Those of us whose word-processing software includes a grammar checker have probably encountered the green squiggly line of doom wagging an accusatory finger at a passive verb. But what is the passive voice, and why is it considered undesirable? (If you learn better by...
Writers frequently wonder whether a comma should go before the conjunction and in a list of three or more items. Despite the fact that not all style books agree on this issue, we recommend using a comma after the next-to-last item in a series—the serial comma, as it...
While there are certainly some hard-and-fast grammar rules (verbs must agree in number with their subjects, for example), many of the guidelines that people regard as “rules” are, in fact, matters of style and not necessarily consistent from one style guide to...
In this article we examine four common verb errors. Can you spot the problem phrase in each of these sentences? We can’t hardly wait for the judge to hand down her decision about the case. I was suppose to finish the project on Friday, but I failed to make the...
If the dearth of apostrophes in text messages, emails, and social media posts is any indication, we may be witnessing their demise. But since such changes in usage happen slowly, for now we need to understand the difference between the possessive case and the...
