WordVale

Notes on the English language

Why English is hard in the specific ways it is hard — spelling that lies about sound, phrasal verbs that mean nothing like their parts, and the mistakes that follow from whichever language you already speak.

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  3 October 2026English words that used to mean something elseNice once meant foolish, silly meant blessed, and awful meant full of wonder. How English words drift in meaning, the patterns they follow, and why it matters when you read older books.
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  1 October 2026The English mistakes German speakers make, and whyBecome and bekommen, since and seit, V and W, and the consonants German hardens at the end of a word. Each traces back to a specific feature of German, which is what makes them fixable.
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  29 September 2026The English mistakes Japanese speakers make, and whyL and R, the vowel katakana adds to every consonant, articles, plurals, and wasei-eigo words like mansion and claim that mean something else in English. Each traces back to a specific feature of Japanese.
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  26 September 2026Words that sound identical and mean nothing alikeTheir, there, they're — and forty more homophones that survive spellcheck because both spellings are real words. Why English has so many, and how to keep them straight.
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  25 September 2026The English mistakes Spanish speakers make, and whyThe E before S, false friends, the missing subject, and confusing your age with your state of being. Each one traces back to a specific feature of Spanish.
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  24 September 2026Where to put the stress in an English wordMost mispronunciations are stress in the wrong place, not wrong sounds. Five patterns that predict English word stress correctly most of the time.
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  23 September 2026The phrasal verbs you actually hear every dayTwenty phrasal verbs that appear constantly in real English, grouped by the particle that carries the meaning — which is the pattern textbooks hide by grouping them by verb.
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  22 September 2026The English mistakes Brazilian Portuguese speakers make, and whyFalse friends, the missing subject, -ed endings, and the vowel Brazilians add to the end of English words. Each traces back to a specific feature of Portuguese.
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  21 September 2026Why English spelling lies about pronunciationThrough, though, thought, tough. The reason English spelling is so disconnected from sound is historical, and knowing the history makes the exceptions predictable.
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  20 September 2026The English mistakes Korean speakers make, and why they happenArticles, the /l/–/r/ distinction, final consonants, and word order. Each one traces back to a specific feature of Korean — which is what makes them fixable.