Category archives: Grammar
Don’t Let Functional Variation Torch Your Thanksgiving Turkey
“5.31 It is fairly common in English for nouns to pass into use as verbs; it always has been.” -The Chicago Manual of Style Maybe, but it’s also fairly annoying. This occurs to me as the holidays loom and I… continue reading »
How Safe Is Your Syntax From A Dangling Modifier?
Having determined that dangling modifiers make the writer look like a chump, Layman’s Terms will avoid them from now on. Wait, wait… Layman’s Terms didn’t determine anything. I did! For myself, at least. You probably knew it already. But it’s… continue reading »
5 Bad Things I Do, 10 Ways I’m Getting Better
Self-diagnosis of problems has always been one of my core competencies. But finding problems is only worthwhile as a means of finding solutions. Today I’m going to try with five of the worst. Running from stuckness - Is there any more familiar… continue reading »
Layer Cake
This post is an attempt to intellectually recover the twenty minutes I just lost. “Rule 2 That introduces essential clauses while which introduces nonessential clauses.” -www.grammarbook.com Sounds good. So what is an “essential clause”? “An essential clause is a… continue reading »
In Transit
Contact. As a transitive verb, the word is vague and self-important. Do not contact anybody; get in touch with him, or look him up, or phone him, or find him, or meet him. -The Elements of Style Or Facebook him!… continue reading »
Englished
“avoid verbing and adjectiving nouns Try not to verb nouns or to adjective them. So do not: access files author books. . .” Etc. -The Economist Style Guide This is a joke, right? I’m sorry–they’re having a laugh, right?… continue reading »
Splat Infinitive
“One (misconception) is the belief that the split infinitive is a grammatical error. It is not. If it is an error at all, it is a rhetorical fault–a question of style–and not a grammatical one. Another is the curiously persistent… continue reading »
You Phony
“7.20 “For . . . sake” expressions For the sake of euphony, a few for . . . sake expressions used with a singular noun that ends in an s end in an apostrophe alone, omitting the additional s. for goodness’ sake for righteousness’ sake” -The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th… continue reading »
Intent Unclear
“will, would. . . .It is a question of clarity–of telling the difference between what may happen and what will happen. If you write, “The plan will cost $400 million,” you are expressing a certainty. The plan either has been… continue reading »
Tell Me What A Predicate Is Or I’ll Blow Your Head Off
One afternoon almost seven (!) years ago I received a degree in English with a concentration in writing from a respected and respectable institution. Had my life depended on being able to define a grammatical predicate as I walked through… continue reading »