An email signature should make it easy for people to identify you and find your contact details at the end of your emailโwithout oversharing personal information. The right balance depends on the capacity youโre writing in, whether thatโs as a professional representing a company, an individual using a personal email address, or a student communicating in an academic context.
In this guide, youโll find email signature examples for professional emails, personal emails, and student emailsโalong with the elements people commonly include in each typeโto help you create an email signature that fits the context and doesnโt leave out anything important.
If you plan to include a headshot, you can also use QuillBotโs free background remover to create a clean, professional image for your email signature.
Knowing how to take notes effectively is a core academic skill, but itโs one that weโre sometimes never explicitly taught. Good note-taking isnโt about writing down everything you hear or readโitโs about selecting, organizing, and engaging with information in a way that supports understanding and long-term learning.
This article discusses how to take notes in school or college and introduces the popular Cornell note-taking method.
TipOnce youโve used your notes to plan and write an assignment, use QuillBotโs free Grammar Checker as part of your final proofreading step before you submit it.
The word around can mean โsurrounding,โ โalong the outside of,โ and โto different places.โ It functions as a preposition or an adverb and is a particle of phrasal verbs like โcome aroundโ and โturn around.โ
QuillBotโs free AI chat can help you identify the part of speech of โaroundโ in a sentence.
Around in a sentence examplesPut some bubble wrap around it.
A subject complement is the word or phrase that completes the meaning of a linking verb by describing or identifying the subject of the sentence. QuillBotโs free AI Chat can help you identify subject complements in sentences.
Subject complement in a sentence examplesThe roomwascold. [Subject complement: an adjective describing the subject]
Her favorite sportis soccer. [Subject complement: a noun identifying the subject]
That doesnโtsoundright. [Subject complement: an adjective describing the subject]
The boysbecamefriends. [Subject complement: a noun identifying the subject]
The problemisthat weโre running out of time. [Subject complement: a noun clause identifying the subject]
Professional email sign-offs are the fixed phrases you put before your name at the end of an email for work or business. They often come after a closing line like โPlease donโt hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.โ
TipQuillBotโs free AI Chat can help you select the most appropriate sign-off for your professional email.
Choosing the right professional email sign-off is part of good email etiquette and can be trickyโespecially when youโre emailing someone for the first time (e.g., introducing yourself in an email) or starting a job in a new industry where youโre not yet sure how formal the communication style should be.
Being able to identify parts of speech is important if you want to understand how English works. QuillBotโs free AI Chat can help you practice identifying parts of speech in a sentence.
The word over can be a preposition of place or time, an adjective, an adverb, or the particle of a phrasal verb. It is part of many idiomatic phrases, like โover the topโ and is the opposite of โunderโ in many contexts.
Need to figure out how โoverโ is being used in a sentence (i.e., its part of speech)? Ask QuillBotโs free AI Chat for help?
Over in a sentence examplesThere used to be a sign over the door.
Published on
November 4, 2025
by
Tom Challenger, BA.
Revised on
November 20, 2025
Cricket is one of the worldโs most popular sports, with its most high-profile matches drawing crowds of over 100,000 spectators and huge TV audiences. If youโre from a country where cricket isnโt widely played but want to understand the game, learning a few basic cricket terms will help you join in conversations about cricket and follow match commentaries.
Hereโs a list of 22 cricket terms to get you started.
TipYou can ask QuillBotโs free AI chat questions about the rules, traditions, and history of the sport of cricket.
Cricket terms list
The stumps
The three โsticksโ behind the player who is trying to hit the ballโthere are two sets of stumps on a cricket pitch, one at either end
The field
The entire area on which the game is played
The pitch
The rectangular area of shorter grass in the middle of the field where the stumps are
The boundary
The edge of the field marked by a rope on the ground
A run
The word for a point in cricket
To run
To try and score runs by running to the other end of the pitch after youโve hit the ball
A bat
The thick piece of wood with a handle that you use to hit the ball
Batting
Hitting or blocking the ball with your bat in order to score points (runs) or stop the ball hitting the stumps behind you
A batsman, batswoman, batter
The batsmen or batswomen are the two players who are standing in the middle of the field on the team that is currently battingโbatter is a widely used alternative gender-neutral term.
Out
When a batter is out, it is the end of their โchanceโ to batโyou can get out by letting the ball hit the stumps behind you or by hitting the ball so a player on the other team can catch it in the air before it touches the ground, for instance
Bowling
Throwing the ball in a special way in the direction of the stumps to try and get the batter out (e.g., by hitting the stumps)
The bowler
The player who is bowling the ball in the direction of the batter
Fielding
Stopping, throwing, and catching the ball when youโre on the team that isnโt currently batting
A fielder
One of the players on the field who is not currently batting
The wicketkeeper
The player on the fielding team who stands behind the stumps and whose job is to stop or catch the ball if the batter misses it
An innings
A teamโs โturnโ to bat rather than field
The wicket
The wicket can refer to:
The stumps, including the two smaller โsticksโ balanced on top of them (the bails) (e.g., โThe batter hit the wicket with his footโ)
The pitch area (โThe grass on the wicket is quite longโ)
A wicket
When the fielding team get a batter out (e.g., โIndia have taken three wickets this morningโ)
An over
Bowlers bowl in โsetsโ of six โbowlsโ (six balls) called an over
Leg before wicket (LBW)
A way that the batter can get out by missing or deliberately not hitting the ball but letting it hit their legs
A spin bowler
A bowler who specialises in bowling the ball relatively slowly using a technique that makes the ball change direction when it hits the pitch in front of the batter
A run out
A way of getting out when youโre running and fail to reach the stumps you are running to before someone on the fielding team hits them with the ball
Pickleball is great fun for all ages and is very easy to learnโespecially if youโve played other racket sports like tennis, squash, badminton, or table tennis.
Learning a few basic pickleball terms for the rules, court layout, and common shot types will help you get off to a flying start if youโre thinking of giving it a try. The table below lists 20 essential pickleball words and phrases every beginner should know.
When youโre left scratching your head over a piece of pickleball vocabulary, QuillBotโs free AI Chat can explain it to you in an instant.
List of 20 essential pickleball terms
A dink
A very common shot used by advanced pickleball players. When playing this shot:
The player is typically positioned quite close to the net
They typically let the ball bounce
They โtapโ the ball softly over the net using a โpunchingโ rather than a โswingingโ motion
The ball passes over the net at a low height.
The ball lands close to the net on the other side
The kitchen
A slang term for the non-volley zoneโthe box at the front of the court on each side of the net. You can only volley the ball (hit it before it bounces on your side of the court) when neither of your feet is touching this area.
A side out
When the serving player or doubles team loses their serve and the serve passes to the other side of the net (e.g., โIf you lose the rally after your second server has served, itโs a side outโ).
It can also refer to a player or teamโs complete โserving turnโโalso sometimes called a โpossessionโ (e.g., โYou always start a new side out by serving from the leftโ).
A paddle
A pickleball โracketโ
The double bounce rule
Also called โthe two bounce rule,โ this refers to the rule that:
You have to let a serve bounce before you hit it (you canโt volley the serve before โbounce oneโ)
Your opponent has to let your return bounce before they hit it (your opponent canโt volley your return of serve before โbounce twoโ).
A drop serve
A way of serving where you drop the ball out of your hand, let it bounce, and then hit your serve (rather than hitting your serve directly out of your hand)
The one, the two
Alternative terms for the โfirst serverโ and the โsecond serverโ during a side out in a game of pickleball doubles (e.g., โIโm the one because Iโm on the right side of the courtโ)
A drop
A softly hit shot that you hit when youโre standing near the baseline or mid-court into your opponentโs kitchen, allowing you to move forward to your kitchen line
A drive
A powerful shot hit with a backswing, a long follow-through, and some top spin
A banger
A slang term for a player who likes to hit a lot of drive shots
An overhead
A shot that you hit when the ball is high in the air, above the height of your head
A speed up
When a player decides to hit a fast drive shot after an exchange of dink shots
A pancake volley
A powerful forehand โblockโ volley hit using a grip similar to holding a frying pan (a western or โpancakeโ grip). This grip keeps the paddle face open and is very effective when youโre standing near the kitchen line.
A chicken wing
A defensive shot where the ball is coming quickly toward your body or head, so you have to awkwardly bend your arm and stick your elbow out
A scorpion
A shot where you bend your knees and raise your paddle to about head height with the paddle face pointing forwardโoften used to block a fast shot near the body and avoid an awkward chicken wing
A twoey
A slang term for a shot you hit with two hands on the paddle instead of one (typically a backhand)
An Erne
When you jump outside the court so you can volley the ball very close to the net without your feet touching the kitchen (named after the player Erne Perry)
An ATP (around the post)
A legal shot you hit after your opponent plays a dink at an extreme cross-court angle and you hit the ball back around the outside of the net post instead of over the net
The third shot
The shot in a rally after the serve and the return
A paddle tap
When you touch paddles with your opponent at the end of a game to thank them for the game
Tennis, like all sports, has its own unique vocabulary to describe its rules, scoring system, and shots. The game is thought to have originated in 12th-century France, which explains why some English tennis terms are particularly unusual, as they come from Old French. If youโre new to tennis, the table below contains a list of 20 essential terms to help you follow TV commentaries and join in conversations about the sport.
TipIf youโre confused about the meaning of a tennis term, why not ask QuillBotโs free AI chat for a definition?
List of 20 essential tennis terms
Tennis term
Definition
Game
In tennis, you play points to win games; you need at least four points to win a game.
Set
You have to win at least six games to win a set. The first player to win an agreed number of sets is the winner of the whole match; in professional tennis, this is usually two or three sets (i.e., โbest of three setsโ or โbest of five setsโ).
Love, 15, 30, and 40
You donโt count points in the usual way in tennis: Zero points is called โlove,โ one point is 15, two points is 30, and three points is 40.
All
You can say that the score in a game is equal by saying โ15 all,โ โ30 all,โ etc.
Deuce
When both players reach 40, the score is โdeuce.โ From deuce, a player must win one point to gain the โadvantageโ and then win the next point to take the game.
Advantage
At deuce, the player who wins the next point has the advantage. If they win the following point (a game point), they take the game. If they lose it, the score returns to deuce. Play continues until one player wins a game point.
Tiebreak
If the score in a set reaches โsix allโ (6-6), you play a special game called a โtiebreakโ (or โtiebreakerโ). The winner of the tiebreak game wins the set. The points are counted normally in a tiebreak. You win the tiebreak if you have at least seven points and two more than the other player (e.g., 7-3, 7-5, 8-6, or 13-11). In some tennis tournaments, if there is a tiebreak in the final setโwhich therefore decides the whole matchโyou have to win at least 10 points.
Serve (service)
The player with the โserveโ (or โserviceโ) starts all the points in a game. The serve then switches to the other player for the next game and continues to alternate like this.
Break serve
If you โbreak serve,โ you win a game when the other player has the serve.
First serve (first service), second serve (second service)
The player with the serve has two chances to start the point by hitting it into the correct box on the other side of the net. These chances are called โfirst serveโ (or โfirst serviceโ) and โsecond serveโ (or โsecond serviceโ). If the server misses a second serve, they lose the point.
Double fault
Itโs a โdouble faultโ when you lose the point because you make mistakes on both your first and second serves (e.g., hit the serves โoutโ or into the net).
Ace
An โaceโ is a serve that the other player is not able to hit (e.g., because the serve is very fast and difficult to reach).
Rally
A โrallyโ is a series of shots. For instance, if each player hits the ball two or three times during a point, this is considered a โshort rally.โ If they each hit it ten times, then itโs considered a โlong rally.โ
Forehand
A โforehandโ is a shot hit with the front of the racket, where the ball is to the right of a right-handed player or to the left of a left-handed player.
Backhand
A โbackhandโ is a shot hit with the back of the racket, where the ball is to the left of a right-handed player or to the right of a left-handed player.
Volley
A shot where the player hits the ball before it bounces, typically played when a player is near to the net.
Topspin
If you hit a โtopspinโ shot, then the top of the ball is spinning in the same direction as the shot. Topspin lets you hit the ball hard while keeping control because the spin makes the ball dip quickly after it goes high over the net.
Backspin (slice)
If you hit a โbackspinโ (or โsliceโ) shot, then the ball is spinning in the opposite direction to the shot. Backspin shots are typically slow and low and donโt bounce as high as topspin shots.
Baseline
The โbaselinesโ are the two lines at either end of the court.
Smash
A โsmashโ is a powerful shot where a player hits the ball when it is high in the air above their head.
