Tag Archives: grammar
What is a Collocation? Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 17, 2017
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s there was a group of performers who seemed to always be together. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford – They called themselves The Rat Pack. They performed together, made movies together, partied together, and each made the other better. In many ways, they were the physical…
Does Time Have a Point? Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 10, 2017
One of the most common phrases you’ll hear in English is, “At this point in time.” What does it actually mean? Is it grammatically correct, or is there a better way of saying it? I’m not here to discuss the physics of time, or theories (real and fanciful) related to spacetime continuums and all that…
Possessing the Apostrophe Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 2, 2017
The misuse of an apostrophe drives me crazy. Seriously, I have been known to scream out loud when I see signs like the one pictured. Let’s explain the apostrophe and, hopefully, take steps to make this world a saner place. An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to denote either possession, or the omission of…
Gender and the English Language Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 10, 2016
In many languages, nouns have a specific gender. They can be masculine, feminine, or even gender-neutral. Definite and indefinite articles, as well as adjectives, generally agree with the gender. Germanic and most Nordic languages have three forms of gender. Latinate languages have only two genders for everything. In French, for example, a garden is masculine…
When Should You Use a Hyphen? Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 21, 2016
Let’s now discuss one of the most problematic issues in English grammar: When is the right time to hyphenate a word? This is problematic because most of the rules surrounding the use of hyphens aren’t absolute. Many grammarians use the words, usually and typically when describing situations which call for the use of hyphens. A…
Homonyms: The Scourge of the English Language Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 9, 2016
In spite of technological advances, which have made the life of the modern writer so much easier, sometimes even the most sophisticated software program is of no help whatsoever. Writers can format, layout, and review their work almost instantaneously. Spell check is like having an extra pair of eyes on the page at all times…
A good old English grammar review. Posted by Gabriele on Sep 12, 2014
It is time to do a review of the parts of speech in English! This post will be a review for many people, but for some it may be introductory. For everyone there is a practice exercise at the end of this post for you to see how well you know your parts of speech…