Which or That? (And Punctuating All Relative Clauses)

Which or That? (And Punctuating All Relative Clauses)

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...
Bring and Take

Bring and Take

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...
Curmudgeon Bemoans Confusion

Curmudgeon Bemoans Confusion

Word confusion and language-related lost causes are no strangers to this site. We have explored the lost distinction between the words nauseous and nauseating, the often-lost letter d in the phrases “used to” and “supposed to,” and lost awareness about the definition...
Uncharted vs. Unchartered

Uncharted vs. Unchartered

The corona-virus disease pandemic, which started late in 2019 (thus the name COVID-19), has given rise to increased use of a few confusing phrases and grammatical constructions. Do we have, for example, less cases than yesterday or fewer? Do we say that the number of...
Apostrophes: Is It a Possessive or an Attributive Noun?

Apostrophes: Is It a Possessive or an Attributive Noun?

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...
Transitions: Improving Clarity and Logical Flow

Transitions: Improving Clarity and Logical Flow

Using transitions to improve clarity and logical flow is essential, whether we are meticulously drafting a legal brief or lengthy proposal or dashing off a short email or tweet.  In either case, transitions enable a reader to follow the writer’s train of thought as...