Grammatical Status: 'COULD' AND OUR LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP

Hi guys!

It's time to check the grammatical tips of the week!
Thanks to my English professor Sarah I reflected on how to make my blog readable. This involves not only avoiding grammatical mistakes but also the right use of:

1. links,
2. words (repetitions and synonyms),
3. lay-out (font and color),
4. structure (introduction+body+ conclusion),
5. lenght of sentences and paragraphs (short is better).

In particular, it's important to remember that English is a 'writer responsible' language, that is that the author is supposed to write in a way that the reader is able to understand. I must admit that this is sometimes difficult for me; indeed, I'm Italian and Italian is a reader responsible language and we often tend to be long-winded. About synonyms, I realized I must be really cautious. For example, I used 'search' and 'research' as synonyms but their meanings are totally different.

• Search is the generic 'looking for' and is countable.
• Research is used for the academic field and is uncountable.
• Reasearch study is used for the academic field and is countable.

Furthermore, they require different prepositions when used as verbs:

• To search for/ on / (-),
• To research (-).

As you can see, I finally learned how to list things in the right way. Indeed, lists are considered as normal sentences and for this reason I use commas, semi-colons and full-stops. Finally, I realized I have a love-hate relationship with 'could'. I love to use it but I hate it because it is so difficult to use in the right context! For example, I must remember that:

• COULD is a generic ability in the past,
• ABLE TO is an ability referred to a specific action.

Bye and be cautious ;-)

Elisabetta