Homophones: They’re, There, and Their
Homophones are words that sound the same when pronounced out loud but have different meanings. Homophones such as they’re, there, and there confuse kids, slip past spell check, and pop up all over the place as typos and misspellings. To make things worse, many homophones have different spellings, which means spell check ignores them, since alternative spellings…Read More
Grammar Guidelines Versus Grammar Rules
In grammar, there are rules and then there are guidelines. Rules may sometimes be broken, but usually breaking the rules of grammar leads to prose that sounds awkward and is indisputably incorrect. But breaching the guidelines often leads to prose that sounds more natural. An example of a grammar rule would be the use of…Read More
How to Misuse Punctuation Marks
What is it about punctuation marks that cause so many bad sentence constructions? You know the sentences I’m talking about. They’ve got random commas, missing quotation marks, and way too many exclamation points. To make matters worse, some writers break the rules and get away with it while others are chastised for doing (what appears…Read More
Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs
They perplex us, confuse us, and make our heads spin. If you thought learning how to correctly spell words that sound alike was difficult, wait till you try to learn the terms for describing those words. Homophones Homophones are words that are pronounced alike but have different meanings. Some examples are accept and except, affect…Read More
Grammar Rules: Who vs. Whom
It sounds old-fashioned: To whom have you sent those letters? Modern colloquial speakers expect something more along the lines of Who did you send those letters to? While whom may sound outdated, it is still the technically correct word in certain situations. Let’s examine the rules and practices surrounding who vs. whom. One of our…Read More
Punctuation Marks: The Comma
For such a little punctuation mark, the comma causes an awful lot of confusion. Some writers are too liberal with commas, sprinkling them about like nuts on an ice cream sundae. Other writers hoard their commas and avoid using them whenever possible. Why are these punctuation marks so widely misused? Why are we, collectively, so…Read More
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