5 Amazing Library Facts

We know that libraries are portals to amazing knowledge and insight, but libraries themselves are also pretty amazing. Here are 5 facts about libraries that will amaze you.

1. According to the American Library Association, 58% of adults in the United States have a library card.

2. The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library. It contains over 160 million items!

3. According to the American Library Association, students in the United States make 1.5 billion visits to school libraries during the school year.

4. The highest library in the world is in Shanghai, China, 60 floors (over 757 feet) above street level.

5. The largest overdue fine for a library book was $345.14. The book was 47 years overdue!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

5 Book-to-Movie Adaptations Worth Your Time

1. Great Expectations (1947) Book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Fresh This film adaptation of the literary classic immediately became the standard for Dickens adaptations. However, none have really been able to live up to the power of this version. The use of black and white film (despite the availability of color technology) lends a degree of austerity that reflects themes from the novel quite well on the screen.

2. The Godfather (1972) Book: The Godfather by Mario Puzo Rotten Tomatoes: 99% Fresh Given that Puzo assisted with the screenplay, it may not be such a surprise that the film adaptation maintains so much of the book’s integrity. This relationship paid off, however — the film (and its franchise) is known as a cinematic behemoth. It remains one of the most frequently quoted and referenced film franchises in popular culture.

3. The Big Sleep (1947) Book: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Rotten Tomatoes: 96% Fresh This film is a great example of what skilled casting and shared vision do for a piece of art. Director Howard Hawks captures and keeps the essence of the novel while Bacall and Bogart embody it perfectly.

4. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) Book: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh There is a reason that Gregory Peck won Best Actor for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. He nails it and makes the film work. Strong screenplay and outstanding casting make this adaptation utterly wonderful.

5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Book: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh This film has become such a landmark in cinema that some may not realize that it was first a best-selling book. It is the careful and intimate adaptation of the dark and difficult themes of the book that make this film adaptation a masterpiece.

What is your favorite book-to-film adaptation?

Advice on Positive Thinking From Winnie the Pooh

1 The simplest things in life are the ones you should appreciate the most.

“What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying ‘What about a little something?’ and Me saying, ‘Well, I shouldn’t mind a little something, should you, Piglet,’ and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing.”

2 Bad things are less bad if you have friends to help you.

Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how to ask it.

“Well,” he said at last, “it’s a very nice house, and if your own house is blown down, you must go somewhere else, mustn’t you, Piglet? What would you do, if your house was blown down?”

Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.

“He’d come and live with me,” said Pooh, “wouldn’t you, Piglet?”

3 Every problem has a solution.

Then he had an idea, and I think that for a Bear of Very Little Brain, it was a good idea. He said to himself: “If a bottle can float, then a jar can float, and if a jar floats, I can sit on the top of it, if it’s a very big jar.”

4 To make a good meal great, share it with a friend.

But Christopher Robin and Pooh went home to breakfast together.

“Oh, Bear!” said Christopher Robin. “How I do love you!”

“So do I,” said Pooh.

Words for Peace Around the World

We invent words all the time: movie, jeggings, Internet . . . Did you know underwhelmed has only been around since the 1950s? Of course, we drop words just as often. When was the last time you met a cordwainer? But important words tend to stick around and influence other words in all kinds of interesting ways. Let’s take a look at one of these words, which also happens to be one we hear a lot this time of year: peace.

The words for peace in many Romance languages are direct descendants from the Latin word for peace, pax. Spanish has paz, Italian has pace, and French has paix. Paix is the modern form of the Old French word pais, which was the word that English borrowed almost a thousand years ago and transformed into peace.

Before that, the English word for peace was frith, a cognate of the modern German word for peace, Frieden. Although frith disappeared, its linguistic cousin, friend, is alive and well.

In the 1960s, Americans began to use peace, and eventually peace out, as a way of saying goodbye. The Hawaiian word for peace, aloha, is used as both a goodbye and a greeting. In Korean, the standard greeting anyoung haseyo translates literally to something like “Are you at peace?” The Arabic greeting salaam and the Hebrew greeting shalom both share a common root, sal, which means—you guessed it—peace. This same root is also an element in place names like Jerusalem and in personal names like Solomon. The Russian word for peace, mir, was the name of a space station and is an element in given names like Mirna and Vladimir.

“Peace on Earth” is a refrain we often encounter in speeches, songs, and of course, holiday cards. Depending on exactly where on Earth you happen to be, the phrase might sound completely different in the local tongue. But no matter where you are, words that mean peace are certainly worth saying.

How do you say “peace”?

Know Your Homophones: Feint and Faint

Faint: Lacking strength; inclined to swoon; lacking in courage, spirit, or energy; lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible. For example: Due to the summer heat, she began to feel dizzy and faint. In the early morning hours, the sunlight is faint on the horizon. The music in the background was faint and hardly perceptible.

Feint: A movement made to confuse the opponent, a dummy; that which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; an offensive movement resembling an attack in all but its continuance. For example: At the last minute, he feinted to the left and avoided his opponent’s grasp. After an initial feint of moving North, she continued with her initial plan of heading East.

To learn more about homophones, read this post about three confusing word pairs.

8 Email Tips for Introverts

According to the Myers-Briggs Foundation, you are an introvert if you feel most comfortable focusing on “your own inner world.” External world activities, such as talking with people directly or on the phone, prove challenging. While emailing may seem less intense, it has its challenges too. These eight tips are specially designed to make emailing as painless as possible for introverts.

1Minimize follow-ups by being thorough.

If you send an email, the last thing you want is to leave questions unanswered. People will reply to get clarification, or worse yet, they will want to talk in person. The best way to avoid this awkward situation is to cover all the details in one communiqué. Let’s look at a good and bad example.

I am updating the employee records. Please send a recent copy of your CV and a photo.

As a part of standard protocol, I am updating everyone’s employee records. Please email me a copy of your most recent CV. I also need a 2 x 2 inch (51 x 51 mm) headshot photograph taken within the last year. It doesn’t have to be professional, but it must have a solid color background. It will be used to print new identification cards, so pick one that you like!

The second example answers (and avoids) possible follow-up conversations. It encourages people to respond by email instead of dropping the materials at your office. Here are a few of the questions it answers: Why do you need the photograph? What size? Does it have to be professional? You can even go the extra mile by attaching examples of what you want your colleagues to send.

2Keep it short and sweet.

Being thorough is necessary; being wordy is not. The longer your email is, the harder it is for readers to get the point. Busy coworkers might miss the most important points if your email is a five-paragraph essay. Instead, use bullet points or include a summary at the beginning of the message. You can also add links to relevant information without spelling them out in the body of the text.

3Let your personality shine.

Email is the perfect medium to showcase your hidden talents and personality traits. For example, you probably wouldn’t be caught dead chatting at the water cooler. However, you might be quite funny with your close friends. Go ahead and be comical in your emails and group chats. If even a virtual joke seems too scary, put emojis to work! These cute little characters can roll on the floor laughing or give a cheeky wink for you. (Take into consideration the culture of your workplace. If it’s very formal, emoticons may be inappropriate.) You can also use emails to commend others, share messages with a big group, or take the lead. You don’t have to be limited by shyness if you have a computer and a keyboard.

4Practice crowd control.

Virtual groups are almost as bad as their real-life counterparts. To avoid them, limit your use of CC and BCC. (CC means “carbon copy.” BCC is blind carbon copy. You use these features to send emails to multiple recipients.) In most instances, it’s better to send each a personalized email. If you need to start a thread, include only the people essential to the task at hand. Otherwise, you might start a “reply all” nightmare. Learn more about how to CC wisely in this article about email habits.

5Answer right away.

Are you guilty of procrastination? Many introverts dread interaction, so they put off situations that bring them into contact with others. Don’t let this tendency creep into your emailing habits. Handle the majority of your emails with the 2-2-2 rule. Check your emails at least twice a day, at the beginning and toward the end of the workday. Answer immediately all emails that will take less than two minutes to handle. Star the remaining messages or mark them as unread. Set aside two hours every week to deal with these more lengthy follow-ups.

6Some emails are rhetorical.

Like questions, not every email needs an answer. Rather than stress out about replying to every email, ask yourself if the sender expects a response. For example, you can safely ignore forwards, newsletters, and voluntary surveys. Consider setting up a rule in your inbox that will automatically forward messages like these to a separate folder. On the other hand, make sure to answer invitations and direct emails promptly. If you are the sender, there’s nothing wrong with saying that no reply is required unless they have questions.

7Skip the email.

Some situations, such as asking for a promotion or expressing sympathy, are better handled in person. Email is often an inadequate means to convey a complex emotion or to deal with serious issues. Though talking face to face may seem difficult, it is preferable to inadvertently causing confusion or offense with a poorly worded email. Furthermore, never discuss private matters in an email. If you are uncomfortable with the information being forwarded or shared, it doesn’t belong in a message. If email is unavoidable, take your time. Before you send it, read it over in the perspective of the recipient. Do you sound like a human? Did you convey the right tone?

8Clinch the closing.

In real life, you may find yourself slinking slowly away from the person in an attempt to bring a discussion to a close. Why is it so difficult to end a conversation? First of all, you might want to omit an email signature. After all, don’t you want them to reply by email? If you include your phone number or your address, your are sending the signal that you welcome phone calls and visits. You know you don’t want to do that! Instead, just wrap up the message with a simple email closing. They shouldn’t be extravagant. If in doubt, “thanks” is almost always appropriate.

Which of these eight pointers will you try first? If you can master the art of effective emails, you can cultivate better relationships with others while simultaneously reducing the amount of physical interaction you have with them. What introvert could ask for anything more?

Let Your Love of Poetry Bloom: 3 Poems about Spring

It’s spring, a season of hope and renewal! Celebrate spring with these three poems about the beauty of the season.

“Flower God, God of the Spring” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Flower god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful,

Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles,

Here I wander in April

Cold, grey-headed; and still to my

Heart, Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,

Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant;

Spring, flower-planter in meadows,

Child-conductor in willowy

Fields deep dotted with bloom, daisies and crocuses:

Here that child from his heart drinks of eternity:

O child, happy are children!

She still smiles on their innocence,

She, dear mother in God, fostering violets,

Fills earth full of her scents, voices and violins:

Thus one cunning in music

Wakes old chords in the memory:

Thus fair earth in the Spring leads her performances.

One more touch of the bow, smell of the virginal

Green – one more, and my bosom

Feels new life with an ecstasy.

 

“O Were my Love yon Lilac Fair” by Robert Burns

O were my Love yon lilac fair,

Wi’ purple blossoms to the spring,

And I a bird to shelter there,

When wearied on my little wing;

How I wad mourn when it was torn

By autumn wild and winter rude!

But I wad sing on wanton wing When youthfu’ May its bloom renew’d.

 

O gin my Love were yon red rose

That grows upon the castle wa’,

And I mysel a drap o’ dew,

Into her bonnie breast to fa’;

O there, beyond expression blest,

I’d feast on beauty a’ the night;

Seal’d on her silk-saft faulds to rest,

Till fley’d awa’ by Phoebus’ light.

 

“More Than Enough by Marge Piercy”

The first lily of June opens its red mouth.

All over the sand road where we walk

multiflora rose climbs trees cascading

white or pink blossoms, simple, intense

the scene drifting like colored mist.

 

The arrowhead is spreading its creamy

clumps of flower and the blackberries

are blooming in the thickets. Season of

joy for the bee. The green will never

again be so green, so purely and lushly

 

new, grass lifting its wheaty seedheads

into the wind. Rich fresh wine

of June, we stagger into you smeared

with pollen, overcome as the turtle

laying her eggs in roadside sand.

The Basics on Subject and Object Pronouns

Odds are good that the words “subjective and objective cases” mean nothing to you. “Case” is grammarian and linguistic jargon for categories of nouns based on the function of the noun in relation to the verbs and prepositions in a sentence.

It is even more confusing in English language because many cases have disappeared. Modern Ukrainian language has seven cases. Finnish has fifteen cases. Even German, from the same language family, has four. English has three, which is about as simple as it gets linguistically. Presently, English cases are rarely taught because most native speakers are expected to develop intuitively a “feel” for the correct case usage.

However, many people still make mistakes, and the lack of educational reinforcement ends up making the confusion worse. This article will be focusing on two cases—subject (nominative) and object, in particular with first-person pronouns. If you’ve ever wondered about I vs. me, he vs. him, she vs. her, we vs. us, or they vs. them, read on.

The first thing that must be understood is that I and me are not the same. They are not synonyms. They are not interchangeable. Why? They are different cases.

Subject Pronouns, like I

Subject pronouns are those pronouns that perform the action in a sentence. They are I, you, he, she, we, they, and who. Any noun performing the main action in the sentence, like these pronouns, is a subject and is categorized as subjective case (nominative case). English grammar requires that the subject come before the verb in a sentence (except in questions).

I make cookies every Sunday for my co-workers.

In this sentence, “I” is the actor (subject pronoun) performing the action of making (verb). To check for correct case, you should be able to replace I with any other subject pronoun, modify the verb according to person and number, and have a clear sentence. In a simple declarative sentence like this, it may seem unnecessary, but checking case this way is a good habit for when you are checking more complicated sentences. Remember that subject nouns absolutely always are the actors in sentences. If action is implied, you should use subject nouns.

Object Pronouns, like Me

Object pronouns are those pronouns that receive the action in a sentence. They are me, you, him, her, us, them, and whom. Any noun receiving an action in the sentence, like these pronouns, is an object and is categorized as objective case.* An object pronoun can also be used after prepositions, i.e. “I will go with him.” In this article, we will only focus on nouns as recipients as these are the most frequently confused. With few exceptions, English grammar requires that objects follow the verb in a sentence.

I give them cookies every week.

In this sentence, “I” is the actor (subject pronoun) performing the action of making (verb). “Them” is the noun receiving the giving; it is the object. You wouldn’t ever use a subject noun after “give” here. To most native speakers and even English learners, the following incorrect sentence should grate on the ears:

I give they cookies every week.

Eek. Now consider the following example:

She gave Jim and I extra cookies.

Can you spot the problem? “I”—just like “they”—is a subject noun living in an object noun’s place. The correct sentence should have “me” (the object pronoun) following the verb:

She gave Jim and me extra cookies.

To check for correct case, you should be able to replace me with any other object pronoun and have a clear sentence. Remember that object nouns always are the recipients in sentences. If an action is happening to a noun, you should use object nouns.

She and I? Me and Her? She and Me?

Sometimes, things get tricky when you’re dealing with two pronouns at once. Should people speak to she and I? Should they speak to me and her? Or should they speak to she and me?

But there are a couple of ways to make this easy.

First, don’t mix cases. Both of the pronouns will be in either the subjective or objective case.

She and I went to the movies.

If you have any questions, you can ask either her or me.

She and me are old friends.

Second, to decide whether to use subjective or objective case, try removing one of the pronouns from the sentence.

I went to the movies.

Me went to the movies.

She and I went to the movies.

Her and me went to the movies.

Test Sentences Mark the following sentences as correct or incorrect. If the sentence is incorrect, write the correct form. Check your answers here.

1) Martha and Jim are in the office. 2) She is telling him a joke. 3) Jim made a copy of the report for Lucy and I. 4) I have to go. Mark is calling for Lucy and me. 5) Our co-workers love Martha’s cookies. 6) Jim and me are planning a surprise for Sue’s birthday. 7) We will give them extra cookies next week. 8) Who did you give the money to?

How do you remember to use subject and object pronouns correctly? How did you do on the test sentences?

*There are two degrees of objective case that receive actions—direct and indirect, which correspond to accusative and dative cases roughly.

Treasure Doving? The Past Tense of Dive

Many folks’ grammar abilities take a nosedive when it comes to this verb. After this article, that will all be in the past. But does that mean your grammar abilities nosedived, or nosedove?

Dive on in to get the details on the difference between dived and dove.

What it means and how it conjugates

To dive is an verb meaning: To swim under water To jump into water head-first To descend sharply or steeply Or, figuratively: To undertake with enthusiasm, or to plunge into a subject, question, business, etc.

Here’s how it looks when you conjugate it:

Present tense I/you dive She/he dives We/They dive

Past tense I/you dove or dived She/he dove or dived We/they dove or dived

As you can see, dove and dived are both accepted as past-tense conjugations of the verb. Which one you choose depends a bit on where you’re doing your diving, but grammatically, neither one will make your readers dive for cover.

Just avoid diven. You may say “I drive, I drove, I have driven,” but stick to dived when present perfect and past perfect tenses get involved.

Now let’s talk pronunciation. The past-tense verb dove, which has to do with jumping into water, looks a lot like the noun dove, which is a symbolically peaceful type of bird. The words are homographs, meaning they’re spelled the same but have different meanings and (in this case) different pronunciations. The bird version has an “uh” sound to rhyme with “shove” or “glove,” while the verb has a hard “o,” same as the “o” in “nose.” That’s a good way to remember how to pronounce it, but unfortunately “nosedove” hasn’t caught up with dove in being accepted as a newfangled past-tense formation. (“Took a nosedive” is probably your safest bet, at least grammatically).

Why torture people with two verb forms?

Even though the rules about which form to use are relatively lax, it’s kind of confusing to have two separate versions of one verb. But it wasn’t always like this.

According to the juicy rumors of the etymology world, dove originated about two hundred years ago. Dived had been the accepted form before that, but dove dove into existence (ha) as a closer parallel to analogous past tense forms, like drove for drive and wove for weave. If you think dived sounds weird, “I drived home after work” sounds even kookier.

Outside North America, dived is the more common variant; some of our friends across the pond would cringe at the newfangled dove.

Here are some examples with different meanings of dive from some British (or old-fashioned) books and publications.

Examples using dived

To move downward quickly: “[T]he bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one. But not for nothing was Harry the youngest Seeker in a century.” —J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 280

To experience rapid deceleration: “Its shares dived 5.5% after it said like-for-like revenues had risen 1% in recent weeks, compared with 2.8% growth in the three months to 30 April.” —BBC

To plunge into water: “Oh, Ahab! what shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied air!” —Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 122)

And, for good measure, let’s dive on over to the other side of the pond.

Examples using dove

To descend quickly and (here) aggressively: “Then he was up, pulling Lex back onto her feet, and running with Tim a few feet forward while overhead two more birds wheeled and dove toward them, screaming. At the last moment, he pushed the kids to the ground, and the big shadows flapped past.” —Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, 313 To start work enthusiastically: “Jack dove into the project, hiring chemists and experimenting with different mixes of natural latex, organic essential oils, and water to see what he could create.” —Forbes

And, again, to plunge into water: “A maid-of-honor in Stroud, England, dove into a lake in her bridesmaid dress to save a gosling from a swan that was trying to drown it.” —The Huffington Post

So, in summary:

Dived and dove are both accepted past-tense forms of the verb to dive Dove is used more frequently in the United States and Canada; dived is more common outside North America The word usually means plunging into water, but don’t forget about its figurative uses Don’t pronounce dove (the verb) the same as dove (the bird)

How Well Do You Know Your Literary Characters?

8 Ways to Show Gratitude at Work

As published in Glamour magazine, a little thankfulness can make you more successful at work. How so? The article reports that a study by the email scheduling app Boomerang identified three email sign-offs that result in the best response rates—thanks in advance, thanks, and thank you. If a simple email signature has such a profound effect, just think of what you can achieve with a genuine act of appreciation! Here are eight ways to show your colleagues how grateful you really are.

Say It Aloud

Saying thank you will make your coworkers feel nice, but they aren’t the only ones who will reap benefits from a kind word or two. A study from the John Templeton Foundation reported that almost all of the 2,000 participants reported that saying thank you to fellow workers made them feel a sense of happiness and fulfillment. Yes, saying thank you is as important as hearing it at work. The same study reported that only 40 percent of these same workers expressed gratitude at work more than once a year. Why don’t you change the trend today? Reflect over the past few months. Who deserves a sincere thanks?

Friendship

What’s the highest motivator to “go the extra mile” at work? According to Laura Troyani, an employee engagement expert, the majority of employees make an extra effort if they are friends with their colleagues. A Globoforce study suggests three benefits of workplace friendships—improved productivity, higher rates of employee retention, and happier workers. What can you do to encourage social interaction at your workplace? Why not host a social event? Whether it’s a simple lunch out on the town or a company mixer, coworkers might enjoy getting to know each other if you can create a warm, relaxed atmosphere at your gathering.

Pay Increases

Almost everyone would agree that the economy has had its ups and downs. Even full-time workers sometimes complain about how hard it is to make ends meet. In a research study of what high-performing workers want at work, competitive compensation and bonuses topped the list of desirable rewards. Periodically, company leaders should compare how their salaries compare to their competitors. In high-profit quarters, they can consider sharing some of the bounty with the valuable people behind the scenes.

Flexibility

In the same study mentioned above, high achievers also ranked flexibility high on their wish list. To have the flexibility to take their vacation time when they want to is essential to some employees. Others would prefer flexibility in their work hours or in their work location. The only way to find out what appeals to your colleagues is to ask! And if you are an employee, don’t hesitate to make your desires known to your boss. If you prove that it will increase your productivity, they just may be motivated to make all your dreams come true.

Create a Space for Recognition

If you desire to show or receive more recognition for your hard work, you can rest assured that you are not alone. One company gets together regularly for “hatitude.” In a biannual ritual, workers take turns wearing a silly hat during a business dinner. The hat-wearer gets showered with thanks for all the great things they did in the last six months. All it takes is a bulletin board and a few post-it notes to encourage coworkers to acknowledge each other’s strengths and successes. If you are short on space or work in a virtual environment, you can still use technology to spread the spirit of gratitude. A periodic email newsletter or a designated channel of your group’s messaging tool can accomplish the same purpose.

Gifts

Nothing says “I appreciate you” like gifts. More than 75 percent of companies provide gifts for high-achieving team members via recognition programs, according to an article in Time magazine. What kinds of gifts are popular? Workers receive office supplies, watches, and even computer software through recognition programs. Some companies allow workers to select from a catalog of gifts while others offer gift cards redeemable at stores and restaurants. The same article quotes the Aberdeen Group: “Being able to track the effectiveness of engagement and recognition efforts can help organizations better align engagement with business objectives and improve performance.” In other words, companies learn from following the proportionate increases in employee production and morale.

Time and a Listening Ear

Though it might be tempting to eat your sandwich at your desk or run out the door the minute the clock reaches closing time, staying a few extra moments is a way to express appreciation. How’s that? Showing that you have time to listen to others indicates that you appreciate their opinion. Spending time with colleagues during free time demonstrates how much you value their company.

Food

Did someone help you out at work? A tasty lunch is a excellent way to express your thanks. To thank a large group, bake cookies, muffins, or a cake for the break room. If baking isn’t your forte, you can easily pick up a box of donuts or a vegetable platter on your way to work. To avoid triggering allergies, display an index card with the ingredients for any homemade treats. Or better yet, send out an email with the recipe.

From email closings to ice cream socials, showing gratitude is an easy and beneficial thing to do. Not only will you make fellow workers feel appreciated, but also you will feel more positive yourself as you actively look for the good in others. How will you display your appreciation for your hard-working associates? You are only limited by your creativity.

Congradulations or Congratulations—Which Is Right?

• Congratulations is correct.
• Congradulations is a common misspelling.

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When something important and meaningful happens to someone, it’s nice to acknowledge it. But before we do, we need to double-check our spelling.

Congradulations vs. Congratulations—Which Is Correct?

There’s just one way to spell it, and that’s congratulations, with a T. This word came into English from Latin, where it was formed by combining the prefix com-, meaning “with,” to the root gratulari, meaning “give thanks” or “show joy.”

Congradulations, with a D, or congraduation, for that matter, is plain wrong:

No need for congradulations just yet—Paul still has some tough exams to pass before he graduates.

I think that congratulations are in order.

Jenny got promoted yesterday; we should text her congradulations.

Congratulations, you won a free weekend at the spa!

I sent a congradulations card, but I think I made a spelling mistake.

When we give congratulations, we are taking part in someone else’s happiness.

Example

Congratulations go out to Carter, as well as the faculty who helped him along, and best wishes for continued academic successes in the future.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Former India cricketers Anil Kumble and Mohammad Kaif extended their wishes and congratulations to Yuvraj Singh on his upcoming wedding with model-actress Hazel Keech.

The Indian Express

There’s nothing wrong with making a spelling mistake here and there, as long as you notice it and correct it in time. And there are plenty of chances to make mistakes, so make sure you brush up on the spelling of other commonly misspelled words, like “occurred,” “separate,” and “forty.”

Good vs. Well–How Should I Use Them?

A common English error is to misuse the words good and well. The rule of thumb is that good is an adjective and well is an adverb. Good modifies a noun; something can be or seem good. Well modifies a verb; an action can be done well. However, when you’re talking about health, well can be used as an adjective.

All you need to remember when you are pondering whether good or well is best for your sentence is that good modifies a person, place, or thing, whereas well modifies an action. If you’re having a good day, then your day is going well.

Did you do good on your exams?

Did you do well on your exams?

I can’t believe it! I did good on the test.

I can’t believe it! I did well on the test.

Here, we have a clear action verb: to do. Do should be modified with well, not good.

This is well lasagna!

This is good lasagna!

Lasagna is a noun—a thing—that should be modified with good. Nonaction verbs, like to be, to look, to seem, and to feel can also take good, the adjectival form.

Today, at last, life is good .

An Exception to the Well/Good Rule: Health and Wellbeing

When we refer to a person’s health or wellbeing, well is customarily used as an adjective.

She asked about David’s illness, and I told her he is good now.

She asked about David’s illness, and I told her he is well now.

When you tell someone “Be good!” you are talking about the behavior of that person. However, to say, “Be well!” is to express a wish for their good health.

3 Charles Dickens Characters You Don’t Want to Meet

The great English writer Charles Dickens is known for his well-crafted characters. While some of the characters we meet in Dickens’ novels are endearing heroes, others are sinister villains. Here are three Dickens characters you would never want to meet.

Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist A career criminal, violent abuser, and murderer, Bill Sikes is at the top of the list of characters to avoid. This is how Dickens describes him: “…a stoutly-built fellow of about five-and-thirty, in a black velveteen coat, very soiled drab breeches, lace-up half boots, and grey cotton stockings which enclosed a bulky pair of legs, with large swelling calves—the kind of legs, which in such costume, always look in an unfinished and incomplete state without a set of fetters to garnish them. He had a brown hat on his head, and a dirty belcher handkerchief round his neck: with the long frayed ends of which he smeared the beer from his face as he spoke. He disclosed, when he had done so, a broad heavy countenance with a beard of three weeks’ growth, and two scowling eyes; one of which displayed various parti-coloured symptoms of having been recently damaged by a blow.”

Daniel Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop Daniel Quilp is a sneaky manipulator who uses secrets as currency. A condescending liar, Quilp can’t be trusted. If you met him on the street, it would be wise to keep your head down and walk the other way.

Miss Havisham in Great Expectations Although her cruelty stems from the deep pain of betrayal and rejection, Miss Havisham is cruel nonetheless. She meddles in both Pip and Estella’s lives, encouraging love in one and brutal indifference in the other. Miss Havisham succeeds in hurting everyone close to her and ruins the lives of others as a consequence. She’s destructive, manipulative, and cruel. Watch out!

Which Dickens character is your favorite villain? Let us know in the comments!

Are You a Word Nerd?

Grammar is cool now (it’s still cool, right?) so it’s okay to wave your red pen in the air like you just don’t care. Take the quiz below and find out just how much of a word nerd you really are. Give yourself a point for each statement you agree with.

• You correct the lyrics to pop songs as you sing along. It’s the “one who got away,” Katy Perry.
• The “ten items or less” sign at the grocery store still sends you into a rage after all these years.
• You have a favorite style guide and will defend it to the death.
• You’ve written “stet” in the margins of a paper at least once.
• You know when to hyphenate a compound modifier.
• You’ve lost at least one friend over the use of the Oxford comma.
• You have a favorite punctuation mark.
• You have a favorite font.
• The misuse of “decimate” or “enormity” makes you disproportionately mad.
• You’ve traded your proofreading services for beer and/or pizza.
• You text in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
• You have a print copy of a dictionary. (Give yourself a bonus point if it’s the Oxford English Dictionary.)
• It doesn’t matter how many people use it wrong; you’ll never say “literally” when you really mean “figuratively.”
• You know when to use “i.e.” and when to use “e.g.” in a sentence.
• Grammar on Twitter gives you hives.
• You were really excited when Facebook started letting you correct your posts.
• You’ve corrected a grammar mistake on a public sign.
• You know what “nonplussed” means and have used it in a sentence.
• The use of apostrophes to indicate plurals makes you weep for the future.
• You’ve spent way too long at The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks or Apostrophe Catastrophes.
• When reading aloud, you say “bang” whenever you encounter an exclamation point.
• You pity the fools who use “whom” incorrectly in an attempt to sound smarter.
• You take grammar quizzes online for fun.
• You’re actually not great at Scrabble/Words With Friends because you’d rather spell the coolest word possible than the one that gives you the most points.
• You follow Grammarly on Facebook.

Scoring:

1-6: Sorry, but you’re not a grammar nerd. Study The Elements of Style and get back to us in a month.

7-12: Although you know your way around a sentence, you don’t diagram them for fun.

13-18: You have a red pen on your person at all times.

19-24: You sleep with a thesaurus under your pillow so you can dream new of new words.

25+: You are the ultimate word nerd. May all lesser word nerds bow before you.

What did you rate? Share your score below!