Vocabulary

Increase your vocabulary with not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used words.



Today's Weird Word is: febrile, and its pronunciation is: 'fe-'brīl.

Febrile is an adjective meaning: marked or caused by fever; feverish.


Jeremy suited up for the game despite a high temperature and other febrile symptoms.

Good and Well

Good and well are often used incorrectly. The key is to remember that good is an adjective and well is an adverb.

Examples:

Old Blue is a good dog. (Good is an adjective describing dog.)
You've trained Old Blue well. (Well is an adverb describing trained.)
This is a good salad. (Good is an adjective describing salad.)
I can't taste the salad well because I have a cold. (Well is an adverb describing taste.)
You did a good job. (Good describes job.)
You did the job well. (Well answers how you did the job).

When referring to health, use well rather than good.

Example: I do not feel well. (You do not feel well today.)

Which is correct?

I'm over my cold and I feel well.
I'm over my cold and I feel good.

Both are correct. It is okay to use well as an adjective when you're talking about health.

Note: You can use good with feel when you are not referring to health.

Example: I feel good about my decision to learn Spanish.



With Linking Verbs and Action Verbs

Use adjectives (good) with linking verbs and adverbs (well) with action verbs.

Examples:

You smell good; that's a nice perfume. (Smell is a linking verb.)
Now that you took your cold medicine, you should be able to smell well. (Smell is an action verb.)
You look good. (Look is a linking verb.)
Look at this picture well. (Look is an action verb.)


Good job!
Job well done!





Sources: Blue Book of Grammar, Painless Grammar

Spelling Challenge

Are you ready to test your spelling skills? Do you have your sticky note and pen ready? Write the correct spelling for the ten words below, and remember...

NO PEEKING!


1. consciensious
2. useable
3. acquaintence
4. guilotine
5. sacriligeous
6. existance
7. maintainance
8. tendancy
9. hemorage
10. idiosyncrisy


If you spell all ten words correctly, you get the beautiful sparkling gold glitter star!
Good Luck!



ANSWERS:

1. conscientious
2. usable
3. acquaintance
4. guillotine
5. sacrilegious
6. existence
7. maintenance
8. tendency
9. hemorrhage
10. idiosyncrasy


Whether or not you got your star, everyone gets this spray of PURPLE glitter stars for your efforts!




Have a HAPPY day!

Aloud vs. Out Loud

The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms states that "out loud" started as a colloquialism for "aloud" in 1821. At first "out loud" was frowned on, but it has worked its way into standard English, so "out loud" and "aloud" are synonyms.

If you're being especially careful, you may want to stick with "aloud" in formal writing; but "out loud" is standard and even preferred in some sayings such as "laugh out loud."

If "out loud" hadn't become a rival of "aloud," the text messaging abbreviation could have been one character shorter: "LA" instead of "LOL" but I imagine "LA" wouldn't have caught on. Los Angeles and Louisiana would not have been amused.



Source: Grammar Girl