Even skilled writers sometimes get confused about when to use the adjective bad and the adverb badly. Which of These Sentences Use Bad and Badly Appropriately? Our stock performed badly last year. Tim delegates badly. We felt badly about our stock’s performance...
This article focuses on abbreviations for two Latin phrases. We often see i.e. and e.g. used incorrectly (and illogically), so it’s easy to get them mixed up. (Elsewhere on this site, we have articles on many confusing word pairs, such as effect and affect, lay...
I hope I am dead and gone when it happens, but I fully realize that one day the word whom will be designated by dictionaries as archaic, a relic from a bygone time. Languages are dynamic, and as fewer people make the distinction between the nominative who and the...
Some so-called “rules” of grammar don’t hold up under careful scrutiny. Such is the case with the oft-repeated statement “never end a sentence with a preposition.” In some cases ending a sentence with a preposition is inappropriate...
Two issues often arise during graduation season. One is with the verb to graduate, and the other concerns the need for apostrophes in the expressions master’s degree and bachelor’s degree. Which of these sentences are problematic? Our new employee was...
Sometimes we aren’t careful with the placement of words in our sentences and thus aren’t as clear as we could be. Can you spot potential ambiguity caused by the placement of the word only in any of these sentences? The budget can only be balanced if...
