Hi friends!

How do you like studying English grammar? Well, that?s not a difficult question to answer because most of us find grammar classes extremely boring. In fact, even teachers sometimes feel that grammar is like giving a child cough medicine. Some take it without flinching; others ? those with a mental block about grammar ? blanch at the mere mention of the word.

But all said and done, you must learn grammar if you want to master a language. And after all, language skills are essential if you want to excel at the various competitive and college entrance exams.

So, friends, I have for you a website that is dedicated to teaching you the intricacies of Queen?s English, more specifically, the common errors in its usage. The site is the web version of Common Errors in English Usage, a book by Paul Brians. This website is a little different from other websites, because the url is not a simple ?xyz.com? that we are used to. Type this entire path ? http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors ? to reach the website. But it will be worth the effort. The site not only gives you a huge list of common errors, it also gives you a big list of non-errors? those usages people keep telling you are wrong but which are actually standard in English.

I will leave you with an example. ?AM stands for the Latin phrase Ante Meridiem ?which means ?before noon??and ?PM? stands for Post Meridiem : ?after noon.? Although digital clocks routinely label noon as ?12:00 PM? you should avoid this expression not only because it is incorrect, but because many people will imagine you are talking about midnight instead. The same goes for ?12:00 AM.? Just say or write ?noon? or ?midnight?. Simple, isn?t it?

Abhinay Dey

abhinay@abpmail.com