http://www.grammarmatters.com/ Grammar Matters en Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:36:00 GMT Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:36:00 GMT info@grammarmatters.com info@grammarmatters.com http://www.grammarmatters.com/images/grammarmattersheader.jpg http://www.grammarmatters.com/ http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion-part-2-positioning-adverbs/ If you read my previous post on adverbs, you'll know why one feels bad instead of badly, and can move on to part 2 of a discussion of adverbial confusion... http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion-part-2-positioning-adverbs/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion-part-2-positioning-adverbs/ Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:36:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-universitys-list-of-banished-words-for-2011/ It's a new year, which means that Lake Superior State University has published its annual Banished Words List for 2011. Many of the words and phrases that made the infamous... http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-universitys-list-of-banished-words-for-2011/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-universitys-list-of-banished-words-for-2011/ Sat, 08 Jan 2011 02:57:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/speaking-canadian/ On a recent trip to China, my grandmother asked for the "washroom". There were confused stares all around--washroom? Did she want to do some laundry? It turned out that in... http://www.grammarmatters.com/speaking-canadian/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/speaking-canadian/ Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:12:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/oxford-comma/ The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is the comma that precedes a conjunction--usually "and" or "or"-- in a series of entities that are separated by commas: Me... http://www.grammarmatters.com/oxford-comma/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/oxford-comma/ Sun, 26 Sep 2010 19:54:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-appositives/ We all use appositives, which are used to clarify and add information to nouns. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that qualifies a preceding or following noun. Because... http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-appositives/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-appositives/ Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:06:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion/ Adverbs are words or phrases that qualify, limit, modify, or otherwise describe the following types of words:* In many cases, an adverb is based on the same form as the... http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/adverbial-confusion/ Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:15:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/yahoo-style-guide/ Yahoo! has published a style guide for writers who produce web content, such as bloggers, copywriters, and people who maintain their own websites. Even if you already use other style... http://www.grammarmatters.com/yahoo-style-guide/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/yahoo-style-guide/ Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:28:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-can-may-and-might/ Can, may, and might are common modal auxiliary verbs that can be confusing even if you are fluent in English. A modal auxiliary verb is a verb that adds to... http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-can-may-and-might/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/using-can-may-and-might/ Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:43:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/how-to-use-like-and-as/ People often use the words like and as interchangeably. In speech--especially the informal kind--using like instead of as and vice-versa is generally accepted. For example, if you were to say... http://www.grammarmatters.com/how-to-use-like-and-as/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/how-to-use-like-and-as/ Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:01:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-university-2010-list-of-banished-words/ Every year, an elite group of words and phrases have the dubious honour of making Lake Superior State University's annual Banished Words List. The university selects words that are generally... http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-university-2010-list-of-banished-words/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/lake-superior-state-university-2010-list-of-banished-words/ Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:51:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/comparatives-and-superlatives/ One can be smarter than a fifth grader, but not stupider than one. That's because stupider isn't considered proper English, even if sources such as Compact Oxford Dictionary contain the... http://www.grammarmatters.com/comparatives-and-superlatives/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/comparatives-and-superlatives/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:06:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/have-you-ever-been-redacted/ One morning I received a curious email from my husband while we were both at work. He asked me what word he could use instead of 'redact' when speaking of... http://www.grammarmatters.com/have-you-ever-been-redacted/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/have-you-ever-been-redacted/ Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:24:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/different-thanfrom/ In the "than" versus "from" debate, I am firmly on the side of the established usage: "different from" is correct; one need only point to the long established use of... http://www.grammarmatters.com/different-thanfrom/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/different-thanfrom/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:59:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/commonly-misused-words-and-phrases/ I thought I'd take a break from strictly writing about grammar, and post about something else that is dear to my heart: word usage and common misuses of words and... http://www.grammarmatters.com/commonly-misused-words-and-phrases/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/commonly-misused-words-and-phrases/ Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:48:00 GMT http://www.grammarmatters.com/because-this-is-a-sentence-fragment/ Incomplete sentences, or sentence fragments, are relatively common in all sorts of writing, but they're also easy to avoid. The rule is simple: a complete sentence consists of two components--a... http://www.grammarmatters.com/because-this-is-a-sentence-fragment/#comments http://www.grammarmatters.com/because-this-is-a-sentence-fragment/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:31:00 GMT