Imagine trying to speak without expressing possibility, permission,or necessity; it would be like painting without colour. That’s were the modal verb step in. These special helping verbs—can, could, ...

A verb is a word used to describe an action. That’s doing something. Or, a verb can be used to describe a state. That’s feeling something. Or, a verb can be used to describe an occurrence. That’s ...

The buzz on social media after this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary School Examination top scorer Goldalyne Kakuya was invited to address Masinde Muliro University graduands was one to behold. It ...

Picture a small child saying: "Can’t, shan’t, won’t!" They are using modal verbs to show their feelings and attitude to something. Maybe they are refusing to go to bed or eat their peas. Modal verbs ...

As a linguist, I’ve lost count of how many times I have been asked what I think of the various language-learning apps. The truth is that I don’t use them. But of late I have been watching my daughter, ...

WHEN we were children and just beginning to learn English grammar, many of us were taken aback by the strange failure of some verbs to work in certain sentence constructions. For instance, perhaps ...

Two-year-olds know more about grammar than they can say. Budding toddlers recognize the difference between nouns and verbs in simple sentences, even though the kids don’t utter such sentences for at ...