of major frustration to language purists, and those who like language to be clear. Because like just isn’t. Like has multiple meanings, but almost all of them can be better expressed in other ways. Here are some examples:

I like it. = I think it is an interesting proposition.

It was like last time. = It was similar to the previous occasion.

It feels like you have misunderstood… = You have misunderstood…

Does it really feel similar to that? Or is that how it feels? Stop stepping around the issue, and SAY WHAT YOU MEAN!

Alternatives: as above.

A pro tip: Linguix allows you learning new words while writing. The Linguix Grammar Checker and paraphraser (here is our Chrome extension) have a built-in AI-fueled synonyms-selection engine. This feature allows you to see synonyms of English words. Just hold down the Alt button and double-click on a word to see a list of its synonyms. 

The post Overused Words to Replace in Your English Writing appeared first on Linguix Blog.