English essays are a major headache source for many college students. Writing an essay for a class requires you to have an exceptional command of the English language. It's not just your skills and ideas that are undergoing evaluation. You must also edit, organize and present your paper in a way that portrays your point of view in a way that clearly presents your thoughts. Luckily for you, there are several online services and programs you can use to help you self-edit and learn how to write interesting English essays. There are several pros and cons of editing your own work, but if you do decide to go it alone, you can use these online services to help you out.

1.      Hemingway

Sometimes the readability of a piece can be really difficult. Hemingway is an online application that helps you check the readability of your writing. What you do is copy and paste the content you are working on and this app will quickly analyze it. Once the results are out, Hemingway informs you whether your phrases are too complicated to read and whether to substitute difficult and complex words for simpler ones.

2.      Copyscape

Copyscape is the most popular free web-based tool that allows designers to check the content of a single webpage and it performs some magic to find if duplicate content exists elsewhere on the world-wide web. Designers can also choose a pay-as-you-go version which allows you to check plagiarism for a section of plain text rather than an already published webpage, great for those using content from various sources. It’d be embarrassing to publish plagiarized content in 2016 when great tools like Copyscape exist.

3.      Pro Custom Writing

Do you need help having your essay or assignment done? Turn to Pro custom writing service and you will be sorted. Is it not a great feeling to know that you can totally count on someone to work out your assignments? Not just ‘someone’ but an expert. This is what Pro custom writing are for. You only provide them with the areas you need help with and leave the rest to them. They have a team of professionals on the waiting to tackle any problem in any field. Just at a small fee, you will have your writing done and in the best way.

4.      Unsuck It

Unsuck It is an online dictionary tool to help you turn those boring office jargon to quirky and fun words. As a designer, you need every to ensure your content is useful, fun and easy to understand. Unsuck It, as the name suggests, offers synonyms to business jargon that usually make copy boring or impossible to understand. It’s the urban dictionary for office jargons. If you ever need to turn those business jargons to useful information for your visitors, simply head over to Unsuck It, it’s simple and fun to use thanks to its simple interface. Once you’re on their homepage you’re greeted with a search bar that performs all the sorcery of decoding those office jargons to fun synonyms that helps add value to your content. You can also add your own fun alternatives to business jargons if they’re not yet available on the site, helping it to grow.

5.      Type Genius

 Sometimes you do not need that many visual effects, sometimes all you need is just the right combination of fonts to make the perfect presentation of your content. It allows you the best possible combination of fonts and even goes so far as to provide you with examples of how the fonts look when used in the suggested combination. That way you know which combination is best for you, turning the most mundane of elements into stand out features.

6.      Readwrite Think

Just from the name, you can definitely tell that this is not just one tool. The tool encompasses all the four different language skills. With this interactive online writing tool, students can be helped with various writing works such as composing business letters on templates, creation of comics and practicing storyboarding skills.

7.      Evernote

If you've never used Evernote, it's time to start. The program allows you keep notes, capture screenshots, and organize your ideas. When it comes time to create your essay, you'll have all your facts, quotes, and research sitting there in a tidy and intuitive interface. You can also save your folders online and access your research from anywhere. The app even comes with browser extensions to make it easier to use.

8.      Thesis Builder

As a learner, you will love this tool! Since you are always struggling to come up with a believable thesis statement, it’s easy to recommend Thesis Builder, an automatic engine that launches a statement based upon the topic, opinions and supporting arguments the users provide in the form. Once you obtain the thesis, you can proceed with the creation of an outline without looking for another online tool.

Using these tools in an integrated fashion can help you learn and write English essays fluently. Organizing your ideas into a coherent and logical framework is essential and safeguarding to ensure you make your point cogently and clearly.

English essays are a major headache source for many college students. Writing an essay for a class requires you to have an exceptional command of the English language. It's not just your skills and ideas that are undergoing evaluation. You must also edit, organize and present your paper in a way that portrays your point of view in a way that clearly presents your thoughts. Luckily for you, there are several online services and programs you can use to help you self-edit and learn how to write interesting English essays. There are several pros and cons of editing your own work, but if you do decide to go it alone, you can use these online services to help you out.

1.      Hemingway

Sometimes the readability of a piece can be really difficult. Hemingway is an online application that helps you check the readability of your writing. What you do is copy and paste the content you are working on and this app will quickly analyze it. Once the results are out, Hemingway informs you whether your phrases are too complicated to read and whether to substitute difficult and complex words for simpler ones.

2.      Copyscape

Copyscape is the most popular free web-based tool that allows designers to check the content of a single webpage and it performs some magic to find if duplicate content exists elsewhere on the world-wide web. Designers can also choose a pay-as-you-go version which allows you to check plagiarism for a section of plain text rather than an already published webpage, great for those using content from various sources. It’d be embarrassing to publish plagiarized content in 2016 when great tools like Copyscape exist.

3.      Trust Essay

Do you need help having your essay or assignment done? Turn to Trust Essays and you will be sorted. Is it not a great feeling to know that you can totally count on someone to work out your assignments? Not just ‘someone’ but an expert. This is what Trust Essays are for. You only provide them with the areas you need help with and leave the rest to them. They have a team of professionals on the waiting to tackle any problem in any field. Just at a small fee, you will have your writing done and in the best way.

4.      Unsuck It

Unsuck It is an online dictionary tool to help you turn those boring office jargon to quirky and fun words. As a designer, you need every to ensure your content is useful, fun and easy to understand. Unsuck It, as the name suggests, offers synonyms to business jargon that usually make copy boring or impossible to understand. It’s the urban dictionary for office jargons. If you ever need to turn those business jargons to useful information for your visitors, simply head over to Unsuck It, it’s simple and fun to use thanks to its simple interface. Once you’re on their homepage you’re greeted with a search bar that performs all the sorcery of decoding those office jargons to fun synonyms that helps add value to your content. You can also add your own fun alternatives to business jargons if they’re not yet available on the site, helping it to grow.

5.      Type Genius

 Sometimes you do not need that many visual effects, sometimes all you need is just the right combination of fonts to make the perfect presentation of your content. It allows you the best possible combination of fonts and even goes so far as to provide you with examples of how the fonts look when used in the suggested combination. That way you know which combination is best for you, turning the most mundane of elements into stand out features.

6.      Readwrite Think

Just from the name, you can definitely tell that this is not just one tool. The tool encompasses all the four different language skills. With this interactive online writing tool, students can be helped with various writing works such as composing business letters on templates, creation of comics and practicing storyboarding skills.

7.      Evernote

If you've never used Evernote, it's time to start. The program allows you keep notes, capture screenshots, and organize your ideas. When it comes time to create your essay, you'll have all your facts, quotes, and research sitting there in a tidy and intuitive interface. You can also save your folders online and access your research from anywhere. The app even comes with browser extensions to make it easier to use.

8.      Thesis Builder

As a learner, you will love this tool! Since you are always struggling to come up with a believable thesis statement, it’s easy to recommend Thesis Builder, an automatic engine that launches a statement based upon the topic, opinions and supporting arguments the users provide in the form. Once you obtain the thesis, you can proceed with the creation of an outline without looking for another online tool.

9.      Essay Punch

Essay Punch is an interactive, online, essay-writing tutorial that takes students through all stages of the academic writing process. The guidance it offers is based on pre-set writing prompts and interactive exercises for the pre-writing, organizing, writing, editing and publishing stages.

Using these tools in an integrated fashion can help you learn and write English essays fluently. Organizing your ideas into a coherent and logical framework is essential and safeguarding to ensure you make your point cogently and clearly.

Phraseology can be defined as the way a particular group of people uses words or phrases. In linguistics, phraseology can be defined as the study of set or fixed expressions, i.e. idioms, and phrasal verbs, which are collectively referred to as phrasemes, in which the major wording of the expression takes on another deeper meaning that would not have been predictable if the words were used independently. These are some of the English phraseologies and the stories behind them.

1. Pull someone’s leg

This idiom simply implies to joke or fool around with someone. When this joke first came to use, it was on a completely different platform. Originally, it was used by thieves to trap pedestrians and rob them. The thieves used to work in groups and one of them would be assigned the role of tripping up pedestrians and use any possible means to knock the person to the ground and rob them. Nowadays, the jokes are used on a friendlier note, even though some jokes may not be that friendly.

2. Kick the bucket

This idiom has a dark origin. In the 1900’s a person used to commit suicide by hanging himself. He used to stand on a bucket and then kick it away, thus the phrase. It does not necessarily mean that someone has committed suicide, it simply implies that one has died.

3. Hat trick

Hat trick originated from the English game of cricket. Originally, it referred to a bowler retiring three consecutive batsmen with three consecutive balls. It was considered quite an accomplishment and was traditionally rewarded with a hat. Nowadays the term is used for other sports, especially football and hockey, to refer to three goals scored by a single player.

4. Break a Leg

The phrase was first recorded in the early 1900’s during World War I. The term was coined from a similar expression used by German actors; Hals und Beinbruchh, (which means a broken neck and broken leg).  This term is used in cases for reverse psychology. During this time, it was considered bad luck to wish your friends good luck in case you awaken the spirits to cause harm. Break a leg therefore became an accepted expression of good luck.

5. Face the music

This phrase means to accept the truth or consequences for an action, often negative, i.e. when you fail to achieve a set target in your lob it may lead to you losing the job. This term was coined from the British military. When someone was summoned to the court, often, there would be a military drum squad playing, hence this term.

6. Raining cats and dogs

This phrase was first recorded in 1851 in Henry Vaughan’s poet collection ‘Olor Iscanus’. Just as the origin of language itself is a mystery, there has been various speculation to this phrase’s origin ranging from medieval superstition to Norse mythology. It is a simple term to mean that it is raining heavily. The term originated from England in the 1500’s when houses had thatched roofs consisting of straw piled high with no wood underneath. During old seasons, this was the only place an animal could get warm apart from the fireplace. Small animals such as cats would seek warmth in the roofs and sometimes a dog would wind up in the roof. When it rained really hard, some of the animals would wash up the roof and wash up on the street. Hence the term to mean it’s raining heavily.

7. Back to square one

This means lets go back, start afresh or start again by going back to the original point, often though reluctantly. This phrase was coined from the BBC’s old method of dividing the soccer pitch for commentary purposes before the era of TV in January 1927 from the phrase, ‘squaring up for the cup’.

8. Bark up the wrong tree

This idiom was first printed in 1833 in a book written by Davy Crockett. During this time, hunting raccoons for fur was a popular sport. Hunting dogs were used to sniff them out of trees. Because raccoons are nocturnal animals, hunting had to be done at night and sometimes the dogs would lead them to the wrong trees hence the term. This idiom simply means that one has pursued the wrong choice or course.

9. A piece of cake

This one sounds pretty familiar to all of us. It signifies that something is easy and can be managed with no difficulties. This one is self-explanatory. Eating a piece of cake is something basic that comes naturally to anybody. It’s not something difficult really. The first time this quote was used was in the 1930s, when American poet Ogden Nash was quoted saying that ‘Life’s a piece of cake’.

10.  Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

We have all heard this phrase and we know that it means the whole truth that you cannot contest. However, the origin of this phrase is odd since we know that horses do not talk. In the olden days, horses were a prized commodity. They were a source of prestige and a means of transportation. There were also dishonest people who tried to sell horses of less breed or quality at a higher price. They would lie about the horse’s age to attract higher cash. However, anyone who knew about breeding horses could simply look at the size and shape of the teeth to determine the real age of the horse, this way finding out the truth. Hence the phrase.

Honestly speaking, it is interesting to find out the source of phrases that we often use daily. They might be confusing, but they make English fun to learn and the lessons and college paper writing sites become much more enjoyable. Next time you hear an interesting phrase, I suggest you look up its meaning and you will be surprised by what you find.

About the author: Patrick Cole is an entrepreneur and freelancer. He is also a contributing blogger for several websites. Patrick loves self-education and rock music. Connect with Patrick via Facebook, Google+.