Any writer worth their salt knows the importance of having a dictionary handy and nearby. There are countless situations where you need a little help to find the right word that perfectly describes what you want to say. Moreover, there are other scenarios where you know the right word but want to use one of …
English
Language is a funny thing. Even though it purports to have clear rules, these rules are constantly being broken or changed. The thing that most people forget is that language is not like math. It isn’t made up of rigid rules that never change with time. Instead, language is a living, breathing creature, one that …
In any language, there are unique and interesting expressions that sprout up from time to time. These expressions tend to originate in a certain area, and some of them end up spreading all over the globe. Additionally, some of these expressions are the basis for other new expressions in turn. “Catch these hands” is one …
When it comes to grammar, most of the rules are logical when you think about them. For instance, plural nouns take plural verbs, independent clauses are separated from each other by a comma, and the subject of a participial phrase should be the same as the main clause so as to avoid dangling participles. In …
Commas have a bad reputation, especially among less confident writers. The rules of when and how to use them seem arbitrary, and that makes anything scary. The reasons for this vary. Some people may have never learned proper usage, or were taught using old-fashioned style guides that made the rules less clear rather than explaining …
In English, there are plenty of abbreviations and acronyms that come from Latin. For instance, “MO” stands for “Modus Operandi,” which means way or method of operating. Also, “etc.” is an abbreviation of “Et cetera,” a Latin expression that is used to convey the meaning of “and so forth.” We have already seen one example, …
Commas are tricky creatures. A lot of the time, whether you use them or not depends on how important the following information is. So, if the information you provide is critical to the meaning of the sentence, then you shouldn’t use a comma. For instance, when talking about your oldest brother, you should say, “My …
Do You Need a Comma Before “Then”? You need a comma before then in sentences that have conditional clauses (aka, ‘if/then’ statements). A comma is also needed when ‘then’ separates two independent clauses. If you’re omitting ‘and’ or ‘but’ before ‘then,’ include a comma for clarity, even without two independent clauses. Dividing Two Conditional …
We’ve already seen how confusing commas can be. We’ve talked about curious adverbs such as “regardless,” and we’ve scrutinized polysemic words, aka words that have more than one meaning, including the word “rather.” However, not all polysemic words should be treated in the same manner. What applies to a word like “rather” might not apply …