English Homework Tips

Homonyms are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Homonyms can also be words that sound the same when you pronounce them, but have different meanings.

For a beginner, Shakespeare can sometimes seem like a bunch of strange words put together in no sensible order. Once you learn to read and understand Shakespeare, you'll find out why it has inspired students and scholars for centuries.

If you're writing a book report, you'll need to understand the use of symbols and motifs in literature.

You might need to write a limerick for an assignment, or you may want to learn the art just for fun or to impress a friend. Limericks are fun--and they can be a great way to express how clever and creative you can be!

Many students have a tough time finding the theme of a book. This list provides samples of common themes. Compare these words and phrases to a book you've read lately and see if they match.

If you get confused by the technical definition of a sentence, you can going with your gut instinct. An incomplete sentence leaves you feeling empty. It just doesn’t leave you feeling satisfied. This is because—no matter how long they are—sentence fragments just don’t express a complete idea.

Facing a midterm or final exam in literature class? You might want to use a mind map to create a color-coded study guide to help you remember which characters and settings go with each work that you've studied.

Cliffs Notes and other study aids can be a great study tool, but students should be very careful not to abuse them. Find out how to use these guides the responsible way and avoid real trouble in the long run!

Rhetoric has many definitions, and in today's society it can have negative connotations. That is why it may be confusing to you when you see that your English class is called "Composition and Rhetoric" in high school or college.

When students learn how to diagram a sentence, they learn to understand parts of speech more clearly. This provides a foundation for improved writing and speaking skills.

Take these fun quizzes to build your college vocabulary. You can repeat the quizzes until you reach 100%.

Discover the traits of different types of essay assignments.

You can develop great writing skills when you recongnize some of the common problems in sentence structure.

You can create verbs from nouns to develop more powerful language.

We all struggle with sets of words that we often confuse, like affect and effect. Review these words that are commonly confused with others.

Review the words we often confuse with other words, then test your skills with this fun quiz.

Every sentence needs a subject and a verb--but some sentences offer a little bit more.

You can identify an indirect object by asking “to whom?” or “to what?” a direct object is given, transferred, communicated, or transmitted in a sentence when the word “to” is understood.

The first question many students may ask when setting out to write a short story is how long is a short story supposed to be? Short stories have a fairly broad range of lengths, between 1,000 and 7,500 words.

A simile is a direct comparison of two different objects, often used with like or as. This list of similes will help you come up with your own...

Can you think of a really interesting simile? A simile is a comparison we make between to unrelated object that share a certain characteristic.