(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)
I was helping one of my students proofread her cover-letter for an internship application.
She had written:
"I'm a really passionate person and love studying the law. Especially, I love studying domestic law."
Based on my native speaker intuition alone, I said, " 'Particularly' would be better here."
The student was a bit surprised. I think she had been taught that "especially" and "particularly" were the same.
I struggled to explain the difference, but failed.
Actually, although this is the first time I've blogged about it, I feel like this question has come up a lot over my years of teaching.
(Further thought....Upon re-reading that sentence, the "especially" would work if I just changed the word order. "I especially love studying domestic law." Maybe it's a syntax thing instead of a meaning thing.)
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