A while and awhile: understand the difference
Write a while after a preposition, as in for a while or in a while, and in a while ago or a while back. Write awhile when it directly follows and modifies a verb, as in wait awhile.
Everyday listening
Start with short recordings, then work through longer phrases. Listen once for the situation and again for the words.
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Abstract nouns: identify ideas, qualities, and states
Use an abstract noun when you need to name an idea, feeling, quality, action, or state. In Her courage impressed the audience, courage names a quality rather than a person or object.
Accept or except: meaning, pronunciation, and sentence use
Use accept for receiving or agreeing to something. Use except for saying that something does not belong in the group you have just named.
Acronyms and abbreviations: understand the difference
Every acronym is an abbreviation, but not every abbreviation is an acronym. An acronym comes from initial letters and is said as one word; a general abbreviation may simply shorten a word, and an initialism is said letter by letter.
Active and passive voice: choose the clearer sentence
In active voice, the subject does the action: The team finished the report. In passive voice, the subject receives the action: The report was finished by the team.
Adapt or adopt: which verb do you need?
Adapt means change or become suitable for a situation. Adopt means choose, accept, or take something as your own.
Adjective and preposition combinations
Treat the adjective and preposition as one unit: good at, interested in, afraid of, responsible for, and proud of. After the preposition, use a noun phrase, a pronoun, or an -ing form for an activity.
Adjective collocations
Learn an adjective with the nouns it commonly describes. Notice the whole pair in a sentence, then reuse it when the meaning fits.
Adjectives exercise: choose natural descriptions in context
Put a single describing adjective before the noun or after a linking verb such as be. With several adjectives, start with an opinion or size, then add details such as age, colour, origin, material, and purpose.
Adverb order in English sentences
When manner, place, and time all come after a verb, use manner plus place plus time: They practiced carefully in the hall after lunch. Keep the verb and its object together before these details. Move a time or place phrase when you have a reason to set the scene or emphasize it.
Adverb placement: where to put often, already, and carefully
Put an adverb of frequency such as often or never before an ordinary main verb, but after be. Put a manner adverb such as carefully after the verb and its object. With an auxiliary verb, place many time and frequency adverbs after the first auxiliary.
Adverb position: put adverbs in natural places
Put frequency adverbs before most main verbs and after be. Put manner adverbs after the action, often after its object. With an auxiliary or modal verb, many mid-position adverbs come after the first auxiliary or modal.