Interjections Sometimes you need an exclamation Darn! It’s the last of the major parts of speech: the interjection. Interjection (i.) An interjection is a word or group of words that express strong or sudden emotions. When something is interjected into a conversation, it interrupts the exchange. It is easy to…
Tag: grammar
Common Irregular Verbs Verbs with their own rules According to most texts, irregular verbs fail to comply with standard conjugation rules. However, the situation is not that simple. Most irregular verbs in English belong to groups of verbs that do follow rules. These rules have faded over time, but the…
Nouns and Pronouns Person, place, thing, or idea Nouns and pronouns are the subjects and objects of actions and thoughts. Without these two parts of speech, nothing happens to anything. Writing begins with nouns, with stories built around subjects. Every writer should appreciate the roles of nouns and pronouns. The…
Clauses and Phrases Groups of words, working together Complex sentences are combinations of phrases and clauses. Most writers know this, but they cannot remember how to distinguish the two. We understand — we can’t remember much of the time, either. We suggest studying clauses before examining phrases, which can be…
Prepositions Indicating physical and conceptual relationships It has been said that all things relate to each other. In English, prepositions describe relationships, even if not of the metaphysical sort. Preposition (prep.) Prepositions express a relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word or phrase in the sentence. The relationship…
Verbs and Verbals Words of action, words of being Sentences cannot exist without verbs, the words in a language indicating thoughts and actions. We need nouns to name things and verbs to express what those things do. Even the shortest of sentences use verbs. Verbs do more than show action:…
Adjectives and adverbs are modifiers. These two parts of speech make descriptive writing possible. They modify a word by adding or emphasizing information. We group adjectives and adverbs because they add meaning to sentences in similar manners. Adjective (adj.) An adjective describes a noun or pronoun by answering which, what…
When you want to write about more than one subject or action in the same sentence, it’s time for a conjunction. It helps to understand phrases and clauses when studying the more advanced uses of conjunctions. Conjunction (conj.) A conjunction connects words or groups of words. Conjunctions are described as…
A double is a word that performs the functions of two parts of speech simultaneously. There are various ways for this to occur, so do not think we offer an exhaustive list of doubles. Six Common Doubles To determine the primary role of any word in a sentence, you should…
Grammar errors sneak into almost all writing. Some writers like to think they don’t make mistakes — but their editors know better. The following errors are among the most common: Split infinitives Adverb usage Subject-verb agreement Pronoun agreement Pronoun case Apostrophe usage Dangling modifiers Double negatives Sentence structure Comma and…