Recently Added Articles Page #49

Let’s fix the title of the chapter …

So our chapter title incorrectly read: “Yesterday, they lead us astray.”But now you know that “led” is the past tense (and the past participle) of “lead.” So our chapter title should read:Yesterday, they led us astray. Previous: Chap...

Chapter 11 - “Principle” vs. “Principal”

“Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”Many writers use the “my principal is my pal” trick to help distinguish between principal and principle. But that trick fails to cover the many different meanings of principal. When you fi...

The Word “Principle”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachInstead, let’s take a simple parts-of-speech approach to understanding the differences. The word principle will always appear as a noun form, never as an adjective. It is thus incorrect to say: This was the principle (meani...

The Word “Principal”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachThe word principal, on the other hand, has a variety of meanings as an adjective and as a noun.Principal as an AdjectiveLet’s look first at its single adjectival meaning. As an adjective, principal means “chief” or “m...

“Principle” vs. “Principal” - A Summary

In sum, the word principle is always a noun. Essentially it means “rule.” It will never appear as an adjective. Its only possible adjectival form is principled.The word principal is an adjective or a noun. As an adjective, it essentially means ju...

Our chapter title should thus read…

The title of the chapter read: “Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”But now you know that “principle” primarily means “rule.” So we fix it like this:“Here’s the principal reason he flunked the course.”We mean, after...

Chapter 12 - “Bring” vs. “Take"

“Bring along this advice when you go to work.”I wish the writers of the Seinfeld series paid attention to the differences between bring and take. For hundreds of episodes, they routinely used bring when they meant take. Those kinds of mistakes, o...

I hope you’ve learned to fix the chapter title…

Our chapter read: “Bring along this advice when you go to work.”But now you know that “bring” and “go” don’t comfortably fit in the same sentence. So we’ll fix it like this:“Take along this advice when you go to work.” Previ...

Chapter 13 - The “Like” Word

“Like, I’mlike gonna learn how to like talk.”If you have a “like” habit, the time has come: Break it. Many people cannot make it through a single sentence without scores of “I’m like” and “She was like” and “She’s all . . ....

Introducing Quotations with the “Like” Word

I'm like ...Usually, people use tobelike to introduce quoted sources. In that form, it doesn’t harm the language too much or totally prevent thought from taking place. We can hear entire conversations, peppered with the verb tobelike and gobs of li...

“Like” - A Ubiquitous Word

It’s like everywhere …Sadly, the verb tobelike and other variations of the like word do more than introduce quotations. They pervade young people’s speech. They threaten the language—and therefore thought itself. Tobelike and like often requi...

Parents - Take Note

Bribe Your ChildrenParents, you might try an exercise out on your children. Bribe them. Put a $10 bill on the breakfast table and challenge them to make it through a second helping of waffles without using the tobelike verb and without misusing the l...

The Word “Like” Serves as 7 Parts of Speech

A Grammatical Analysis for ChildrenThe word like serves as seven of the parts of speech. The only function it doesn’t serve?  It isn’t a pronoun. But it does cover the other seven.Like as a VerbIf your children ask about the correct meaning of l...

Overusing “Like” Threatens Your Career

Consider the Views of the Experts.New Fowler By the mid-20c., however, [the use of like] as an incoherent and prevalent filler had reached the proportions of an epidemic, and it is now scorned by standard speakers as a vulgarism of the first order. N...

Perhaps from now on you’ll say…

Our chapter title looked like this: “Like, I’mlike gonna learn how to like talk.”Ouch. From now on, perhaps you’ll say …“I’m going to learn how to talk.”Please Note: We feel so strongly about the threat the like word poses to our lang...

Conclusion to the Section on Grammatical Mistakes

We hope you have enjoyed, and profited from, this discussion on common grammatical mistakes. If you have, we hope you’ll tell your friends about Grammar.com.You can download this entire discussion as the eBook Common Grammatical Mistakes.We hope yo...

Punctuation - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

WelcomeBelow you’ll find links to our discussion on all punctuation marks. We have broken some of the longer topics into multiple pages. So watch for references to “Pages 1-2-3” at the bottom of the topic. Click the next page number to continue...

Chapter 1 - Period

IntroductionThe period shows the end of a complete sentence, the abbreviation of words, and indented lists. It also appears inside closing quotation marks. Previous: Punctuation - Definition, Overview, and Lists of ExamplesNext: Ending a Sentenc...

Ending a Sentence

Spaces Following a PeriodIn word-processed documents, two spaces traditionally follow a sentence-ending period. In documents destined for typesetting, however, ordinarily only one space appears after sentence-ending punctuation.Modern style manuals a...

Showing Abbreviation

A Sentence Ending with an AbbreviationThe period shows abbreviations such as Co., Ave., Corp., Bldg., and a host of others. If a sentence ends in an abbreviated word, the single period serves double duty to show abbreviation and to end the sentence.T...

Vertical, Enumerated Lists

Periods Following NumbersPeriods also show up after the numerals in an enumerated vertical list. Look at this example: His favorite movies included: 1. The Fight Club 2. To Kill a Mockingbird 3. Aliens You could also use letters to show the enumer...

Periods with Quotation Marks

Periods Come InsideWith only one exception, the period always comes inside closing quotation marks. This rule applies even if only one quoted word ends the sentence. Thus: He said, "We need to tell the boss right away." She reported that the boss was...

Period with Parentheses or Brackets

Where Does the Period Go?If an entire sentence or group of sentences appears in parentheses, then put the period inside the closing parenthesis. This is a parenthetical sentence. Thus:Parenthetically Enclosed Sentence Her mind was clouded. (She hadn'...

Chapter 2 - Comma

IntroductionThe comma shows the smallest interruption of the structure of a sentence—the parenthesis and dash showing more severe breaks in continuity. A few rules, discussed below, have become obligatory. Otherwise, writers have considerable leewa...

Serial-Comma Rule ‑ Red, White, and Blue (2)

Comma, Comma, and CommaWhen you use a coordinating conjunction (usually and or or) to join two elements of a series, no comma comes before the conjunction. But when you join three or more elements, the preferred rule requires a comma before the coord...