Tutoring English never gets old. The tutor shows a reason why. Denier: one who denies. I can barely believe my eyes, yet the spell checker has no quarrel with denier. How can I never have seen denier in print, yet…

Self-tutoring about English: the tutor mentions an interesting notion. In English, consonants are easy, but vowels can be a challenge. Perhaps that’s why we might forgive wrong consonants but can’t forgive wrong vowels. For instance, consider the word “meant”: spelling…

Self-tutoring about spelling: the tutor shares a find. Tendinitis or tendonitis – which one is correct? Both are, it turns out: they mean the same. Source: Mish, Frederick C. (editor). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 2004.

Self-tutoring about spelling: the tutor researches, to him, an age-old question. Which is correct – barbecue or barbeque? Either, according to the Oxford Canadian dictionary. However, this spell-checker prefers barbecue. Source: Barber, Katherine et al. Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current…

Self-tutoring about English: the tutor checks about esthetic and aesthetic. Apparently, aesthetic and esthetic have the same meaning. Source: Mish, Frederick C (editor). The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 2004.

Self-tutoring about spelling: the tutor had his doubts in one case…. I read the word “sceptical” with surprise. One of the word processing programs I use doesn’t like it either. Yet, Webster’s Dictionary and Oxford Canadian Dictionary agree: sceptic is…

Tutoring English, suffixes are interesting. The tutor mentions a word ending with -ible. In a post from December 30, 2012, I mention some -ibles – for example, credible. By an -ible I mean a word that ends in -ible but…

Self-tutoring about English: the tutor mentions a discovery. Typing an article, I keyed relatable, but the checker doesn’t like it. Am I wrong? I found relatable in the dictionary. Curious, eh? Source: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, Merriam-Webster, 2004.

Tutoring English, a specific question arises: the tutor investigates if hilarity can pluralize to hilarities. In my Feb 14 post I use the word hilarities, which the spell-checker doesn’t like, though it’s happy with hilarity. So, is the word hilarities…

Tutoring English, you never run out of material. The tutor shares an observation – will it be relatable? relatable (adj): 1. sensibly connected to some other event or state; 2. understandable by others. The word relatable is listed by a…