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Alphabetical List of US States

When searching for an alphabetical list of all 50 states of the United States, these lists are often displayed in a way that makes it difficult to copy for your own use. Many times they’re displayed in two to four columns so when it’s copied, the states aren’t in alphabetical order when pasted into a new document. For that reason, we have creates a list of all 50 states in alphabetical order in a single column so it can be used by others who need it for school, business or some other project.

Alphabetical List of All 50 States

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

There may also be times when you need an alphabetical list of states, but with them numbered. This allows you to easily see what number each stated is within the 50 states. This can be more helpful for certain projects compared to a list with no numbers. You can find the numbered list below.

Alphabetical List of All 50 States Numbered

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Florida
10. Georgia
11. Hawaii
12. Idaho
13. Illinois
14. Indiana
15. Iowa
16. Kansas
17. Kentucky
18. Louisiana
19. Maine
20. Maryland
21. Massachusetts
22. Michigan
23. Minnesota
24. Mississippi
25. Missouri
26. Montana
27. Nebraska
28. Nevada
29. New Hampshire
30. New Jersey
31. New Mexico
32. New York
33. North Carolina
34. North Dakota
35. Ohio
36. Oklahoma
37. Oregon
38. Pennsylvania
39. Rhode Island
40. South Carolina
41. South Dakota
42. Tennessee
43. Texas
44. Utah
45. Vermont
46. Virginia
47. Washington
48. West Virginia
49. Wisconsin
50. Wyoming

While these are the two most common alphabetical list of states people need, you may need one presented in a different way. Fortunately, the Alphabetical Order Tool will allow you to manipulate this 50 state list in a number of different ways, and it should allow you make it exactly like you desire. Simply copy the list and then paste it into the text area of the alphabetize tool. Once done, you can add any custom text needed to the list.

Another advantage of the alphabetize tool is that inputting the 50 state list will make it printable. Having a printable alphabetized list of states can be useful for a number of projects and is something people are often seeking when they are searching for these lists.

For teachers who need a list to use for giving tests, the following may be of use:

1. Alab
2. Alas
3. Ari
4. Ark
5. Ca
6. Col
7. Con
8. D
9. F
10. G
11. H
12. Id
13. Il
14. In
15. Io
16. Ka
17. Ke
18. L
19. Mai
20. Mar
21. Mas
22. Mic
23. Min
24. Missi
25. Misso
26. M
27. Neb
28. Nev
29. New H
30. New J
31. New M
32. New Y
33. North C
34. North D
35. Oh
36. Ok
37. Or
38. P
39. R
40. South C
41. South D
42. Ten
43. Tex
44. U
45. Ve
46. Vi
47. Wa
48. We
49. Wi
50. Wy

Again, teachers can use the Alphabetize Tool to manipulate the list to fit their exact needs, then print it out for their classes.

If you’re looking for an alphabetized list of the 50 states that isn’t listed above, but you feel a lot of others would benefit from having access to, please leave a comment and we can add it to this article.

Free Online Alphabetical Order Tool

If you deal with lists, you know making changes to them can be a hassle, not to mention quite time consuming and tedious. There are many situations when it’s beneficial to put a list into alphabetical order. The problem is trying to do this by hand is simply a pain. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a tool which would instantly put any list into alphabetical order with a simple click of a button? That’s exactly what you can do with our new free online alphabetizer tool. (Click on the image above or below to begin alphabetizing your lists.)

When it comes to putting your list into alphabetical order, you may want to do so in a specific way. One of the great benefits of the above alphabetizer is it can help you put your lists into the order you want in a variety of ways. This can be extremely helpful since many projects require lists to be alphabetized in different ways. These are some of the ways you will be able to use this tool.

Alphabetical Order: You can place any list you have into the tool text area in a variety of formats and it will put it into alphabetical order with one click of your mouse. Nothing could be easier!

Categorized Lists: One function many alphabetizers can’t do is to work with categorized lists. Most of the time you must copy and paste each list under each category to get everything in the order you want. Our tool allows you to mark your categories within your list so that it will alphabetize everything under each category instead of the complete list.

Last Names: Names lists can sometimes cause difficulty, especially when the list contains both the first and last name. Many times you want the name list alphabetized by last name, but many tools will only do so using the first name. Ours has an optional function that will put name lists into alphabetical order by last names as well.

Reverse Order: There may be instances where you want your list to go from “z to a” rather than the other way around. This reverse order can also be easily done with our tool.

Random Order: Sometimes you may want a list you have put into a different random order. Our tool allows for this option.

Remove Duplicates:If you have a particularly long list that has been created over a long period of time, there is a possibility the list contains the same information more than once within it. The remove duplicates function on our tool will remove these so your list is clean and tidy.

HTML Bullet Points: If you will be placing your list on a blog or website, you may want to have bullet points in front of each point on the list. Our tool will place the HTML around the list items so that these bullet points will show up when you place it online.

Numbers and Letters: Once you have your list in the order you want, you may want to add numbers or letters in front of each item on the list. Our tool can do this with a simple click of your mouse.

Custom Text: If there is something special you want to add in front of each item on your list, there is a custom function which will allow you to do this. This can save a great amount of time and allow you to customize your list exactly the way you want without a lot of effort.

List Format: What if you have a long list that has been separated by a comma after each word, but you need that list to be changed to one where each word is on a separate line with no commas? No problem. Our tool can do that for you by easily allowing you to change from one list format to another.

If you have suggestions on how we can make our alphabetizer better, please leave a comment or use the contact link to let us know. We always strive to put the best tools out there and hope that this one can help you with your school work, business or any other situation where you need to place your lists into alphabetical order.

What Are Long Tail Keywords? A Beginners’ Guide

If you made your way to this article through a search engine, you likely did so because of long tail keywords. That is, your search was likely from something along the lines of “what are long tail keywords?” rather than simply “keywords”. For those looking to drive traffic to blogs or websites, understanding how these phrases work is an important tool to generating that traffic. For this reason, it’s important to understand what they are and how they can be of benefit for driving traffic.

What are long tail keywords?

Long tail keywords are those three or more keyword phrases which are specific to whatever you are writing about or selling. You see, whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to be looking for exactly what they input into the search engine. In virtually every case, such very specific searches are far more likely to convert to sales or bring traffic to a specific page than general generic searches. That’s because general searches tend to be geared more toward the type of research that consumers typically do prior to making a buying decision or when doing general research.

Before we begin, a basic understanding of keywords is important. Think of it in terms of the following hypothetical example.

Let us assume you own a shop selling SCUBA diving equipment. Customers doing a general search would type in “SCUBA” – which would be your keyword. Their search engine will return results ranked according to the most relevant information.

However, since there are millions of references to the term “SCUBA” and with thousands of shops around the world selling SCUBA equipment and providing information about SCUBA diving, your site will be drowned out among all the noise. You would be lucky if it ranked on page 500.

When it comes to driving traffic to your site, customers are usually a lot more specific. They don’t want a million results. They may only want a few. They don’t simply make use of a single keyword. They will make use of several specific words which are referred to as long-tail keywords. For example, a customer based in San Diego is not going to go looking for a SCUBA shop in Africa.

The customer will want the shop closest to him and so “SCUBA equipment in San Diego” would be a more likely search than just “SCUBA”. The browser would return information specific to that phrase, thus eliminating all the competition that’s not in the San Diego area. Remember, you’re aiming for quality over quantity. Now your website may rank on page 30, a vast improvement but not good enough. You still need to improve your SEO ranking.

How do I improve my ranking?

Improving your ranking is what is known as search engine optimization (SEO). It makes your site more relevant and easier for the search engines to find. First you will need to be able to identify keyword phrases that are relevant to your business or website.

How to identify long tail keywords

There are various approaches to identifying these keyword phrases. A good place to begin is what phrases you would use to search for information that’s found on your webpages. Ask friend and family what words they would use and you should come up with some good long tail phrases for your particular niche.

In the URL

Now that you have your keyword phrase, you should incorporate them into the URL of your new post. It doesn’t matter if you are using WordPress, Weebly or Joomla, you’re able to edit the suggested URL. For example, let us assume your domain name is www.scuba.com. Your long tail keyword is “scuba equipment San Diego” – your URL would look something like www.scuba.com/scuba-equipment-san-diego

In the post title

Your post’s title should begin with your keyword phrase. For example, the long tail keyword for this particular article is “what are long tail keywords?” – The heading begins with this phrase, followed by a basic explanation.

So, back to your SCUBA shop – you would have a heading along the lines of “SCUBA equipment San Diego – on sale now!” You also want to keep the title of your post under 70 characters in length as titles that are too long can hurt the seo of the article or page.

Paragraph headings, body and stuffing

You should aim to include your long tail keyword in at least one paragraph heading. You should also try to include it a few times throughout the body of your text. However, you don’t want to repeat the phrase too often. If you repeat the phrase too often, you can be penalized for keyword stuffing, and this is where the keyword density tool comes in handy when you’re writing. If you read through this article you will note I have not used “What Are Long Tail Keywords?” more than 5 times in the body of the text.

SEO for Images and Meta descriptions

A final consideration is to include your keyword phrase in the alt-description of any images that may appear in your post. You should also include it somewhere in the Meta description. Some people search by image rather than by article. By doing this you will drive people to your website through image searches they do as well as the content.

It can take time for this process to work, but by focusing on phrases which apply to your website rather than single words, you will have a much better chance of ranking higher in the search engines and driving more traffic to your website.

(Photo courtesy of Tambako The Jaguar)

Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk: Your Elusive Creative Genius

If you’re a writer or an artist of any type for that matter, this is a TED talk that you’ll want to watch. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of “Eat, Pray, Love” talks about the impossible things society seems to expect from artists and geniuses. She then provides the radical idea that instead of some individuals “being” geniuses, instead all artists “have” a genius as part of us. Her personal anecdotes, humorous style and surprisingly insightful thoughts about being an artist will make you question how you see yourself and other artists. See for yourself:

The talk delves into the expectations of those who choose creativity as a career / life choice, and how creative people manage the emotional risks of being an artist. If you have ever had any fears about the quality of your writing or have had others instill doubt about the artistic profession you have chosen to pursue, Elizabeth Gilbert has some advice on how you may want to approach this as your career progresses.

The main focus of the talk is about fear and doubt about being a writer (or another artist) and questioning why this comes about. Society as a whole seems to have an uneasiness regarding those who decide to go into an artistic occupation. As Gilbert points out, people don’t question those who are chemical engineers about whether they have fears about their profession as they often do to writers.

After taking the time to explain how artistic ability went from being considered an outside force in ancient times to being considered solely the product of the individual in more recent times, she questions if this is a good thing. Can the average artist survive when the expectations continue to grow and grow?

The solution to the problem is elegantly simple. It’s to step back and take a hint from earlier times. Instead of everything being solely the responsibility of the individual, realize that the “artistic inspiration” isn’t something that can necessarily be willed into being. For this, you may want to give some of the power to a distinct and separate part of you. That is, you’re doing the work, and you will do the work required on a daily basis, and you have the confidence that the inspiration will come to make it complete.

While this might sound quite complicated, it isn’t. Gilbert does an excellent job explaining the artists’ inspiration through examples so even those who don’t have an artistic background can understand the conflict which needs to be resolved. Most artists will instantly understand her fears and have likely experienced similar one to some degree during their career. While greatly beneficial to all those pursuing the arts, my guess is that this video may be even more beneficial to the partners of artists who may be able to get a better glimpse of the struggles and fears they must face when doing their trade.

If you have an extra 20 minutes to spare, sit down and watch this video right now. If you don’t, bookmark the video so that you can come back when you do have 20 minutes. At the very least, it will get you thinking about how society views those in the arts, and may give you some insight on how you can help yourself stay sane while doing what you love.

Do Footnotes Count in Word Count?

When you are writing an essay for a class which has a minimum of maximum word count limit, the question of whether or not footnotes and endnotes should be counted toward this limit can come up. Those who have an essay that is under word count are hoping that their footnotes and endnotes can be counted while those who are over the limit want to make sure that these don’t count. Which one is it?

Footnotes

Do footnotes count when doing a word count? No, footnotes don’t count in the word count in most cases. When a teacher or professor gives an assignment with a minimum or maximum limit, it’s usually done with the intent of being applicable to the topic being assigned. Footnotes are auxiliary information that further clarifies certain points being made in the essay. Since this isn’t a part of the body of the essay, most teachers and professors do not count footnotes as part of the essay’s word count.

This is a general rule of thumb. There can be exceptions depending on the teacher giving the assignment, so the best policy is to ask the person assigning the essay whether or not footnotes should or shouldn’t be included. If this is not possible, it’s best to assume that they are not counted.

Do footnotes count in a page count? Yes, footnotes generally count toward page count. Footnotes are found at the bottom of the page and don’t take up much of the page space in most instances. While it’s relatively easy to exclude footnotes from a word count, it’s much more difficult to exclude them from a page count. For this reason, most professors allow them to be included as part of the overall page count.

Again, counting footnotes as part of the page count is a general rule of thumb, not a definitive answer. It’s always best to ask the person assigning the essay to confirm that this is OK. If you find yourself in a position where this isn’t possible, in most cases it should be acceptable.

Endnotes

Do endnotes count in a word count? No, endnotes don’t count as part of a word count in most cases. Much like footnotes, endnotes give further information to a point made in an essay but aren’t part of the body of the essay. For this reason, endnotes are generally not included in an essay’s word count. The best policy is to ask directly if you aren’t sure about this, but when in doubt, it’s better not to count them.

Do endnotes count in a page count? No, endnotes don’t count as part of a page count most of the time. There is one significant difference between footnotes and endnotes which is endnotes are found at the end of the essay and not at the bottom of each page. Being at the end, it’s much easier to exclude them from a page count than it is to exclude footnotes. For this reason, endnotes aren’t usually counted when doing an assignment with a specific page count.

(Image courtesy of Lohan Gunaweera)

What is the Longest Word?

Have you ever wondered what the longest word in the English language is? Did you think back to childhood days and recall Mary Poppins describing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as a word used when you have nothing else to say? Well, bear in mind that this 34-letter word isn’t officially recognized as being a true English word. So, where does that leave us?

What is the longest word in the dictionary?

The longest non-technical word found in the dictionary is Floccinaucinihilipilification. The term is used to describe something of worthless value. This is ironic because this 29 lettered word serves little purpose, except when used as an example of a long word. It certainly isn’t used in everyday English.

Coming in at just 28 letters, and one that most people would be able to pronounce is the word antidisestablishmentarianism. The term was originally used to describe opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England. In modern times, the word is used in a more general sense and refers to opposing the withdrawal of government support from a particular church or religion.

The longest accepted technical word to appear in a Standard English dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. At 45 letters in length, this word is considered superfluous. It describes a medical condition of the lungs caused by the inhalation of fine silica dust. The term was coined by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers’ League to capture the longest word in the English dictionary.

What is the longest word?

If you are looking for a truly long word, consider that it has 189,819 letters. It would take you more than three hours to pronounce correctly, that’s if you were able to pronounce it in its entirety without a mistake and did not have to start from the beginning again.

The abbreviation is Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine. Since this post has no intention of being the longest blog post ever, the full word will not be shown. If you’re truly interested in this word, you can watch it being pronounced on YouTube.

Good luck with trying to sit through the entire video or attempting to rattle it off to your friends since it takes over three hours to pronounce. It basically describes a type of protein which provides elasticity in muscles.

What is the longest place name?

The longest place name from an English speaking country is 85 letters in length. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu is a Maori word for a particular hill in New Zealand.

What is the longest town name?

With just 58 letters, the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest name of a town or city in the world. It translates as St. Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave. The abbreviation Llanfair PG. is usually employed and the town was so named to be the longest place name in Britain.

What is the longest word with only vowels?

The longest word to contain only vowels is euouae. Although the word only comprises six letters, it has the distinction of holding two Guinness World Records. These are for being the longest word consisting exclusively of vowels, as well as being the word with the most consecutive vowels. Although this word is not commonly used, it refers to a musical term from the medieval times.

What is the longest word with only consonants?

The longest word to contain only consonants is tsktsk. This word is used fairly frequently in modern times. It means to express disapproval or disdain. For example, if a young child is thinking about doing something bad and looks at you before doing it, you could tsktsk.

What is the longest word with alternating vowels and consonants?

The longest word consisting of alternating consonants and vowels is honorificabilitudinitatibus. Yes, you can double check that if you want to. The word means “with honorableness” and is 27 letters in length. Do not attempt to pronounce this word while under the influence of alcohol.

What is the longest palindrome?

The longest palindrome, or word which is spelled the same forward and backward, is rotavator. A rotavator is a type of soil plow and the word is made up of 9 letters. You checked that too, didn’t you?

What is the longest word to use all 5 vowels only once and in alphabetical order?

The longest word to use all 5 vowels only once and in alphabetical order is abstentious. It refers to one who does not indulge in the excessive intake of food, alcohol or narcotics. You certainly checked that.

Conclusion

There are many other really long words. Many of these are very technical or are words used to describe chemical composition. For example, a DNA strand could run into several thousand letters. However, these technical terms often contain numerals or letters from the Greek alphabet. As such they are not considered to be true English words.

Although these words all contain a stupendous amount of letters, for those who still like childhood riddles, by far the longest word of all is smiles. Why is this? Because it has a MILE between the first and last letters, silly!

(Photo courtesy of John Earl)

How Many Words Are There in a 10 Minute Speech?

For anyone who has to give a speech, one of the first questions that usually comes to mind is, “How many words is that going to be?” The problem is there is no set answer to this question. The number of words needed for a speech will depend heavily on the person giving the speech.

Some people speak slowly when giving a speech while others speak quickly. Those who speak quickly will need to write more words for each minute of their speech than those who speak at a slower pace. That being said, there are some general guidelines which can help you make an educated guess at approximately how many words will be needed for a speech.

The general rule for speech giving is 100 to 200 words per minute. With this in mind, a 10-minute speech would require 1,000 to 2,000 words. The WordCounter speaking time detail defaults 150 words per minute (an average speed which would give a result of 1,500 words, as this is the recommended speed for audiobooks to be read at for best listening), but you can use the options section to adjust to a slower or faster pace. Simply click on “Options” then the “Details” tab and then the wrench next to the “Speaking Time” button.

If want to know how many words per minute (WPM) you personally say when giving a speech, you can use a timer to time yourself, then input that number into the options section. Time yourself for one minute of your speech, then copy to where you made it into WordCounter to see how many words you speak per minute. This will give you a more accurate estimate of how many words you must write for however long the speech you need to make will be.

It’s important to remember that speech patterns can increase when a person is nervous. This means that even when determining the number of words needed for a 10-minute speech when practicing at home by yourself, you may actually need more during the actual speech if you get nervous.

While the number of words in a speech will depend heavily on how fast or slow the person giving the speech speaks, for those who are looking for a basic estimate of how many words would be in a speech, you can use the following estimates. These estimates use the average speaking pace of 150 words per minute to estimate.

How many words in a 1-minute speech? There are 150 words in a 1-minute speech.
How many words in a 2-minute speech? There are 300 words in a 2-minute speech.
How many words in a 3-minute speech? There are 450 words in a 3-minute speech.
How many words in a 4-minute speech? There are 600 words in a 4-minute speech.
How many words in a 5-minute speech? There are 750 words in a 5-minute speech.
How many words in a 6-minute speech? There are 900 words in a 6-minute speech.
How many words in a 7-minute speech? There are 1050 words in a 7-minute speech.
How many words in an 8-minute speech? There are 1,200 words in an 8-minute speech.
How many words in a 9-minute speech? There are 1,350 words in a 9-minute speech.
How many words in a 10-minute speech? There are 1,500 words in a 10-minute speech.
How many words in a 15-minute speech? There are 2,250 words in a 15-minute speech.
How many words in a 20-minute speech? There are 3,000 words in a 20-minute speech.
How many words in a 25-minute speech? There are 3,750 words in a 25-minute speech.
How many words in a 30-minute speech? There are 4,500 words in a 30-minute speech.
How many words in a 45-minute speech? There are 6,750 words in a 45-minute speech.
How many words in a 1-hour speech? There are 9,000 words in a 1-hour speech.

How minutes is 250 words? 250 words is 1.67 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 500 words? 500 words is 3.33 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 750 words? 750 words is 5 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 1,000 words? 1,000 words is 6.67 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 1,500 words? 1,500 words is 10 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 2,000 words? 2,000 words is 13.33 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 2,500 words? 2,500 words is 16.67 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 3,000 words? 3,000 words is 20 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 4,000 words? 4,000 words is 26.67 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 5,000 words? 5,000 words is 33.33 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 7,500 words? 7,500 words is 50 minutes of speaking time.
How minutes is 10,000 words? 10,000 words is 66.67 minutes of speaking time.

(Photo courtesy of Scott Schiller)

“Onto” vs “On To” – The Difference Between the Two

There are a number of words which can be confusing to those using English. Some examples include was vs were, who vs whom, and further vs farther. Another of those is ‘onto’ and ‘on to’. They look so similar, and yet they are so different. When you’re talking, nobody’s going to be looking for a space between ‘on’ and ‘to’, but when you’re writing, that little space can make the difference between correct work and an embarrassing mistake.

There’s actually quite a big difference between ‘on to’ and ‘onto’, but there’s also a really simple way to know which one of these options you should be using at any given time. We’ll first look at the reasons, and then we’ll check out the ‘cheat’ that will solve your dilemma without too much grammatical analysis. The big difference explained

When to use ‘onto’

‘Onto’ could, in many instances, be replaced with the less commonly used ‘upon’. It simply means that something landed on, was placed on top of or ended up on something else. Although you might be pardoned for thinking it to be an adverb, it’s actually a preposition. For example:

The frog jumped onto the stone.
My cat crept onto my lap.
I don’t know how the mayonnaise got onto my sweater.

In informal language, ‘onto’ is also used to show that you’re ‘on top of’ a situation, or well-informed:

I’m onto your sneaky plan!
I’ll be onto the next task as soon as this one is done.

When to use ‘on to’

In this instance ‘on’ is part of a phrase containing a verb and acts as an adverb, while ‘to’ is a preposition linked to an object. For example:

She held on to the steering wheel.
I will log on to your website.
We had to move on to the next exhibit.

‘On’ is associated with the verbs ‘held’, ‘log’ and ‘move’ in these examples, while ‘to’ links us to the object of the sentence – the steering wheel, the website or the exhibit.

An easy ‘cheat’

To save yourself from the tricky business of sentence analysis every time you have to decide whether or not you’ll use ‘on to’ or ‘onto’, try this cheat. In most cases, it will clarify which of the two you should use.

Try taking the word ‘up’ and see how it fits into the sentence if you use it before ‘on’. If it’s a good fit, ‘onto’ is likely to be the correct word choice. So, using the first of each of our sets of examples:

The frog jumped (up) onto the stone.
She held (up) on to the steering wheel.

As we can see, ‘up fits well into the first example, but doesn’t make any sense in the second. This ‘cheat’ works nine times out of ten, but there may still be times when choosing between ‘on’ and ‘onto’ can be confusing. For instance:

We wandered on to the football field.
We wandered onto the football field.

These sentences are both correct, but they have slightly different meanings. In the first example, the speaker and his companions wandered from one place to another. They didn’t necessarily end up on the football field itself, but they chose to approach it. They moved on from one place to another.

In the second example, the group of people ended up on the football field itself. This could be compared with the frog jumping (up) onto a stone. So when all else fails, analysing the meaning you are trying to convey may help you with your dilemma.

In conclusion

As insignificant as the difference between ‘onto’ and ‘on to’ may seem, there are specific instances in which one or the other will be the correct choice. Working out which of the two is correct can be achieved by analysing the sentence, by checking on meaning, or by trying the word ‘up’ before on as a cheat. If the sentence still makes sense with ‘up’ inserted, then ‘onto’ is correct.

Simple Ways to Improve Your Blogging Productivity

Blogging, like working out and minding your diet is good for you. But it has one other thing in common with looking after your health — it can be hard to get around to. You tell yourself that you’ll post three times a week, and before you know it, the week is over and you haven’t written a single paragraph. If you find you don’t post as often as you’d like to on your blog, here are some fixes that you can try to write more each day.

Write your posts in the morning

Whether you think you are a morning person or not, research has shown that mornings are our strongest times for exercising willpower. All the choices we have to make throughout the day wear us out. By the time you get to relax in a quiet space in the evening, you’re more likely to flop down and watch TV than craft a great blog post. Get up earlier in the morning, and do some of the things you always mean to do but struggle to get round to.

Turn it into a habit

Write every day (or at least, most days) at a set time and you’ll build a habit. That means you don’t even think about whether or not you will write. You just do it. It takes a bit longer than the 21 days that many people believe habit formation takes, but once you have established it, you’ll watch your blogging productivity soar. Even better, it doesn’t have to be every single day — you can take weekends off if you prefer.

Set daily word count goals

As part of building the habit of daily writing, it’s also good to set a daily word count goal. It’s important to set a realistic goal that will make it likely that you’ll be able to achieve your daily goal so you continue it throughout the year. You might also want to write that book while you’re creating more blog content as well.

Take notes

Have you ever had a random flash of inspiration that you knew would make a wonderful blog post? Then when you actually get around to sit down to start working on your blog, you no longer remember what that great idea was? This should never happen. Get into the habit of using your phone or a notebook to record sudden ideas, and expand on them a little so that you can re-discover your inspiration. That way, you won’t find yourself thinking “What on earth did I mean by that?” when you consult your little memo.

Write first, edit later

Don’t interrupt the flow of your thoughts by pausing after every sentence or paragraph. Get your ideas fully roughed out and then go back to edit. That way, you won’t lose your inspiration while you wrestle with typos, check your spelling and adjust your fonts.

Get some exercise before you begin

Exercise makes you alert and improves your concentration – it also stimulates creative thinking. Does that sound crazy? Researchers have found that people performed better in creative thinking tests after going for a run. You’ll be in good company if you adopt this habit – many famous artists and writers habitually took a brisk walk before settling down to write.

Take breaks

A 30 second break can improve your mental clarity by up to 13%, and a two-minute break every half hour or so can work wonders for your productivity. Just looking up from your computer screen every now and then will reduce your fatigue. So – if you want to be more productive – take short, regular breaks. Stretch. Take a few deep breaths. Return to your writing feeling refreshed and alert.

Plan your distractions

While you’re researching your post, you may come across some interesting websites. Bookmark them for later rather than checking them out right there and then. Social media and email can also provide hours of distraction. And it’s not just a matter of sharing the occasional Facebook post or sending a Tweet. By the time you return to your writing, it will take a few minutes before you can get your thoughts back on track. Try the Pomodoro Technique where you focus for short bursts of 25 minutes. You can then schedule your ‘planned distractions’ or use them as rewards during your short breaks.

Plan before you start

Draw a mind-map or rough out your subheadings before you begin writing. Not only will your work be more structured and have a good, logical flow, you’ll save yourself from losing the blog post’s focus and having to delete chunks of irrelevant writing that doesn’t have much to do with what you’re trying to get across.

Research before you write

Instead of researching while you’re actually writing, try to do all your online research before you even begin. You can copy-paste relevant paragraphs under your sub-headings so that you don’t have to look through umpteen open tabs to find the nugget of information you wanted to include in part of your article. This should make the blog writing smoother and help you get the post done in less time.

Choose a quiet uncluttered environment

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get a lot of work done in the library? The quiet atmosphere and the lack of distractions will work wonders. Keep this in mind when choosing your workspace for blogging. You can’t possibly be productive with the TV on, kids demanding attention and chores staring you in the face whenever you look up from your work. Some people are better able to tune out noise and distractions than others, but you still won’t be at your most productive. Find a distraction-free place to write and make that your writing area each morning.

(Photo courtesy of IMG Lighting)

When to use ‘was’ versus ‘were’

English can be difficult, especially when it comes to words that can be easily confused. A couple of examples would be who vs whom and further vs farther. Another combo that can get confusing is was vs were.

There are several reasons why you might be struggling to decide whether you should be using “was” or “were” in a sentence. The simplest of these is the conjugation of the singular and plural forms of the past tense of “to be.” While this can cause minor problems to those learning English as a second language as they study, first language English speakers usually have few problems with this. The most common cause of debate and confusion is the use of “were” instead of “was” in the subjunctive mood (We’ll explain that below if you aren’t sure what subjunctive mood is.). We’ll cover both past and subjunctive mood topics in this article, and you’ll soon see just how simple it all is.

Singular and Plural

As we’ve observed, this is the easiest of the choices you need to make, but it also gives rise to the problems that so many people have when they begin to use the subjunctive mood.

Singular: I was, he was, she was, it was – BUT you were. (Just to make things more fun!)

Plural: It’s always ‘were’, regardless of whether we’re talking about “they,” “we” or “you.” So far, so easy! But now we’ll examine how this relates to one of the most common errors in spoken or written English: the choice of “was” instead of “were” in the subjunctive mood.

If I were / was a rich man – the famous subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood is used to describe or speculate on a hypothetical situation, and you’ll hear people using both ‘”was” and “were” in this context. But only one of these is correct. Whenever we’re talking about something that isn’t a reality at the moment, we discard “was” and choose “were” instead. It doesn’t matter whether we are referring to a single person or a group of people. As soon as we cross the border between reality and speculation, “were” is the only word to choose. For example

I was rich and I owned a house at the seaside.
If I were rich, I would have owned a house at the seaside.

He was the captain of the team and he chose a different strategy.
If he were captain of the team, he would have chosen a different strategy.

In each of the pairs of sentences above, the first one refers to something that actually happened in the past, and the word “was” is the correct choice. The second sentence is a wish or a speculation – it refers to an event that did not actually happen, and “were” is the correct choice.

They were the winning team, so they celebrated their victory.
If they were the winning team, they would celebrate their victory.

As we can see, the subjunctive mood doesn’t result in any change in word choice in this example. No matter how many people you are referring to, the subjunctive mood calls for the word “were.” If you’ve been prone to saying the incorrect “I wish I was,” “If he was” or “I wish she was” instead of the correct ‘I wish I were,” “If he were” or “I wish she were,” it will be easy to make the necessary adaptation and correct your grammar.

Look out for the subjunctive mood. As soon as something is a wish or a hypothetical (if) situation, you will always choose “were” over “was.”

It’s a common grammar mistake. In spoken as well as written English, you’ll find that just about everyone from plumbers to presidents is guilty of this mistake. Of course, when presidents make this error, those who know better will laugh at them, so if you’re hoping that what you say will be taken seriously, it’s worth learning when to use “were” instead of “was.” After all, once you understand the basic rules, it’s quite easy.