by Nancy Tuten | Feb 24, 2021
Before we can use the possessive case before a gerund, we first have to recognize whether we are dealing with a gerund (which functions like a noun) or a participle (which functions as an adjective). And therein lies the rub. Participles and gerunds look and sound the...
by Nancy Tuten | Feb 14, 2021
The comma is perhaps the trickiest mark of punctuation to teach and to learn, largely because we seem to have multiple exceptions for every rule. Elsewhere on this site we have written about the Oxford (serial) comma, a usage issue hotly debated in both linguistic and...
by Nancy Tuten | Nov 3, 2020
Other articles on this site address confusing word pairs, including effect and affect, sit and set, lay and lie, and bad and badly. Here we address the confusion that can arise when we have to decide whether to use less or fewer. We need to look no farther than the...
by Nancy Tuten | Oct 17, 2020
Have you ever been stuck trying to decide whether to use which or that? While both pronouns can be used in other constructions, the confusion usually arises when they are being used as relative pronouns to introduce adjective (or relative) clauses. In the examples...
by Nancy Tuten | Sep 11, 2020
The difference between bring and take can be confusing. Can you tell if any of the following sentences use bring correctly? When you go to the meeting next Friday, please bring your department’s current budget report. Since Mary has just moved to town, I will bring...
