nanny A nanny is a person who takes care of other people’s children. It’s similar to the job of babysitter except that a nanny usually lives in the home of the children who are cared for. Mary works as a nanny. She has been working as a nanny for the last ten years. Would you like to […]

mumble Use the word “mumble” when a person speaks softly or unclearly. It’s not a good idea to mumble, but some people do it when they don’t want another person to hear what they’re saying. The teacher told the students to stop mumbling and finish their work. A lot of people in the office were

mild If something is mild, it is not strong. It might be kind of weak. Whether or not something is mild has a lot to do with the perception of an individual person. This word is an adjective. Temperatures this week have been mild. Last year we had a mild winter. The audience’s reaction to

late A person or a thing that is late is not on time. Jane was ten minutes late to work this morning. She woke up late. She went to sleep late last night. She was late to a meeting. This is an easy word to use because it can be both an adjective and an adverb: John is late. (adjective)

lapse Use the word “lapse” when there is a failure, a stop, or a decline. A temporary lapse in judgment caused Laura to make a bad decision. Terry decided to allow her auto insurance policy to lapse by not making payments, but now she can’t drive her car. (The insurance company stopped providing coverage. That’s bad!)

lame A person or a thing that is lame is weak, unoriginal, or just not very good. Dan came up with a lame excuse for why he was late. (His excuse was bad, or it was obviously false.) That movie was lame. (It was a bad movie. Overall, it was unoriginal and the acting was terrible.) Mr. Smith’s teaching

lack The word “lack” is very similar to the negative form of the verb “have.” (lack = do not have) They lack a good plan for improving their business. They don’t have a good plan for improving their business. He lacks a good education. He doesn’t have a good education. This neighborhood lacked a grocery store until

label A label is something that provides information about a product. The label on the bottle of medicine is hard to read. Can you read this label for me, please? What does the label say? You have to read the label to know what’s inside the product. labeled food Do you read the nutrition label before making

kidnap To kidnap is to steal a person and hold him or her in secret until a ransom (money) is paid for the person’s release. A local man was kidnapped and held until his family paid a million dollars for his release. Thieves kidnapped the man because they were unable to find any money in the house

knowledge The word “knowledge” is used to talk about things that you learn or know. It’s especially useful when talking about school activity: A student goes to school for knowledge. A student gains knowledge in school. A student possesses a certain amount of knowledge after attending school. The word “knowledge” is a noun. It refers