50 Greek and Latin Root Words

A root is a word or part of a word from which other words grow, typically through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. By understanding root words, you can decipher strange words, expand your vocabulary, and become a better English speaker.

Greek Root Words

The table below defines and demonstrates common Greek roots words.

Root Meaning Examples
anti against antibacterial, antidote, antithesis
ast(er) star asteroid, astronomy, astronaut
auto self automatic, automate, autobiograph
biblio book bibliography, bibliophile
bio life biography, biology, biodegradable
chrome color monochromatic, phytochrome
chrono time chronic, synchronize, chronicle
dyna power dynasty, dynamic, dynamite
geo earth geography, geology, geometry
gno to know agnostic, acknowledge
graph write autograph, graphic, demographic
hydr water dehydrate, hydrant, hydropower
kinesis movement kinetic, photokinesis
log thought logic, apologize, analogy
logos word, study astrology, biology, theologian
narc sleep narcotic, narcolepsy
path feel empathy, pathetic, apathy
phil love philosophy, bibliophile, philanthropy
phon sound microphone, phonograph, telephone
photo light photograph, photocopy, photon
schem plan scheme, schematic
syn together, with synthetic, photosynthesis
tele far telescope, telepathy, television
tropos turning heliotrope, tropical

Latin Root Words

The table below defines and illustrates 25 of the most common Latin roots.

Root Meaning Examples
ab to move away abstract, abstain, aversion
acer, acri bitter acrid, acrimony, exacerbate
aqu water aquarium, aquatic, aqualung
audi hear audible, audience, auditorium
bene good benefit, benign, benefactor
brev short abbreviate, brief
circ round circus, circulate
dict say dictate, edict, dictionary
doc teach document, docile, doctrinal
duc lead, make deduce, produce, educate
fund bottom founder, foundation, funding
gen to birth gene, generate, generous
hab to have ability, exhibit, inhabit
jur law jury, justice, justify
lev to lift levitate, elevate, leverage
luc, lum light lucid, illuminate, translucent
manu hand manual, manicure, manipulate
mis, mit send missile, transmit, permit
omni all omnivorous, omnipotent, omniscent
pac peace pacify, pacific, pacifist
port carry export, import, important
quit silent, restive tranquil, requiem, acquit
scrib, script to write script, proscribe, describe
sens to feel sensitive, sentient, resent
terr earth terrain, territory, extraterrestrial
tim to fear timid, timorous
vac empty vacuum, vacate, evacuate
vid, vis to see video, vivid, invisible

Ellipsis: Definition and Examples in Grammar

An ellipsis is commonly known as the omission of one or more words, which must be provided by the listener or reader for the sentence to be comprehended. It is the name of the punctuation mark (“…”) used to demonstrate the position of missing words in a direct quote. This mark can indicate a long pause or a speech trailing off.

Types of Ellipsis

Situational Ellipsis

Situational ellipsis is utilized in speaking and so is more informal in nature.

Textual Ellipsis

Textual ellipsis occurs in speaking and writing and is related to certain grammar rules, with the absence of words in predictable sentence positions.

Ellipsis Examples in Sentences

  • The man went out and washed his clothes. (“the man” has been deleted to avoid tautology)
  • Sorry for the inconveniences. (The subject “I am” has been deleted and it is used for the sake of convenience)
  • You can fool all the people some of the time…but you cannot fool all the people all of the time. (‘You can fool some of the people all of the time’ has been deleted)
  • Deliver us from evil…forever and ever, Amen. (‘For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory’ is omitted).
  • Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are…like a diamond in the sky. (‘up above the world so high’ has been omitted)

Definition and Examples of Jargon

Jargon is the specialized language of a professional or occupational profession. While this language is often helpful or necessary for those within the group, it is usually meaningless to outsiders. Many professions have so much jargon of their own that it has its name; for example, lawyers use legalese, while academics use academese. Jargon is sometimes known as lingo or argot.

Examples of Jargon

  1. I need a script in order to pick up the medicine. (medical jargon for “prescription”)
  2. I need a nurse to room 12 stat. (medical jargon for “in a hurry”)
  3. Your objection is overruled. (legal jargon)
  4. We need to take data points to determine if there has been a response to the intervention. (educational jargon)
  5. The suspect is headed west on Route 10. All available units, respond. (police jargon)
  6. In ballet, a cabriole is a type of step in which the extended legs beat during a jump.
  7. In fencing, a derobement is when someone effectively avoids another person’s attempt to take their sword.
  8. In the corporate world, a deliverable is a project or task that must be completed on time to be verified by another individual or group.
  9. In poker, all in means the player is betting all of their chips in their current turn.

Finite Verb Definition and Examples

A finite verb is a kind of verb that demonstrates agreement with a subject and is signaled for tense. Nonfinite verbs are not signaled for tense and do not demonstrate agreement with a subject.

A sentence must have a finite verb, even sentences that are not in the present or past tense. Finite verbs can be alone in a sentence or as a piece of a verb phrase. The finite verb is usually closest to the subject if there are multiple verbs in the sentence.

Examples of Finite Verbs in a Sentence

If you need further examples, take a look at the bolded finite verbs in the following sentences:

  • Emma played ball all summer with her friends.
  • Is Martin participating in the theater this year?
  • Jill worked late last night to make the due date.
  • Tim has a doctor’s appointment in July.
  • She looks terrific in her newest profile picture.
  • Orlando swims three times a week.
  • I cooked dinner last Thursday.
  • Shawna is a teacher.
  • We had a chemistry lesson yesterday.
  • Our study group worked really late last night.

Examples of Signal Phrases in Grammar and Usage

signal phrase is a phrase, clause, or sentence that presents a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. It’s also known as a quotative frame or a dialogue guide.

A signal phrase contains a verb along with the name of the person who’s being quoted. Although a signal phrase often appears before a quotation, the phrase may instead come after it or in the middle of it. Editors and style guides usually advise writers to alter the positions of signal phrases to enhance readability throughout a text.

Common Signal Phrases

  • according to
  • acknowledges/acknowledged
  • adds/added
  • addresses/addressed
  • argues/argued
  • asserts/asserted
  • comments/commented
  • concedes/conceded
  • concludes/concluded
  • confirms/confirmed
  • contends/contended
  • declares/declared
  • defines/defined
  • draws attention to/has drawn attention to
  • emphasizes/emphasized
  • explains/explained
  • finds/found
  • mentions/mentioned
  • notes/noted
  • observes/observed
  • points out/pointed out
  • professes/professed
  • proposes/proposed
  • puts forth/put forth
  • reasons/reasoned
  • recognizes/recognized
  • reports/reported
  • reveals/revealed
  • shows/showed
  • states/stated
  • writes/wrote

Signal Phrases Indicating Uncertainty or Opinion

  • believes/believed
  • cautions/cautioned
  • claims/claimed
  • endorses/endorsed
  • estimates/estimated
  • implies/implied
  • indicates/indicated
  • recommends/recommended
  • speculates/speculated
  • suggests/suggested
  • surmises/surmised
  • thinks/thought
  • warns/warned

Signal Phrases Indicating Disagreement

  • counters/countered
  • denies/denied
  • disputes/disputed
  • refutes/refuted
  • rejects/rejected
  • retorts/retorted

The Top 14 Figures of Speech

A figure of speech is a rhetorical device that accomplishes a unique effect by utilizing words distinctively. Although there are hundreds of figures of speech, here we’ll focus on 14 top examples.

Alliteration Examples

  • Shsells seashells.

Anaphora Examples

  • I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Assonance Examples

  • A – “For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore.” – “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe

Euphemism Examples

  • A little thin on top

Hyperbole Examples

  • I’ve told you to stop a thousand times.

Irony Examples

  • “How nice!” she said when I told her I had to work all weekend.

Metaphor Examples

  • heart of stone

Onomatopoeia Examples

  • whoosh

Oxymoron Examples

  • peace force

Personification Examples

  • The flowers nodded.

Simile Examples

  • as slippery as an eel

Synecdoche Examples

  • wheels can represent a car

Understatement Examples

  • It’s just a scratch. (referring to a large dent)

Idiomatic Figures of Speech

  • I’m as mad as a wet hen! (I’m extremely angry.)

48 Inspiring, and Witty Quotes to Use in Your Email Signatures

Inspiring Quotes

These quotes from Maya Angelou to Confucius to Mark Twain were handpicked to help the seeker in all of us—to keep us bounding forward even during the most challenging days.

Maya Angelou

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”

Walter Bagehot

“The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

Simone de Beauvoir

“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”

Josh Billings

“To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while.”

Confucius

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.”

William Hazlitt

“The more we do, the more we can do.”

Gary Player

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Jim Rohn

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

Charles R. Swindoll

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.”

Rabindranath Tagore

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

Mark Twain

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Wise Quotes

An email signature can be a place to share a nugget of wisdom, something that expresses your personal values or outlook on life. If you work in education, you might choose a quote about teaching or learning. If you’re a writer or a painter, you might choose a quote about the power of art.

Bill Clinton

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

Paul Ehrlich

“To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.”

Euripides

“Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.”

Robert Frost

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”

Gandhi

“There are limits to self-indulgence, none to self-restraint.”

Khalil Gibran

“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

Omar Khayyam

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

Thomas La Mance

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”

Jawaharlal Nehru

“Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.”

General George S. Patton Jr.

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

Pablo Picasso

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

Josiah Royce

“Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself.”

Rumi

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

Bertrand Russell

“No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.”

George Sand

“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.”

William Shakespeare

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Robert S. Surtees

“It is better to be killed than frightened to death.”

Oscar Wilde

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”

William Butler Yeats

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

Witty Quotes

Email signatures don’t have to be serious. If you’re known for being lighthearted and making people laugh, you might be happier using a funny email signature, such as a quote from a comedian. A snappy one-liner or a clever zinger can leave the person on the other end with a smile—just be sure you know your audience well.

Fred Allen

“I don’t want to own anything that won’t fit into my coffin.”

Woody Allen

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.”

Louis Hector Berlioz

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all its pupils.”

Red Buttons

“Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.”

George Carlin

“The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.”

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“If you’re too open-minded, your brains will fall out.”

Carrie Fisher

“Instant gratification takes too long.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterward.”

Fran Lebowitz

“You’re only as good as your last haircut.”

P.J. O’Rourke

“Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.”

Charles M. Schulz

“I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong.”

George Bernard Shaw

“Youth is wasted on the young.”

Lily Tomlin

“Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

Mark Twain

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

Mae West

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”

Steven Wright

“If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.”

A List of Interjections in English

Below you will find a list of interjections in English.

interjection meaning example
ah expressing pleasure Ah, that feels good.
expressing realization Ah, now I understand.
expressing resignation Ah well, it can’t be helped.
expressing surprise Ah! I’ve won!
alas expressing grief or pity Alas, she’s dead now.
dear expressing pity Oh dear! Does it hurt?
expressing surprise Dear me! That’s a surprise!
eh asking for repetition It’s hot today. / Eh? / I said it’s hot today.
expressing enquiry What do you think of that, eh?
expressing surprise Eh! Really?
inviting agreement Let’s go, eh?
er expressing hesitation Lima is the capital of…er…Peru.
God expressing anger, surprise, worry [some people may consider this offensive] God, what a negative attitude you have.
hello, hullo expressing greeting Hello John. How are you today?
expressing surprise Hello! My car’s gone!
hey calling attention Hey! look at that!
expressing surprise, joy etc Hey! What a good idea!
hi expressing greeting Hi! What’s new?
hmm expressing hesitation, doubt or disagreement Hmm. I’m not so sure.
oh, o expressing surprise Oh! You’re here!
expressing pain Oh! I’ve got a toothache.
expressing pleading Oh, please say “yes”!
OK expressing agreement OK. I’ll tell her.
ouch expressing pain Ouch! That hurts!
uh expressing hesitation Uh…I don’t know the answer to that.
uh-huh expressing agreement Shall we go? / Uh-huh.
um, umm expressing hesitation 85 divided by 5 is…um…17.
well expressing surprise Well I never!
introducing a remark Well, what did he say?
wow expressing amazement Wow! What a cool car you’ve got!

What Are Auxiliary Verbs?

An auxiliary verb is a verb that establishes the mood, tense, voice, or aspect of a different verb in a verb phrase. Auxiliary verbs are, do, and have, and modals like can, might, and will, can be juxtaposed with main and lexical verbs.

Auxiliaries are also referred to as helping verbs because they help to complete the meaning of the main verbs. Distinct from main verbs, auxiliary verbs can’t be the verb in a sentence except in elliptical expressions where the main verb is assumed as if it were present.

Auxiliary verbs precede main verbs within a verb phrase, such as in the sentence “You will help me.” However, in interrogative sentences, the auxiliary is in front of the subject, as in “Will you help me?”

The standard for English grammar, set by “The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language” and other similar university press releases, defines auxiliary verbs of English as “can, may, will, shall, must, ought, need, dare” as modals and “be, have, do, and use” as non-modals.

Definition and Examples of Syntax

In linguistics, “syntax” refers to the rules governing how words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term “syntax” comes from Greek, meaning “arrange together.” The term is used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of a language. In computer science, the term refers to the arrangement of symbols and codes so that the computer can recognize what instructions are telling it to do.

Syntax

  • The syntax is the proper order of words in a phrase or sentence.
  • A syntax is a tool used in writing grammatical sentences.
  • Native speakers of a language learn correct syntax without realizing it.
  • The complexity of a writer’s or speaker’s sentences generates a formal or informal level of diction that is presented to its audience.