From the category archives:

Grammar Tips

Grammar Tips: Pesky Pronouns

by Sheila Tofflemire on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 1:22 pm · 1 comment

in Grammar Tips

What is a pronoun? It’s simply a word that takes the place of a noun. Pronoun cases: Subject, Object, Possessive, Reflexive 1) Subject: I, you, he, she, it, we, they Use subject pronouns when… (a) the pronoun is the subject of the sentence: I am the boss. She is my friend. We are out of [...]

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Grammar Tips: Choosing ‘a’ or ‘an’

by Sheila Tofflemire on Thursday, December 17, 2009, 10:25 am

in Grammar Tips

Many people think that choosing to use the indefinite article a or an depends on whether the word that follows starts with a consonant or a vowel. However, many people are wrong. It’s not spelling that matters. What counts is the sound of the word that follows. Use a when followed by a consonant sound, [...]

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Grammar Tips: Lie or lay?

by Sheila Tofflemire on Sunday, December 6, 2009, 5:57 pm

in Grammar Tips

The proper use of these verbs creates quite a conundrum for most of us. I often have to look them up just to remind myself of the proper usage. First, let’s define them: Lie¹ – to tell an untruth Lie² – to recline; to rest in a horizontal or recumbent position Lay – to put [...]

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Seriously: Use the serial comma

by Sheila Tofflemire on Friday, November 13, 2009, 7:49 am

in Grammar Tips

The serial comma (a.k.a. the Oxford comma or the Harvard comma) is the comma used immediately before the conjunction that precedes the final item in a series of three or more items. In simple sentences, omitting the serial comma may be acceptable; however, ambiguities causing misinterpretations arise in more complex sentence constructions. Its use is [...]

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Grammar: Its or it’s?

by Sheila Tofflemire on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 9:36 am

in Grammar Tips

This tip is based on a grammar no-no that is a particular pet peeve of mine. When I see this mistake…well, let’s just say it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me. It also happens to be one of the most common grammar errors that many people make. Here’s the problem: The apostrophe is used [...]

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