5 Garden Path Sentences That Drive English Speakers Crazy

Below are five grammatically correct sentences. Can you figure out what they mean, and explain how you figured it out?

1. The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.

2. The prime number few.

3. The old man the boat.

4. The cotton shirts are made of grows in Mississippi.

5. The man who whistles tunes pianos.

All of these are examples of what we call garden path sentences. This term probably gets its name from the saying "to be led down or up the garden path," which means to be tricked, deceived, or seduced. Garden path occurs because some English words or group of words are often ambiguous. This means that these sentences can be interpreted in more than one way, and, as senior educator Brian Wasko puts it, "we readers are led down the garden path because we assume a meaning that isn't correct, then get confused by a word that doesn't seem to logically come next."

There are two types of ambiguous sentence: either there is a local ambiguity (one that is cleared up once you have heard the whole sentence), or it is a global ambiguity (one that remains even after the entire sentence has been heard). Garden path sentences normally have local ambiguity. The best way to clarify garden path's local ambiguity is to say it out loud and then analyze it by parsing.

Let's take a closer look at our five sentences, shall we?

The trick to this sentence is figuring out which word is the verb, and which is the subject. At first, it seems like "houses" is the subject and "married" is the verb---then you get to "and single," realizing too late "married and single soldiers" is a big adjective phrase. Even more confusing, "complex" seems to be an adjective modifying "houses," which makes sense logically and linguistically to us. But it turns out "complex" is meant as a noun here, as in an "office complex," and "houses" is the verb, meaning "to shelter."

So the non-confusing way to write this sentence would be: "the building shelters married and single soldiers and their families." Or to cut the redundancy, "The building shelters soldiers and their families." Basically, a needlessly complex way to describe on-base housing.

Here "prime" is being used as a noun representing "prime people," the same way "the old" represents "old people." "number" is our verb, meaning "amount to." But our brains are so used to seeing "prime number" as a noun that it's hard to separate the two on first glance. In other words: "There are few prime people around."

This deceptive sentence is indeed grammatically correct thanks to some well-placed homonyms---multiple words that share the same spellings but have different meanings. Homonym #1 here is "old," in this case being used as a noun meaning "old people" (like how you might say, "youth is wasted on the young"), not as an adjective modifying "man."

Homonym #2, as it happens, is "man," used here as verb, meaning "to serve in the force of." With that in mind, here's what the sentence is actually saying: "The old people serve on the boat."  

Until the word 'grows' we're likely to interpret the sentence as being about how "cotton clothing" is made. We assume at a glance that the word 'grows' is a verb as it has always been treated as one. But after a second or third look, we'll realize that 'grows' is used as a noun, which means "the cotton plants that are cultivated in Mississippi." It then becomes clear that the sentence really means: "The cotton from which clothing is made grows in Mississippi."

The most likely response to this would be: There are two verbs, an obvious mistake! But then you look at it once more and realized that 'whistles' is part of the relative clause (also called adjective clause) 'who whistles,' which refers to its antecedent, 'the man.' To be honest, this sentence can be fixed just by placing a comma after the relative clause. Ultimately, this sentence can primarily be interpreted as "the man who whistles, can also tune pianos."

There are a lot more of these garden path sentences, you can look them up, or perhaps, you can make your own, too!

*examples and some definitions are credited to Reader's Digest.

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20 Words You Think Are Synonyms But Aren’t

Just because the thesaurus lists two words as synonyms doesn't mean that you can simply slot one in for the other. There are so many of them, but let's get started with these 20 words!

Ms. vs Miss

One way to refer to a girl or woman with a personal title is to call them Miss, Mrs. or Ms. followed by their last name. There are certain guidelines and reasons for which one you should choose. If she is married, 'Mrs.' is the correct choice. Choosing between Miss and Ms. is a bit tricky though. If she is young and unmarried, 'Miss' is the way to go. If you are unsure, 'Ms.' is always a safe bet. If you know someone personally, it's okay to ask which they prefer.

Beside vs. Besides
Beside is a preposition that means location and next to, like the school is beside the hospital. It can sometimes be used for comparison: Our ideas for the project are the best beside the other competitors. Besides is a preposition, usually followed by a noun, and an adverb meaning in addition to, furthermore, also and as well as: Besides Frank, Harry is working on the building. Be careful with beside the point and beside myself. An easy way to remember besides is that it has an additional 's' and needs something additional.

Well vs Good

Though many people think 'well' and 'good' are synonyms, or words that have the same meaning, they are not interchangeable. Instead, they often function as different parts of speech, like adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. 'Well' functions as an adjective meaning advisable or healthy, and as an adverb meaning done in a satisfactory way. 'Good' functions as an adjective meaning approved of, or as a noun meaning advantageous or righteous. The most common mistake people make is to use 'good' in place of 'well' as in 'I'm doing well.' As 'good' is not an adverb, it can't modify the verb 'doing.' Just something to keep in mind when someone asks you, 'How are you doing?'

Equity vs Equality
'Equality' and 'equity' are often treated as synonyms, but they are not. They are the same part of speech, as they are both nouns, representing ideas. 'Equality' is the state of being the same, while 'equity' is the state of being treated fairly. 'Equity' can also be used in financial contexts to refer to the difference between the value of an asset and its costs and liabilities.

Assume vs Presume

Assume' and 'presume' are often thought to be synonyms and have the same meaning, but are not, though they are both verbs, or action words. 'Assume' means to suppose something based on little or no evidence. It can also mean to take on responsibility. 'Presume' means to suppose something based on strong evidence. It can also mean to be audacious.

Attain vs Obtain
Attain means to achieve a goal or accomplish a task by putting in effort. Obtain means to get or take possession of something, typically without much effort being put into acquiring it.

More than vs Over
'More than' is an appropriate choice of words for referring to amounts, quantities or numbers such as 'more than 50 people' or 'more than 100 dollars.' The appropriate choice of words for referring to one object's proximity to another is 'over,' such as 'the airplane over my house' or 'he climbed over the wall.'

Nauseated vs nauseous

'Nauseated' and 'nauseous' are both words related to the state of being physically ill and on the verge of  vomiting. However, they can't be used interchangeably, as they are different parts of speech. 'Nauseated is a past tense verb that refers to the action of being sick. 'Nauseous' is an adjective that describes someone who is feeling sick.

Continually vs Continuously

Continual describes something that occurs at regular intervals. Continuous describes something that never stops happening. 'Continual' was used to describe both of these things from about 1400-1600 A.D. before the word 'continuous' was introduced. Errors in transposing these two words are common and not considered a major grammatical error.

Emigrate vs Immigrate
'Emigrate' means to leave a country and move to another. 'Immigrate' means to come to a country to live. Both are verbs, or action words. Look for the words 'from' to follow 'emigrate' and 'to' to follow 'immigrate' to help understand a sentence's meaning. For example we say, "I emigrated from the Philippines," which means the person speaking is from the Philippines. "I immigrated to Japan in 2018," means that the person speaking moved to Japan. 

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4 Ways To Swear Like A Brit (In Socially Acceptable Ways)

Swearing is a fun stress reliever and Anglophenia's episode 29 provides us a quick masterclass on how to swear like a Brit. I'm a fan of both American and British English but I have to say that British profanities are vastly more entertaining.

1. Bloody 

If you're a Potterhead or have read/watched the Harry Potter series, you'll remember Harry's best friend Ron Weasley use 'bloody' a lot. As in, "That was bloody brilliant!" and his famous, "Bloody hell!". The notoriety of this swear word  kicked up in the 1750s, and during the Victorian era, the upper-class started replacing it with less profane words like blimey, blasted, bleeding, blinking, blinding, blooming, and blessed. And don't you know that those are the (original) yet rejected names of the 7 dwarves?

2. Bollocks

Bollocks is an Anglo-Saxon word which means testicles. Arnell of Anglophenia notes that it's her favorite swear word, largely because of its versatility, as in:

a.) to express displeasure when something goes wrong:

"I've run out milk! Bollocks!"

b.) to indicate when someone is telling a lie:

"Bollocks! I can see you hiding it behind your back!"

c.) to indicate that something is amazing:

"This milk is amazing. It's the bollocks!"

d.) and the act of telling somebody off when they've done something wrong is called "bollocking":

"My mom gave me a bollocking for drinking all the milk." 

see also: Dog's bollocks

3. Pissed

In an American sense, this word means angry or upset. In the case of British English pissed could mean so much more and is largely related to alcohol:

"to be pissed" means to be drunk

"to be on the piss" means to be out getting drunk

telling someone "to piss off" means they should go away

"to be pissed off" means get angry

"to piss about/around" means to be silly or mess around

"to take the piss out of someone" is to tease or make fun of another person

thus,

"I'm proper (very) pissed off with Paul for going out on the piss with Pablo and Peter getting pissed in the pub and then pissing around past his bedtime. I have to tell him to piss off when he comes in pissed and it had not been possible not to take the piss out of him the next morning."

4. Sod

A sod denotatively means the grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots. As a British swear word, it means so much more. Like 'bollocks', it's a versatile curse word:

"sod off" means to tell someone to go away:

"Just sod off!"

"sod" simply means a sucky person or a prick:

"That inconsiderate sod nearly revealed the ending of Game of Thrones season 4."

"sodding" can be used to add emphasis to an expression to negative effect:

"Has anybody seen my sodding glasses?!"

"Sod it" is an exclamation of frustration:

"Sod it! Andy took my phone again!"

"Sod all" means hardly anything

"When British people leave tip in the restaurant, it's probably sod all.

Watch the whole episode to learn how to pronounce them!

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100 Other Elaborate Words To Use Instead of 'Good'

The word "good" is definitely one of the most commonly used adjectives of all time. It's flexibility has allowed us to use it regularly that we find so few other words to describe what kind of 'good' something or someone is. And oh, how difficult it was to limit the list to 100. As vocabulary connoisseur Brian Wasko said, "Good is such a broadly-used word, covering so much ground, it has literally hundreds of potential synonyms depending on context and the specific type of “goodness” one wishes to express. Almost any virtue might be replaced with good. A good baseball player, for example, might be swift, adroit, powerful, keen-eyed, intelligent, fearless, and fierce. And by good, one might mean any of those qualities or all of them."

That’s what makes good both a convenient word--in its broadness and flexibility--and a weak word--in its utmost lack of accuracy, not to mention it's hackneyed. So, I've compiled other elaborate words for you to use instead of saying good all the time! All the words below seek to communicate a more particular kind of goodness than good generally denotes.

The list is broken down into three general types of good. Of course there are more than three categories of good but the categories I used here are all highly subjective, for the sake of organization and usefulness. Furthermore, good here is strictly referred to as an adjective only.

Be careful to know the word well, including its connotations, before using it in writing or formal speech. Not all words work equally well in any situation.

Good as in "kind"

Good as in "quality of someone or something"

Good as in "virtuous"

I hope you think what's done here is good, and I do hope that it has benefitted you both in your speaking and writing!

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25 Tricky Grammar Rules Quiz (How Many Can You Correctly Identify?)

Math phobia has a cousin, it’s grammar anxiety. But if you want to know which grammar point you're weak at so you can improve it, then take this test by communications expert and grammarian, Ann Batko. The following sentences cover some of the most common errors in English. Try to answer them as best as you can! Answers and their corresponding grammar points are found here.

Choose the correct choice in the parentheses.

1. Doris foolishly spent four hours (laying, lying) by the pool and now looks like a radish.

2. Each of those revolting insects (belong, belongs) to an endangered species.

3. The insects are no longer (lying, laying) on the table because every one of them (have fallen, has fallen) onto the carpet.

4. Pauline and a man with a large sheepdog (live, lives) in the apartment above mine.

5. My wife and (I, me, myself) have tickets to the submarine races tonight.

6. Harry was begging for disaster when he (set, sat) his new TV on a rickety table, (lay, laid) a glass of milk on the TV, and left the cat alone in the room.

7. I wish I (was, were) skydiving in the Andes alone with you.

8. It’s (he, him) who left the laundry out in the rain.

9. We surprised Rudolph and (she, her) with a gala anniversary bash.

10. My grandfather left most of his money to a home for wayward dentists; the rest went directly to my daughter and (I, me, myself).

11. I gave your car keys to the woman (who, whom) you recently sued.

12. I’ll give your car keys to (whoever, whomever) asks for them.

13. The machete, (that, which) he’d almost left back at camp, turned out to be critical when Jim was faced with jungle growth (which, that) was too dense to get through on his own.

14. Only Rhonda and the man in the black hat (is, are) doing the tango.

15. Either Phyllis or Leticia (is, are) staying up all night to finish the project.

16. Either Phyllis or the guys in the billing department (is, are) going on an emergency coffee run.

17. I want that pastry so (bad, badly) that I can almost taste it.

18. She spent the next six months looking for someone as (different than, different from) Reginald as possible.

19. Wanda correctly (inferred, implied) from Steve’s frantic signals that he meant to (imply, infer) that she should get off the train tracks.

20. The motion of the ship had little (affect, effect) on her, but the sudden appearance of her ex-husband on deck (affected, effected) her dramatically.

21. Her story (composes, comprises) many bizarre episodes, each (composed of, comprised of) moments more sordid than the last.

22. To win my love you must meet one simple (criteria, criterion): absolute perfection.

23. We stared (incredibly, incredulously) at the (incredible, incredulous) spectacle of Lulu dancing on the table.

24. I’m going to sell the house and become a cowpoke (irregardless, regardless) of what you say.

25. Angela kept a (respectful, respective) distance from the bears and the wolves, (that, which) eventually retreated to their (respectful, respective) dens.

If you got:

21-25, you're a grammar wizard! Be sure to keep reviewing your grammar lessons so you won't forget them!

15-20, you're upper-intermediate going advanced! You have to study more advanced rules more diligently.

9-14, you're intermediate. Review your fundamentals!

1-9, you still got ways to go, so better schedule your grammar study everyday! 

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Making Tea The British Way (Kate Arnell Reveals How to Make the Perfect Cuppa)

Nobody does teatime quite like British people do. I mean, they made it an official time of the day, and they celebrate the National Tea Day every 21st of April. Kate Arnell of BBC UK, revealed how to make the perfect cuppa. Yes, exactly the way British people make their tea. Most of us have been cutting corners when it comes to drinking tea, and we might have been unable to enjoy tea the way British people do because of that! 

Although Arnell does mention a few different types of tea, the instruction she provided is most suitable for making black tea blend like the English Breakfast Tea, which is an all time favourite of the Brits. Here's how it's done:

1. Boil your water.

Boiling your water in a kettle on a stove top or electric kettle is an important step. Water boiled between 190 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit is said to be the best temperature to bring out the best out of the tea you're making. In easier term, the water should reach its boiling point, or nearly its boiling point.

2. Steep your tea.

Put your tea bag, or loose leaf tea into your favourite cup and pour freshly boiled water into it. Always steep your tea! Generally, 2 to 5 minutes of steeping time is a good window to aim for, depending on the type of tea and how strong you like it to taste. Be careful because tea tends to go bitter when you steep it for longer time. 

3. Add your milk.

Not all Brits drink tea, but a whopping 86% of them do. And 98% of these tea drinkers put milk in their tea. In Britain, there was a conundrum whether to put milk first then the tea, or tea first and then the milk. According to Arnell, studies have shown that both ways are correct, depending on how you make the tea. If you brewed your tea in the cup itself, add the milk after it's done steeping. But if you brewed your tea in a pot, pour the milk into your cup first, then add the already brewed tea.

It is important to note that not all kinds of tea go with milk, but black tea goes well with it.

4. Extras!

Arnell said that although tea bags are the most popular, loose-leaf teas can still be found in many restaurants and hotels. Wherever you go, she pointed out that you must familiarize yourself with some questions:

a. "Would you like a builder's brew?"--This means an extra strong tea with milk and sugar.

b. Do you want your tea "white without"?--White without means a cup of tea with milk but no sugar.

c. "Do you prefer your tea loose-leaf, or in a tea bag?"--This means whether you prefer the tea leaves packed in small bags, or just the rolled, dried tea leaves.

5. Dunking.

Dunking, according to Arnell, is the art of dipping a biscuit which British people call less sweet cookie into your tea. According to research, the best dunking biscuits are the rich tea biscuits and the chocolate flavoured digestive biscuits. It sure is a big and serious business in the UK.

Now that you know how British people make their tea, might as well try it at home and see for yourself!

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