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"Different from" vs. "Different than"

Watch OutThe word than typically follows a comparative adjective, such as closer or more bizarre. You would thus say: K  Street is closer than M Street. Or you would say: This movie was more bizarre than any movie she had ever seen. The word than s...

Compound Adjectives

Hyphens in Compound AdjectivesThe English language is remarkably versatile, for it allows us to make up words and expressions that don’t otherwise appear in the dictionary. One type of expression we frequently invent is the compound adjective (also...

Adjectival Phrases

Funny word, the adjective. When it appears as just one word, it must usually come before the word it modifies. Thus, we can write about the essential factor, and we must position essential before factor. But if we add some words to essential—typica...

Adjectives - Phrases and Clauses

It’s SHOUTING time again. Wake up. This stuff is important.There are two main types of word chunks, clauses and phrases. A clause is a bunch of words with a conjugated verb in it. A phrase is a bunch of words without a conjugated verb in it.In the ...

A Summary of Adjectives

In this section, we introduced ourselves to the adjective, which comes in a one-word form that either precedes or follows the noun it modifies.When the adjective precedes the noun, it’s in the attributive position.When it follows the noun, it’s i...

Adverbs - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

WelcomeBelow you’ll find links to our discussion on adverbs. We recommend that you start with the first topic,Adverbs - More Words That Describe. At the bottom of each topic, you’ll find links to “Next” and to “Previous.” So start with th...

Adverbs - More Words That Describe

We’ve learned about verbs. Now let’s study those words or groups of words that describe or modify verbs. We call them adverbs. Sometimes they end in ‑ly, and sometimes they don’t.Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs. But they...

Modifying Adjectives and Adverbs

Amber and Miss Hamrick also wanted to further describe the adjectives they used to modify nouns. Not content with saying The sunset is beautiful, they became grandiose and said The sunset is unbelievably beautiful. Thus, they developed the rule that ...

Modifying an Entire Sentence or Clause

Use of Hopefully to Start a SentenceThis discussion will undoubtedly get some readers’ noses out of joint, because it points out that starting a sentence with the word hopefully is acceptable under modern theories of style. But watch out, many read...

Adverbs - Four Questions

Four questions typically arise about the correct use of adverbs:1. Do all adverbs end in -ly? 2. Where do we put adverbs in the sentence? 3. Where does the word only go in a sentence? 4. How do we form the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs...

1. Do All Adverbs End in -ly?

What happened to the -ly ending?We use the ‑ly ending to add to adjectives to convert them to adverbs. Thus, the adjective easy becomes the adverb easily, the adjective rapid becomes the adverb rapidly, and the adjective careful becomes the adverb ...

2. Where Do Adverbs Go?

Many writers make a mistake.As we learned in the section on verbs, every one-word verb has a one-word present tense and a one-word past tense. Thus: I write and I wrote. These one-word verbs are called simple verbs.Recall that all other tenses requir...

3. Placing the Word “Only”

According to Garner Oxford, the word only is “the most frequently misplaced of all English words.” Garner Oxford, p. 239. You should put only immediately before the word you intend to limit. The greater the distance between only and the word it ...

4. What Are the Comparative and Superlative Forms?

Recall in the section on adjectives that we can show various degrees of the descriptive qualities of adjectives: hot plate (positive) hotter plate (comparative) hottest plate (superlative)difficult task (positive) more difficult task (comparativ...

Adverbs - Phrases and Clauses

More Shouting SHOUTING time. Wake up! Again, learning this concept about chunks of words that act as nouns, adjectives, and now adverbs is crucial to your future as a writer.So here it is again, the key concept: Other chunks of words, words that are ...

A Summary of Adverbs

In this section, we met the last of the working words, the adverb. We have visited the noun, the verb, the adjective, and now the adverb.We learned that adverbs come in a variety of sizes: one-word adverbs, multiword phrases, and multiword clauses. W...

Pronouns - Words Substituting for Words

In this section, we’ll learn about pronouns. We have seven kinds in the English language. They cause all kinds of problems, even to people in positions of power. After all, haven’t you heard someone say, “Evan and myself want to thank you for t...

Pronouns - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

WelcomeBelow you’ll find links to our discussion on pronouns. We recommend that you start with the first topic,Pronouns - Words Substituting for Words. At the bottom of each topic, you’ll find links to “Next” and to “Previous.” So start w...

Seven Varieties of Pronouns

The first pronouns our forbears invented were the (1) personal pronouns, words that could substitute for Igor, Amber, and other members of the tribe. Then they invented (2) reflexive and intensive pronouns, those ‑self words enabling them to say,...

1. Personal Pronouns

I, Me, My, Mine, We, Us, Our, Ours, etc.Let’s start with the personal pronouns, those that take the place of people or other living or once-living beings. Personal pronouns can refer to Igor, Amber, or Amber’s pet turtle. We’ve already met some...

Person - Three People

Only Three People Exist on EarthAmber, Igor, and Miss Hamrick realized a long time ago that people mostly talk about only one thing—other people. That is, they gossip. They recognized, therefore, a universal truth:When ordinary human discourse took...

Number - Singular or Plural

More than OneWhen the Pronoun Committee met in Amber and Igor’s cave, it realized another universal truth:Often there would be more than one speaker, more than one listener, and more than one unfortunate soul being talked about. So in addition to s...

Case - Subjective, Objective, Possessive

Pronoun Case - Watch OutRemember the section on nouns? Remember those nuggets of information we tucked away for the future? Remember those paragraphs mentioning the case of pronouns? Well, the future is now.1. Pronouns in the subjective case replace ...

Gender - Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

He or SheOur forbears on the Pronoun Committee had a sinister goal in mind: They set out to wreak havoc on people in the late 1900s and early 2000s. They invented one set of pronouns for men and another set for women, for they knew that one day we’...

Table of Personal Pronouns

You might want to bookmark this page.Now let’s put it all together. The first table below shows singular personal pronouns; the second, plural personal pronouns. Singular Personal Pronouns Person Subjective Case Objective Case Possessive Case ...