Language Lab

A spoonful of sarcasm helps the medicine go down

January 1, 2010

From Cracking the GRE, a test-prep manual by Doug Pierce: You will also see a fourth, unidentified, experimental section on the GRE. This section will either be Math or Verbal and will look exactly like the real Math or Verbal section . . ., but it won’t count toward your score. ETS [the company that [...]

Continue reading . . .

Exit left, pursued by an English teacher

June 21, 2009

British government opposes “i before e, except after c.” To be honest, I don’t know where I stand on such a dangerous and controversial topic. In my head, “i before e, except after c” is most often processed as “e before i after c. Usually.” ETA: Husband has informed me of a mnemonic for some [...]

Continue reading . . .

Hand homonyms: victory or peace?

June 16, 2009

A language question that has baffled me since I was a child (I blame Nixon): how do you know if this two-fingered hand gesture shown below means victory or peace? Written/spoken homonyms are generally understood by their context, but without other words forming a sentence around it, how should this isolated sign be read? The [...]

Continue reading . . .