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Month: October 2013

I vs. Me

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Some personal pronouns have two forms, one that is used as the subject of a verb and one that is used as the object of a verb or preposition. Subject forms: I, he, she, we, they My sister and I live in Texas. We raise chickens. (subject forms) Jack and she moved to Paris. They … Read more

Answers to Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement #2

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Here are some questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about subject-verb agreement and my responses. 1. In your post concerning subject-verb agreement, why would you use a singular verb for ten liters of water? “Of water” is a prepositional phrase, and the subject is liters. We have always been taught to ignore the prepositional phrase that modifies … Read more

Pro Exercise: Personal Pronouns

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Since we launched Daily Writing Tips Pro, we received many emails from readers who wanted to know more about the exercises. That’s why we decided to release a couple of samples. Below you’ll find one: In each of the following pairs of sentences, choose the one that uses the correct form of personal pronoun. 1. … Read more

Happen vs. Occur

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Anyone who watches U.S. television has seen the pharmaceutical ads that feature deliriously happy healthy-looking people frolicking with pets and loved ones as a Voice Over enumerates the serious side effects that can “happen” if they ingest the product being advertised. My initial reaction to these ads was that more precise synonyms for happen had … Read more

Irregular Verb Forms

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An irregular verb is one that does not follow the standard progression for various forms. Regular verbs are treated as shown below: Simple present: talk (I talk.) Simple past: talked (I talked.) Present participle: talking (I am talking.) Past participle: talked (I had talked.) Infinitive: to talk (I like to talk.) Irregular verbs take the … Read more

Answers to Questions About Semicolons

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Here are several questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about use of prepositions, and my responses. 1. This sentence showcases my burning semicolon question: “That’s a great trick; best I’ve seen in ages.” I know the second clause in it contains no subject (or noun), at least explicitly. I’m therefore wondering whether this sentence can take a … Read more

50 Synonyms for Control

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Numerous words are available to take the place of control to more specifically convey one’s meaning. Here’s a list of synonyms and their senses. 1. Arrest: slow, stop, seize, or catch 2. Block: stop passage or progress; also, chart, shape, or mark outlines, and other meanings 3. Bottle: see restrain; also, literally or figuratively put … Read more

Answers to Questions About Plurals #2

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Here are DailyWritingTips.com readers’ queries about plural usage, and my responses. 1. I am working on a book about the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship, and the author has used MIL and DIL throughout to abbreviate. But the plural forms of those terms are mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, so what are the plural forms of the abbreviations? The author … Read more

Based On vs. Based Around

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In a previous post, I wrote about the strange but trendy expression “to be based out of,” a phrase inexplicably used to mean “based in,” or “lives in.” Now I’ve noticed another expression that uses base in a nonstandard way: “to be based around.” The first time I noticed this odd usage was in a … Read more

Answers to Questions About Commas #4

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Here are several questions about punctuation from DailyWritingTips.com readers, including two about too, and my responses. 1. I was taught to always put a comma before the word too. I realize this is a technical part of punctuation, but I see several instances where no comma precedes too. Is there an absolute rule for this, … Read more

Leaving Out “That”

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Some members of my critique group often return my submissions having circled every that I’ve used to introduce a noun clause. NOTE: A noun clause is a subordinate clause that answers “what?” after a verb in another clause: “I feel that you are mistaken.” Main clause: “I feel.” Noun clause: “that you are mistaken.” Most … Read more

Answers to Questions About Hyphens

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Here are several questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about hyphenation, followed by my responses. 1. Please help settle an ongoing debate in my office. We often use the phrase “City of Los Angeles-owned property.” Of the following examples, which, if any, is correct? a) City of Los Angeles-owned property b) City of Los Angeles -owned property … Read more