Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from 2014
Are you baffled by the perplexing terminology favored by American politicians and pundits? A new book by Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark is here to help. Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes is an informative and humorous guide to deciphering contemporary political lingo. Here we present an excerpt from the book's introduction.
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Blog Excerpts
From IRA's "Reading Today," a Vocab Success Story
English teacher Jennifer Johnston explains how she changed word learning at her school...almost overnight.
In anticipation of her school's "official jump" to the Common Core, English teacher Jennifer Johnston of Rialto High, in Rialto, CA created a dramatic new word learning program using Vocabulary.com. She was hoping for measurable improvement. What she ended up with was a dramatic change. Now, in the International Reading Association's online magazine Reading Today, Johnston explains how she made this happen.
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Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
A Personality Test: What Does "Good" Say About You?
Find new ways to replace this often overused word.
Find out where the word "good" leads you in this tongue-in-cheek personality quiz flowchart from Vocabulary.com.
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The distinction between less and fewer is one of the most popular rules in the peevers' arsenal. Students have it drilled into their heads that fewer is for things you can count while less is for things you can't. But there's a problem: the rule as it's commonly taught is wrong, and it's dulling our sense of what's actually right.
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Garbage is such a trashy word. It suggests rubbish, waste, and, well, garbage. So why not put a positive spin on refuse with the term non-core assets? It applies equally well to financial garbage and garbage garbage, not to mention anything else that's not worth a lick.
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Welcome to the latest in our series of quick tips on usage and style shared by Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl. In this tip, Mignon has some advice on confusion over "ban together" versus "band together."
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Vocabulary Shout-Out
In "Good Old Days," Word Learning was Still a Challenge
A children's classic debunks the myth that our ancestors were less intimidated by words
Teachers and parents may drive themselves crazy with the thought that vocabulary learning among today's children is "not what it used to be." But one primary source document suggests that children a century ago found long words to be just as intimidating as they do now.
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