Conscience is a noun. It’s that inner voice inside your head that gives you some “moral” guidance – to know the difference between right and wrong. The conscience is what is responsible for making people feel guilty of actions they did or did not do. For example, I should go to the gym tonight and work out. I have a guilty conscience because I know I won’t go. But what clears my conscience is knowing that I am working on this blog post – not just lazing around. That's today's excuse, anyway.

Conscious is an adjective. Conscious is a description of a state. If you’re awake, you are conscious – meaning that you are aware of your surroundings. But being asleep is not the same as being unconscious. A sleeping person will respond to loud noises or a gentle shake – an indication that they are aware of their surroundings – whereas an unconscious person will not.

The origin of Halloween begins in Ireland’s Celtic past. I take pride in knowing that the Whelan’s (my surname) were among the first to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.

The celebration dates back to Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). Samhain was celebrated on the 1st of November, and was much like our current New Year. And like New Year’s, the real celebration takes place the night before – to bring in the new year. The Celts ended their year with Fall – a time when all the crops would be harvested and placed in storage for a long winter.

Samhain was also spiritual in that it was believed that at this time, the boundaries between the living and dead got blurred. To ward off the evil let loose at Samhain, huge bonfires were lit and people wore ugly masks and disguises to confuse the spirits and stop the dead from identifying individuals they had disliked during their own lifetimes. Some people would leave food outside their homes in hope that their generosity could appease the dead.

As with many pagan holidays, Christianity pushed its way in to create a more “acceptable” Christian event. Sure enough, November 1st was declared to be All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows Day. The evening before became known as Hallows' Eve, and from there the origin of Halloween, as a word, is clear.

Many Americans (and thereafter Canadians) don’t realize that Halloween was never celebrated until the arrival of the Irish in the 1840s. It’s believed that when Irish immigrants moved to the US, the native pumpkin was adopted for Halloween purposes. Traditionally, it had been the Irish turnip – YIKES!
​
This year, as you celebrate Halloween, you can remember your Celtic forbears and wish one another a happy and prosperous New Year.

References:
https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/origin-of-Halloween.html
https://www.ireland-fun-facts.com/celtic-halloween.html
​

Every so often, a conversation arises where someone is accused of being either a geek or a nerd, and about 95% of the time, the designation is incorrect. It’s at this point where I make a decision – correct the info and “risk” being called a nerd, or grin and bear it and hope the conversation segues into another topic.

And that brings us here – the reason for this particular blog post.

The diagram above clarifies things visually, but let’s gets down to business.

Nerd – A nerd is a person who is very knowledgeable in an academic subject – they are practitioners. Typically, a nerd is portrayed as being intelligent, obsessed with a subject, and displays a bit of social ineptitude, which means they are socially awkward.

Geek – A geek is a person who is an enthusiast of a particular subject. They are fans, and fans collect stuff. Typically, a geek is portrayed as being intelligent and obsessed.

Dork – A dork is not too good of a term unless the dork is aware that they are a dork – then it’s funny. Today, dorks are described as people who do silly, ridiculous things. Based on the diagram above, they are typically portrayed as being obsessed (with what?) and are socially inept.

Dweeb – Out of the four, this one is the least favourable to be called. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a dweeb is someone who is boring, studious, or socially inept. The diagram indicates that dweebs are also considered intelligent – though I beg to differ.

I’m sure people will have strong opinions on these distinctions. In my opinion, nerds and geeks are the new 
“cool kids”, but that’s my bias surfacing as I fall a little bit into both categories. 

Cats feature very often in English idioms, and since I love cats, I thought I’d relate to you the origin of one.

A cat nap is a short, light sleep. It is also known as a power nap. A short cat nap is about 20 minutes long.

Did you know the origin of napping all started in Ancient Egypt? Cats were considered sacred, so the Pharaohs began to emulate this animal’s behaviour. When I nap, I tend to copy my cats’ behaviour a little more literally – by taking a two-hour nap.

I wonder if this is also the origin of copycat?

Source:
https://blog.abaenglish.com/english-expression-cat-nap/

​Thinking about what I would post for the end of a hot summer day in July, I thought it might be “cool” to write about a well-known idiom, the dog days of summer.
 
So I looked it up.
 
The ‘dog days of summer’ is an expression used to describe the uncomfortably hot, sultry days of summer. There’s a lot to do about Greek and Roman astrology, but the short of it is that it is connected to the star Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major (Greater Dog). It is known more commonly as the “dog star”.
 
Because it’s the brightest star in the sky, it received a lot of attention from ancient astronomers. It became known as the precursor to the unbearably hot phase of summer. People believed that this star was responsible for bringing the hottest and driest periods of the summer.
 
Ready for some science?
 
While it is true that Sirius is the brightest star in the sky from Earth, it has no effect on the planet’s weather or temperature. Also true is that the star continues to return to the night sky in the Northern hemisphere in late summer. However, its position will continue to shift gradually and in about 10,000 years, it will actually appear in the middle of winter.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_days

Let’s talk about it, eh?
 
Internationally, Canadians are mocked for their use of  “eh”. It’s recognized as a uniquely Canadian form of speech, often to the point of exaggeration and stereotype. And we’re so aware of this stereotype that we play along and create awesome shows of the likes of “Bob and Doug MacKenzie”, which started as a famous skit on SCTV.
 
But did you know that not only does it exist in other languages, but it also does not originate in Canada?
 
“Eh” has its roots in Middle English and has been recorded in writings as far back as Chaucer. That’s the 1300s!
 
Similar interjections exist in other languages, such as Dutch, Armenian, Hokkien Chinese, Japanese, French, Finnish, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, Malay, Spanish, Persian, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, Catalan, and Filipino.
 
In Canada, “eh” is an interjection, meaning, "Excuse me?" "Please repeat that", or as many of our American neighbours might know it by, "Huh?”. It is also commonly used as an alternative to the question tag “right?” like asking for confirmation in “It’s hot out, eh?”
 
To understand all of the nuances of the Canadian “eh”, a student from the University of Toronto, Elaine Gold, compiled a list by conducting a survey in 2004. This is the most extensive list of the different variations.

Fun, eh?

Sources:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/eh/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh

My co-workers and I got the chance to do some team building at an escape room last week. The theme all around took place in Ottawa, Canada in the 1920s. The room I played in was called The Parlour, where bootlegging was rumoured to have occurred. It was after we "escaped" and celebrated that we questioned how selling alcohol illegally became to be known as bootlegging.

​And as we have it, we live in the day of Google, so I found the answer.

And now I shall share it with you.

From 1920-1933, there was a national prohibition of alcohol in the United States. It stemmed from something called the "temperance movement", which attributed alcohol to all of society’s ills. A not-so-fun experiment to reduce crime and corruption. ​

The word seems to have first appeared in the American Midwest in the 1880s to denote the practice of concealing flasks of illicit alcohol in boots when going to trade with Native Indians. The term became part of the American vocabulary during its Prohibition (of alcohol) period, from 1920 until its repeal in 1933. 

What's interesting is that Canada actually had a prohibition period itself, although for a significantly shorter period of time. I guess we quickly said something to the effect of "f*ck that sh*t."​

Sources:

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/bootlegging 
• http://prohibitionincanada.blogspot.ca/p/smuggling-bootegging-and-something.html
  

TRICK #1
Now this trick only works when dealing with sentences. I have another trick for when we get into questions.
 
Look at the word that follows who/whom. If the word is a verb, then use who. If the word that follows is a noun/pronoun, then use whom.
 
While not everyone might know or even think about it, word order for the English language is Subject-Verb-Object, also known as SVO. Now pretend that this goes on forever:
SVOSVOSVOSVO…
 
Example:
I want to know who/whom you love.
Logic used: The word that follows “who/whom” is “you”.
“You” is a pronoun.
It fits into the pattern this way: SVOSVO
Correct: I want to know whom you love.
 
Example:
I wonder who/whom borrowed the book.
Logic used: The word that follows “who/whom” is “borrowed”.
“Borrowed” is a verb.
It fits into the pattern this way: SVOSVO
Correct: I wonder who borrowed the book.
 
TRICK #2
But you know what? This could be tricky for some people, so here’s an even simpler way:
 
Who = she/he (subject)
Whom – her/him (object)
 
Example:
I want to know who/whom you love.
Ask yourself, what sounds right?
You love he. / You love him.
Correct: I want to know whom you love.
 
Example:
I wonder who/whom borrowed the book.
Ask yourself, what sounds right?
She borrowed the book. / Her borrowed the book.
Correct: I wonder who borrowed the book. -
  
Let’s use examples that are in the form of questions:

Example:
Who/whom did you invite to the party?
Ask yourself, which sounds right?
I invited he. / I invited him.
Correct: Whom did you invite to the party?
 
Example:
Who/whom was the first to step foot on the moon?
Ask yourself, which sounds right?
He was the first. / Him was the first.
Correct: Who was the first to step foot on the moon?
 
Still having trouble? Well, good news. I don’t think too many people would care or even notice if 'whom' slips out of the language altogether. It doesn't add clarity, or even useful nuance. Using it adds a bit of class, but not using it is not the error it might once have been.

​So in the end, who cares?

It’s odd, isn’t it?

​A “pair” means two, but when we speak of a pair of pants, we mean only one article of clothing.
 
Well, the answer goes back to a time when pants (or pantaloons) were actually two separate pieces of fabric. You had to put them on separately. You had to put one on one leg, tie it around your waist, and then repeat the same for the other piece. 
 
I guess the phrasing was retained even when pants became one article of clothing.
 
Shirts only came in one piece, so I guess no one was ever inspired to call it a pair of shirts.
 
Knowing is growing.

References:
https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-say-a-pair-of-pants
​

Someone showed me a cool app called the Hemingway Editor. It’s like a spellchecker, but for readability. It decides which grade level is required to understand your text.

It turns out that the average reading level of American adults is about 7th to 8th grade level. And here’s another interesting tidbit: people prefer to read 2 grade levels below what they’re actually capable of when reading for fun.
​
So when writing, it’s best to think about not how you like to write, but how your audience likes to consume information. Writing scores at a 10th grade level is not better than writing at an 8th grade level. Writing at a high grade level will often mean that it is confusing, full of tedious words like adverbs, and filled with jargon.

That’s why this app is pretty cool. It will highlight all those troubling areas for you. If your sentences are a little difficult to read, the app will highlight them in yellow. If they are very difficult to read, the app highlights them in red. The app even points out when a simpler word could be used, and when you’re using the passive voice.

You should definitely still get your writing edited, but it might make you see things in a different light, and make you a better writer.

For sure I’m going to start using it.

​In fact, I used it for this blog post! See the image below.

References:

1. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/help.html
2. https://www.wriber.com/writing-below-a-grade-8-reading-level/
3. http://www.clearlanguagegroup.com/readability/

Last month, we learned about adverb clauses.
In this month’s blog post, we will learn two things:

• How to convert an adverb clause into an adverb phrase
• Avoid dangling modifiers

 
To recap, an adverb clause is dependent clause that modifies the independent clause.
 
Example:
While I was sitting at the bar, I watched the fight.
 
The part of the sentence that is underlined is the adverb clause. It cannot stand alone without the help of the main (independent) clause.
 
All clauses contain a subject and a verb. But today we want to talk about converting that adverb clause into an adverb phrase. An adverb phrase may or may not contain a subject and a verb. In this example, you would remove the subject and the verb BE (was).
 

​Example:
While sitting at the bar, I watched the fight.
 
If there is no BE form of the verb, eliminate the subject and change the verb to the –ing ending.
Example:
Before I got up, I cuddled with my cat.  – the underlined section is the adverb clause
Before getting up, I cuddled with my cat. – The underlined section is the converted adverb phrase.
 
Now the important factor to take into account when deciding if you can convert an adverb clause into an adverb phrase is whether the subject in both clauses is the same. If it is, as in both examples already provided, then you can reduce the clause to a phrase. However, if the subjects are not the same, you cannot change the adverb clause.
Example:
While I was watching Game of Thrones, my phone rang. – you cannot reduce the adverb clause into an adverb phrase.
 
This is where the trouble of dangling modifiers comes in. Some people would reduce that clause into a phrase, but that is wrong.
While watching Game of Thrones, my phone rang.  – This is bad. Do not do this.
The reason why it is called a “dangling” modifier is that the modifier is incorrectly “hanging alone”, without an appropriate noun or pronoun to modify. The subject on both sides of the comma is not the same.

Remember that this short blog of just under 400 words is normally taught (at least by me) over the span of at least 3-4 classes. If you have a question, please leave a comment here and I will address as soon as possible.

References:
Focus on Grammar: An Advanced Course for Reference and Practice
Understanding and Using English Grammar - Third Edition

I wanted to write about dangling modifiers, but realized that I first need to introduce adverb clauses.
 
So here it is.
 
The blog post on dangling modifiers will appear later this year, and when it does, it shall be linked to via this post.
 
Let’s begin:
 
A clause is a group of words that have a subject and a verb. Clauses can be independent or dependent. An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence. A dependent clause cannot stand alone. It needs an independent clause to be a complete sentence and to be fully understood.
 
Adverb clauses are dependent clauses – they cannot stand alone. They must be combined with an independent clause.
 
Adverb clauses answer questions like how, when, where, and why. Adverb clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions.
 
Examples of subordinating conjunctions are:
After 
When
While
Because
Now that
Even though
If 
Unless
 
There are rules when writing out a sentence that includes an adverb clause. When a sentence begins with an adverb clause, you must use a comma to separate the dependent clause from the independent clause. However, no comma should be used when the adverb clause is introduced at the end of a sentence.
 
In each example, I will underline the adverb clause:

• After Bonnie worked out, she took a shower. / Bonnie took a shower after she worked out.
• When the cats are outside, they eat the grass. / The cats eat the grass when they are outside.
• While doing her homework, Victoria was listening to music. / Victoria was listening to music while doing her homework.
• Because he was sleepy, he went to bed. / He went to bed because he was sleepy.
• Now that she’s 16, she can get her nose pierced. / She can get her nose pierced now that she is 16.
• Even though it’s Sunday, I still have to work. / I still have to work even though it’s Sunday.
• If I work out, I’ll feel better. / I’ll feel better if I work out.
• Unless it’s raining, I’ll ride my bike tomorrow. / I’ll ride my bike tomorrow unless it’s raining.

If for any reason I failed to help you understand, please either leave a comment, or Contact me, and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

Oversight is a funny word in that it has two opposite meanings:

• Watchful or regulatory supervision.
• A mistake made because someone failed to notice something.

 
Examples of Oversight with the meaning of “supervision”

• As manager, she has oversight over several projects.
• As regulator, their job is to maintain oversight of the industry.
• George Orwell described the extreme of government oversight in his book, 1984.

 
Examples of Oversight with the meaning of a “careless error”

• The President’s claim of having the all-time record of being on the cover of Time magazine is clearly an oversight. He’s only been on the cover 11 times; Nixon was on the cover 55 times.
• Not including you in the email invite was just an oversight. I’m sorry.

 
Welcome to English, my friends. ​😊

The short and sweet of it is that while both these words sound very similar to each other, they do have different meanings.

Disburse can only be used in the context of one paying out money or other funds, exclusively.

Disperse is used when one is distributing anything other than money. It has a second meaning as well - to scatter or to make disappear.

They say a picture says a thousand words. I think you'll agree that this is true in this case.

A dessert is a sweet food usually served as the final course of a meal, although I've been known to only have dessert for lunch. 😀
The stress (accent) is on the second syllable (dez-URT). Click dessert for pronunciation.

Desert can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, it is a dry, barren area of land where there is little rainfall. As a result, there is a lack of water and vegetation. The stress is on the first syllable (DEZ-urt). Click desert for pronunciation.

As a verb, desert means to abandon. The stress is on the second syllable, sounding similar to the sweet food, dessert.

A good way to remember the difference in spelling if you are having difficulty is to remember that a dessert is usually super sweet. Super Sweet Desserts (double the 's').
​
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Fun Fact: Did you know that "desserts" spelled backwards is "stressed"?

This is called a semordnilap, which is a term coined in recent years to refer to words and phrases that also make sense when read backwards, but have a different meaning from when they are read forwards -- itself a semordniliap of "palindromes".