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Tags: Holidays, Just Plain Helpful, Time Management, Useful Information by Debra
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Shortest Day of the Year!

Happy winter solstice! Stay warm…nicer weather is only 3 months away!

Maybe this is why we put lights up…

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Tags: Holidays, Small Talk, Study Break by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Holidays

The holidays are here! Even though Christmas gets most of the attention, it’s important to acknowledge the other holidays around this time of year: Hanuka, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and Halloween…

(maybe Halloween is stretching out the season too far, but when I went witch-hat shopping for my costume, all I found were Christmas trees)

The idea to remember here is that there is a lot happening this time of year, so sometimes all the activity gets lumped together into one big season: The Holiday Season, or simply, The Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Debra at Allenglish.org!

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Tags: Holidays, Puzzling Plurals, Small Talk by Debra
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Link to Webinar: How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better

If you’re looking for something to do with your time off this winter break, this webinar is, well, educational…

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Tags: Listening, Reflective Teaching, Teaching Tips by Debra
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Writing and Saying the Date in the United States

Writing and saying the date in English varies slightly from country to country, but here is a quick guide for you if you are in the United States.

Writing:

Put the month first, then the day, then the year. Always. If you don’t, you’ll confuse bank tellers.
When writing, you can choose to spell the entire month, or abbreviate. Abbreviations for months are the first three letters, then a period. So they are: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May, June, July, Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. and Dec. Notice May, June, and July aren’t abbreviated.
If you abbreviate the spelling of the month, you cannot shorten the year. Example: Dec. 15, 2010 (correct); Dec. 15, 10 (incorrect).
Capitalize the months (even in the abbreviated form) because they are proper nouns.
Sometimes you can write the date before the month, but you have to use the ordinal form, then “of”, then the month. Example: The 15th of December. This way is usually formal (as seen on wedding invitations or the 4th of July) so don’t abbreviate the month.
You can abbreviate with numbers. Example: December 15, 2010 can be written 12/15/10. (Notice the year is shortened to just the last two numbers). You can also write: 12/15/2010.
Punctuation is important. It goes Month Day Comma Year (December 15, 2010)…separate the day and the year with a comma – otherwise, you’ll have too many numbers in a row, and that gets confusing. If you abbreviate the month, it goes Mon Period Day Comma Year (Dec. 15, 2010).

Speaking

Use ordinal numbers. Example: What’s today’s date? The fifteenth (you don’t always have to say the month); I was born on the third of January. We’re meeting on the eighth, right?

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Tags: Grammar, Just Plain Helpful, Punctuation, Speaking in General, Writing by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Regards, Part I

Writing regards is an offer of good wishes and is commonly used to close a letter or formal e-mail. When “regard” is used to close a letter, it appears in the plural form. Don’t forget to add the -s!

Regards,

Debra

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