While playing in the hallway of your home, your kids bump into your grandfather clock, which has been in your family for years. The clock falls over, crashing onto the floor. As you pick up the pieces, you find a note written by your great grandfather, who died two months after you were born. Interesting enough, […]
Generally when there’s an “and” between nouns, we tend to think that this creates a plural subject. For example, “My boyfriend and I are skating” means that two people are doing something, so the subject is plural. If the two subjects being joined by “and” are separate and distinct, then use a plural verb. Example: […]
We all know that double quotation marks should go around direct quotations and the titles of shorter works such as articles, poems, and chapters, but when is it appropriate to use single quotation marks? Nested Quotes Single quotation marks are most commonly used to set off quotes within quotes. Whenever you are quoting someone who […]
You are at the neighborhood garage sale, looking for nothing in particular. Something inside an old, wooden box catches your eye. The elderly woman who is running the sale comes over to say something about the object. What is the object? What did she say about it and why?
When I was in a composition class in high school, the teacher had the students exchange essays so we could “edit” each other’s work. My best friend edited mine, and I received my essay back with a few red marks and a “This is really good.” Of course, my essay was average at best, but […]
All grammatically complete sentences, except for imperative sentences, contain stated subjects of verbs. Subjects may be singular or compound but must agree with the verb. Examples: Virginia and Maryland are in the east. The boy and the girl went to see a movie. The boy stayed after school. The man went to the store to […]
“I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I never really thought I’d succeed. Children always have grandiose plans to become astronauts and Major League pitchers and movie stars. But somehow in real life that translates into accountants and stay-at-home moms and sales reps. Still, in the mid-1980s, I struck off for a creative writing […]
The snow is coming down and school has been canceled. Your brother, who has an important government job, has asked you to watch his kids during the day so he can go to work. While watching his kids, they reveal something top secret about your brother’s job. It’s something, for the sake of your family, […]
To make a verb past tense, we usually add –ed to the end of a verb. For example, “help” changes to “helped,” “shop” changes to “shopped,” and “move” changes to “moved.” These are called regular verbs. However, verbs like “get,” “hold,” and “have” are irregular and do not follow any clear pattern when making the […]
Abbreviations can be pluralized simply by adding an –s. Publications commonly use an apostrophe to form the plural, but the apostrophe is not necessary. Sometimes the –s at the end of the abbreviation does not match the placement of the –s in the written-out word or phrase. For example, “RBIs” stands for “runs batted in” […]
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