Cultural English

Topics: American Movies – Toy Story; The United States Naval Academy; buddy versus chum versus pal; fee versus pay; Clean clams crammed in clean cans

Topics: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire; Radio City Music Hall and The Rockettes; Satan versus Devil versus demon versus evil; to know best; with regard to

Topics: Famous Americans – The Fox Sisters; Famous Songs – “I’m a Little Teapot”; to lack versus to be short of versus to be shy of versus to be out of; to clean versus to wash; pronouncing “Wh”

Topics: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre; American Playwrights – David Mamet; to atone versus to make amends versus to do penance; compassion versus empathy; to reckon

Topics: Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Famous Americans – Mary Pickford; to infer versus to deduce versus to derive; to clean out versus to free up; civil disturbance versus civil unrest

Topics: Ask an American - Community policing; perspective versus notion versus viewpoint; to burst out versus to break out versus to explode; "Don’t count every hour in the day. Make every hour in the day count!"

Topics: Movies – Die Hard; American Authors – Emma Lazarus; in front of versus ahead of versus before; as if versus as though versus as for; to take stock

Topics: American Presidents – Franklin Delano Roosevelt; to be trapped versus to be lodged; to keep it together, to keep a stiff upper lip, and as luck would have it; pardon me

Topics: American Authors – Tom Wolfe; Aerosmith; to convince versus to compel; latter versus last; ultimate

Topics: Famous Americans – Henry Gaylord Wilshire; The Flatiron Building; regime versus regimen; to laugh versus laughter; to unveil versus to reveal; to light up

Topics: Famous Americans – Jackson Pollock; American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; to restrain versus to refrain versus to subside; velocity versus quickness; to have been down that road before

Topics: American Playwrights – Eugene O’Neill; The Passenger Pigeon; spare versus slender; Was I wrong!

Topics: American Movies – Frankenstein; Famous Americans – James Brown; to boost versus to foster versus to encourage; funky; right as rain

Topics: American Presidents – Chester A. Arthur; intimate versus personal versus private; particular versus specific versus in particular; I beg your pardon

Topics: Famous Americans – W.C. Fields; The Video Game Pong; trim, quarter- round, and carpenter; to condemn and conscious; transliteration

Topics: Ask an American – Journalism and Technology; liberal arts; second to (the) last; I am hearing you

Topics: Soccer in the United States; Famous Americans – Robert Frost; to suck versus to lick; to leave (someone) to his/her own devices; to cross someone and talking-to

Topics: Movies – The Usual Suspects; Tribal Colleges and Universities; effectiveness versus efficacy; to consider and to differentiate; common responses to “Thank you”

Topics: Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Book Series; Famous Americans – Martha Graham; enterprise versus entrepreneurship versus start- up

Topics: American Presidents – James Buchanan; The Board Game “Monopoly”; here/there you go; expendable versus expandable; the devil’s/Devil’s own

Topics: American Movies – Laurel and Hardy Films; The New York Public Library; to proofread versus to copyedit; no longer versus anymore; wild card

Topics: Famous Americans – Mary Baker Eddy; The Kennedy Space Center; what for? versus for what?; possibility versus opportunity; iron and iron law

Topics: American Presidents – John Tyler; The Hindenburg Disaster; result versus consequence versus outcome; ready versus willing; to keep (someone) in the loop

Topics: Famous Americans – James Whistler; American Songs – “Moon River”; bunglingly versus blunderingly; comparable versus compatible; uppercase, lowercase, and capital letter

Topics: American Movies – American Graffiti; American Presidents – Franklin Pierce; magazine versus journal; straw man argument and cognitive dissonance; several and actually

Topics: Ask an American – Corporate Data Security; consulting versus consultancy; to conduct versus to operate

Topics: American Authors – Walt Whitman; The Supremes; abbreviated versus concise versus succinct; to withdraw versus to retreat; to stretch

Topics: Famous Americans – Daniel Boone; Famous Songs – “Somewhere over the Rainbow”; to distract versus to foil versus to thwart; to reach versus to achieve; pronouncing hare, hear, here, hire, her, hair, heir

Topics: Famous Americans – Sally Ride; American Presidents – Millard Fillmore; rational versus rationale; killing it in the cost per wear category; to requite

Topics: American Movies – Planet of the Apes; American Presidents – Zachary Taylor; to improve versus to boost versus to enhance; to grow on (someone) and (one’s) bark is worse than (one’s) bite; script versus scripted by Dr. Lucy Tse