Crest Fallen
January 8, 2025
Author: emchitty
Em Turner Chitty teaches English as a Second Language at the University of Tennessee's English Language Institute. She is the author of How We Really Talk: Using Phrasal Verbs in English, and Spelling and Sound: Spelling Common English Words. She also appears on the Irish/Appalachian album Mountain Laurel, available from etchitty@gmail.com
Sand Dune Memories by Marjorie
May 24, 2024
Tangier Island
August 10, 2019
I am reaching the age when I relate most of my present experiences to my past–to the decades since I first tasted that particular crunch of a sugar cone crammed with ice cream or saw that particular arc of a seagull’s glide over ocean water, and experience them again in the present moment. Today I … More Tangier Island
Fluttering at the Bottom of the Jar
July 7, 2018
Do you hope for things? Or do you wish for them? There’s a big difference. I was a young teacher of the English language when, one day in front of a class, I realized I didn’t understand the distinction between “I hope” and “I wish.” At least I wasn’t initially able to explain it to … More Fluttering at the Bottom of the Jar
Colors of Summer
June 13, 2018
Originally posted on Marjorie Turner Hollman:
Gooseberry Island in Westport covered in blooming roses Summer means visits to the beach, but we don’t often think of riotous color when we think of beach visits. Our latest visit to Gooseberry Island, in Westport, MA brought the surprise of thousands of beach roses in full bloom. Throughout…
Second Chances
June 4, 2018
What do we give up when we refuse to take a path? We rarely get a second chance to find out. When I was 20, it simply didn’t occur to me that, in the old phrase, “opportunity never knocks twice.” As I travel through the West this May of 2018, at 63, I am getting … More Second Chances
In God’s Country?
November 6, 2017
Yesterday, I took a beautiful drive to see the colors in the Smokies and to get fresh produce from Carver’s Apple Orchard in Cosby–a ritual I observed for years but had lately neglected. I used to go there with my family when my children were young until they began objecting to the long drive. It … More In God’s Country?
Idioms with “It”
October 10, 2017
“It” carries a lot of baggage for such a tiny word. I’ve been collecting some idioms that refer to “it” without specifying what “it” means. Please add any you can think of. Weather idioms: It’s raining, it’s sunny, it’s foggy, it’s snowing, it’s cloudy, it’s cold, it’s hot, it’s warm, it’s cool, it’s windy, it’s … More Idioms with “It”
Word for the Day – Anacoluthon
August 8, 2017
C4d fragments, by nihilusdesigns (http://nihilusdesigns.deviantart.com) I just came across a word I had never met before. We ought to be old friends, this word and I, because I do this thing quite a lot, being a person with a limited attention span who frequently starts a sentence in 2017 and ends in 1946, and I … More Word for the Day – Anacoluthon
Beauty in Writing
August 2, 2017
For a while I have been working on how to teach ESL students not only how to write correct sentences but beautiful ones. In an 11-module course, I teach students how to use simple, short sentences for power and punch; compound and reduced compound sentences for, respectively, leisurely and speedy additions of information; complex sentences … More Beauty in Writing
Em Turner Chitty 