GRAMMAR

HANDBOOK

Source: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/category/handbook/
 Table of Contents
Grammar
Adjectives ……………………………………………………………………………... 2-5
Adverbs ………………………………………………………………………………... 6-9
Articles ……………………………………………………………………………… 10-13
Conjunctions ………………………………………………………………………... 14-16
Interjections ………………………………………………………………………… 17-18
Nouns ………………………………………………………………………………..19-23
Prepositions ………………………………………………………………………… 24-26
Pronouns ……………………………………………………………………………. 27-31
Verbs ………………………………………………………………………………... 32-34
Punctuation
Apostrophe …………………………………………………………………………. 35-38
Colon ………………………………………………………………………………. 39-40
Comma ……………………………………………………………………………... 41-52
Dash ………………………………………………………………………………… 53-54
Ellipsis ……………………………………………………………………………… 55-56
Exclamation Point …………………………………………………………………... 57-58
Hyphen ……………………………………………………………………………… 59-64
Parentheses …………………………………………………………………………. 65-66
Period ……………………………………………………………………………….. 67-68
Question Mark ……………………………………………………………………… 69-72
Quotation Marks ……………………………………………………………………. 73-75
Semicolon ……………………………………………………………………………76-78
Slash ……………………………………………………………………………….... 79-80
Mechanics
Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………….. 81-83
Contractions ………………………………………………………………………… 84-85
Capitalization ……………………………………………………………………….. 86-88
Compound Words …………………………………………………………………... 89-90
Techniques
Hyperboles ………………………………………………………………………….. 91-92
Onomatopoeia ………………………………………………………………………. 93-94
Idioms ………………………………………………………………………………. 95-96
Similes ………. …………………………………………………………………….. 97-99
Metaphors ………………………………………………………………………... 100-104
Style
Passive Voice …………………………………………………………………….. 105-108

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 ADJECTIVES

What are adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike,
silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

Adjectives Modify Nouns

Most students learn that adjectives are words that modify (describe) nouns. Adjectives do not
modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives.
Examples:
 Margot wore a beautiful hat to the pie-eating contest.
 Furry dogs may overheat in the summertime.
 My cake should have sixteen candles.
 The scariest villain of all time is Darth Vader.

In the sentences above, the adjectives are easy to spot because they come immediately before the
nouns they modify.

Predictive Adjective
But adjectives can do more than just modify nouns. They can also act as a complement to linking
verbs or the verb to be. A linking verb is a verb like to feel, to seem, or to taste that describes a
state of being or a sensory experience.
Examples:
 That cow sure is happy.
 It smells gross in the locker room.
 Driving is faster than walking.

The technical term for an adjective used this way is predicate adjective.

Use of Adjectives
Adjectives tell the reader how much—or how many—of something you’re talking about, which
thing you want passed to you, or which kind of something you want.

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Example:
 Please use three white flowers in the arrangement.
Three and white are modifying flowers.
Often, when adjectives are used together, you should separate them with a comma or
conjunction. See “Coordinate Adjectives” below for more detail.
Examples:
 I’m looking for a small, good-tempered dog to keep as a pet.
 My new dog is small and good-tempered.

Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives should be separated by a comma or the word and. Adjectives are said to be
coordinate if they modify the same noun in a sentence.
Examples:
 This is going to be a long, cold winter.
 Isobel’s dedicated and tireless efforts made all the difference.

But just the fact that two adjectives appear next to each other doesn’t automatically mean they
are coordinate. Sometimes, an adjective and a noun form a single semantic unit, which is then
modified by another adjective. In this case, the adjectives are not coordinate and should not be
separated by a comma.
Examples:
 My cat, Goober, loves sleeping on this tattered woolen sweater.
 No one could open the old silver locket.

In some cases, it’s pretty hard to decide whether two adjectives are coordinate or not. But there
are a couple of ways you can test them. Try inserting the word and between the adjectives to see
if the phrase still seems natural. In the first sentence, “this tattered and woolen sweater” doesn’t
sound right because you really aren’t talking about a sweater that is both tattered and woolen. It’s
a woolen sweater that is tattered. Woolen sweater forms a unit of meaning that is modified by
tattered.
Another way to test for coordinate adjectives is to try switching the order of the adjectives and
seeing if the phrase still works. In the second sentence, you wouldn’t say “No one could open the
silver old locket.” You can’t reverse the order of the adjectives because silver locket is a unit that
is modified by old.

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Degrees of Comparison
Adjectives come in three forms: absolute, comparative, and superlative. Absolute adjectives
describe something in its own right.
Examples:
 A cool guy
 A messy desk
 A mischievous cat
 Garrulous squirrels

Comparative adjectives, unsurprisingly, make a comparison between two or more things. For
most one-syllable adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding the suffix -er (or just -r if the
adjective already ends with an e). For two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier.
For multi-syllable adjectives, add the word more.
Examples:
 A cooler guy
 A messier desk
 A more mischievous cat
 More garrulous squirrels

Superlative adjectives indicate that something has the highest degree of the quality in question.
One-syllable adjectives become superlatives by adding the suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives
that already end in e). Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y replace -y with -iest. Multi-syllable
adjectives add the word most. When you use an article with a superlative adjective, it will almost
always be the definite article (the) rather than a or an. Using a superlative inherently indicates
that you are talking about a specific item or items.
Examples:
 The coolest guy
 The messiest desk
 The most mischievous cat
 The most garrulous squirrels

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Adjectives vs. Adverbs
As mentioned above, many of us learned in school that adjectives modify nouns and that adverbs
modify verbs. But as we’ve seen, adjectives can also act as complements for linking verbs. This
leads to a common type of error: incorrectly substituting an adverb in place of a predicate
adjective. An example you’ve probably heard before is:
 Incorrect: I feel badly about what happened.
Because “feel” is a verb, it seems to call for an adverb rather than an adjective. But “feel” isn’t
just any verb; it’s a linking verb. An adverb would describe how you perform the action of
feeling—an adjective describes what you feel. “I feel badly” means that you are bad at feeling
things. If you’re trying to read Braille through thick leather gloves, then it might make sense for
you to say “I feel badly.” But if you’re trying to say that you are experiencing negative emotions,
“I feel bad” is the phrase you want.
It’s easier to see this distinction with a different linking verb. Consider the difference between
these two sentences:
Examples:
 Goober smells badly.
 Goober smells bad.

“Goober smells badly” means that Goober, the poor thing, has a weak sense of smell.
“Goober smells bad” means Goober stinks—poor us.

When Nouns Become Adjectives and Adjectives Become Nouns

One more thing you should know about adjectives is that, sometimes, a word that is normally
used as a noun can function as an adjective, depending on its placement. For example:
 Never try to pet someone’s guide dog without asking permission first.
Guide is a noun. But in this sentence, it modifies dog. It works the other way, too. Some words
that are normally adjectives can function as nouns:
Example:
 Candice is working on a fundraiser to help the homeless.
In the context of this sentence, homeless is functioning as a noun. It can be hard to wrap your
head around this if you think of adjectives and nouns only as particular classes of words. But the
terms “adjective” and “noun” aren’t just about a word’s form—they’re also about its function.

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 ADVERBS

What Do Adverbs Modify?

An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb (he sings loudly), an adjective (very tall),
another adverb (ended too quickly), or even a whole sentence (Fortunately, I had brought an
umbrella). Adverbs often end in -ly, but some (such as fast) look exactly the same as their
adjective counterparts.
Examples:
 Tom Longboat did not run badly.
 Tom is very tall.
 The race finished too quickly.
 Fortunately, Lucy recorded Tom’s win.

Adverbs and Verbs

One of the things adverbs do is modify verbs. This means that they describe the way an action is
happening.
Examples:
 Phillip sings loudly in the shower.
 My cat waits impatiently for his food.
 I will seriously consider your suggestion.

The adverbs in each of the sentences above answer the question in what manner? How does
Phillip sing? Loudly. How does my cat wait? Impatiently. How will I consider your suggestion?
Seriously. Adverbs can answer other types of questions about how an action was performed.
They can also tell you when (We arrived early) and where (Turn here).
However, there is one type of verb that doesn’t mix well with adverbs. Linking verbs, such as
feel, smell, sound, seem, and appear, typically need adjectives, not adverbs. A very common
example of this type of mixup is:
 Incorrect: I feel badly about what happened.
Because “feel” is a verb, it seems to call for an adverb rather than an adjective. But “feel” isn’t
just any verb; it’s a linking verb. An adverb would describe how you perform the action of
feeling—an adjective describes what you feel. “I feel badly” means that you are bad at feeling
things. If you’re trying to read Braille through thick leather gloves, then it might make sense for

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you to say “I feel badly.” But if you’re trying to say that you are experiencing negative emotions,
“I feel bad” is the phrase you want.

Adverbs and Adjectives

Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. Often, the purpose of the adverb is to add
a degree of intensity to the adjective.
Examples:
 The woman is quite pretty.
 This book is more interesting than the last one.
 The weather report is almost always right.

The adverb almost is modifying the adverb always, and they’re both modifying right.

 “Is my singing too loud?” asked Phillip.

 My cat is incredibly happy to have his dinner.
 We will be slightly late to the meeting.
 This bridesmaid dress is a very unflattering shade of puce.

Adverbs and Other Adverbs

You can use an adverb to describe another adverb. In fact, if you wanted to, you could use
several.
Example:
 Phillip sings rather enormously too loudly.
The problem is that it often produces weak and clunky sentences like the one above, so be
careful not to overdo it.

Adverbs and Sentences

Some adverbs can modify entire sentences—unsurprisingly, these are called sentence adverbs.
Common ones include generally, fortunately, interestingly, and accordingly. Sentence adverbs
don’t describe one particular thing in the sentence—instead, they describe a general feeling about
all of the information in the sentence.

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Examples:
 Fortunately, we got there in time.
 Interestingly, no one at the auction seemed interested in bidding on the antique spoon
collection.

At one time, the use of the word hopefully as a sentence adverb (e.g., Hopefully, I’ll get this job)
was condemned. People continued to use it though, and many style guides and dictionaries now
accept it. There are still plenty of readers out there who hate it though, so it’s a good idea to
avoid using it in formal writing.

Degrees of Comparison
Like adjectives, adverbs can show degrees of comparison, although it’s slightly less common to
use them this way. With certain “flat adverbs” (adverbs that look exactly the same as their
adjective counterparts), the comparative and superlative forms look the same as the adjective
comparative and superlative forms. It’s usually better to use stronger adverbs (or stronger
adjectives and verbs) rather than relying on comparative and superlative adverbs.
An absolute adverb describes something in its own right:
Examples:
 He smiled warmly.
 A hastily written note.

To make the comparative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word more:
 He smiled more warmly than the others.
 The more hastily written note contained the clue.

To make the superlative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word most:
 He smiled most warmly of them all.
 The most hastily written note on the desk was overlooked.

Placement of Adverbs
Place adverbs as close as possible to the words they are supposed to modify. Putting the adverb
in the wrong spot can produce an awkward sentence at best and completely change the meaning
at worst. Be especially careful about the word only, which is one of the most often misplaced
modifiers. Consider the difference between these two sentences:

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  Phillip only fed the cat.
 Phillip fed only the cat.

The first sentence means that all Phillip did was feed the cat. He didn’t pet the cat or pick it up or
anything else. The second sentence means that Phillip fed the cat, but he didn’t feed the dog, the
bird, or anyone else who might have been around.
When an adverb is modifying a verb phrase, the most natural place for the adverb is usually the
middle of the phrase.
Examples:
 We are quickly approaching the deadline.
 Phillip has always loved singing.
 I will happily assist you.

When to Avoid Adverbs

Ernest Hemingway is often held up as an example of a great writer who detested adverbs and
advised other writers to avoid them. In reality, it’s impossible to avoid adverbs altogether.
Sometimes we need them, and all writers (even Hemingway) use them occasionally. The trick is
to avoid unnecessary adverbs. When your verb or adjective doesn’t seem powerful or precise
enough, instead of reaching for an adverb to add more color, try reaching for a stronger verb or
adjective instead. Most of the time, you’ll come up with a better word and your writing will be
stronger for it.

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 ARTICLES

What Are Articles?

Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific. Consider the following examples:
 After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good.
By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and one specific
cup of tea that tasted good.
 After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.
By using the article a, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would
taste good after any long day.
English has two types of articles: definite and indefinite. Let’s discuss them now in more detail.

The Definite Article

The definite article is the word the. It limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing. For
example, your friend might ask, “Are you going to the party this weekend?” The definite article
tells you that your friend is referring to a specific party that both of you know about. The definite
article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns. Below are some examples of the
definite article the used in context:
 Please give me the hammer.
 Please give me the red hammer; the blue one is too small.
 Please give me the nail.
 Please give me the large nail; it’s the only one strong enough to hold this painting.
 Please give me the hammer and the nail.

The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article takes two forms. It’s the word a when it precedes a word that begins with a
consonant. It’s the word an when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel. The indefinite
article indicates that a noun refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing. For example,
you might ask your friend, “Should I bring a gift to the party?” Your friend will understand that
you are not asking about a specific type of gift or a specific item. “I am going to bring an apple
pie,” your friend tells you. Again, the indefinite article indicates that she is not talking about a
specific apple pie. Your friend probably doesn’t even have any pie yet. The indefinite article

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only appears with singular nouns. Consider the following examples of indefinite articles used in
context:
 Please hand me a book; any book will do.
 Please hand me an autobiography; any autobiography will do.

Exceptions: Choosing A or An
There are a few exceptions to the general rule of using a before words that start with consonants
and an before words that begin with vowels. The first letter of the word honor, for example, is a
consonant, but it’s unpronounced. In spite of its spelling, the word honor begins with a vowel
sound. Therefore, we use an. Consider the example sentence below for an illustration of this
concept.
 Incorrect: My mother is a honest woman.
 Correct: My mother is an honest woman.

Similarly, when the first letter of a word is a vowel but is pronounced with a consonant sound,
use a, as in the sample sentence below:
 Incorrect: She is an United States senator.
 Correct: She is a United States senator.

This holds true with acronyms and initialisms, too: an LCD display, a UK-based company, an
HR department, a URL.

Article Before an Adjective

Sometimes an article modifies a noun that is also modified by an adjective. The usual word order
is article + adjective + noun. If the article is indefinite, choose a or an based on the word that
immediately follows it. Consider the following examples for reference:
 Correct: Eliza will bring a small gift to Sophie’s party.
 Correct: I heard an interesting story yesterday.

Indefinite Articles with Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are nouns that are either difficult or impossible to count. Uncountable nouns
include intangible things (e.g., information, air), liquids (e.g., milk, wine), and things that are too
large or numerous to count (e.g., equipment, sand, wood). Because these things can’t be counted,

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you should never use a or an with them—remember, the indefinite article is only for singular
nouns. Uncountable nouns can be modified by words like some, however. Consider the examples
below for reference:
 Incorrect: Please give me a water.
Water is an uncountable noun and should not be used with the indefinite article.
 Correct: Please give me some water.
However, if you describe the water in terms of countable units (like bottles), you can use the
indefinite article.
Examples:
 Correct: Please give me a bottle of water.
 Incorrect: Please give me an ice.
 Correct: Please give me an ice cube.
 Correct: Please give me some ice.

Note that depending on the context, some nouns can be countable or uncountable (e.g., hair,
noise, time):
 Correct: We need a light in this room.
 Correct: We need some light in this room.

Using Articles with Pronouns

Possessive pronouns can help identify whether you’re talking about specific or nonspecific
items. As we’ve seen, articles also indicate specificity. But if you use both a possessive pronoun
and an article at the same time, readers will become confused. Possessive pronouns are words
like his, my, our, its, her, and their. Articles should not be used with pronouns. Consider the
examples below.
 Incorrect: Why are you reading the my book?
The and my should not be used together since they are both meant to modify the same noun.
Instead, you should use one or the other, depending on the intended meaning:
Examples:
 Correct: Why are you reading the book?
 Correct: Why are you reading my book?

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Omission of Articles
Occasionally, articles are omitted altogether before certain nouns. In these cases, the article is
implied but not actually present. This implied article is sometimes called a “zero article.” Often,
the article is omitted before nouns that refer to abstract ideas. Look at the following examples:
 Incorrect: Let’s go out for a dinner tonight.
 Correct: Let’s go out for dinner tonight.
 Incorrect: The creativity is a valuable quality in children.
 Correct: Creativity is a valuable quality in children.

Many languages and nationalities are not preceded by an article. Consider the example below:
 Incorrect: I studied the French in high school for four years.
 Correct: I studied French in high school for four years.

Sports and academic subjects do not require articles. See the sentences below for reference:
 Incorrect: I like to play the baseball.
 Correct: I like to play baseball.
 Incorrect: My sister was always good at the math.
 Correct: My sister was always good at math.

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 CONJUNCTIONS
Without conjunctions, you’d be forced to express every complex idea in a series of short,
simplistic sentences: I like cooking. I like eating. I don’t like washing dishes afterward.

What Are Conjunctions?

Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together.

Example:

 Correct: I like cooking and eating, but I don’t like washing dishes afterward. Sophie is
clearly exhausted, yet she insists on dancing till dawn.

Conjunctions allow you to form complex, elegant sentences and avoid the choppiness of multiple
short sentences. Make sure that the phrases joined by conjunctions are parallel (share the same
structure).

Examples:

 Incorrect: I work quickly and careful.

 Correct: I work quickly and carefully.

Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal grammatical
rank in a sentence. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
and so; you can remember them by using the mnemonic device FANBOYS.
Examples:
 Correct: I’d like pizza or a salad for lunch. We needed a place to concentrate, so we
packed up our things and went to the library. Jesse didn’t have much money, but she got
by.

Notice the use of the comma when a coordinating conjunction is joining two independent
clauses.

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Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some examples are
either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.
 Correct: Not only am I finished studying for English, but I’m also finished writing my
history essay. I am finished with both my English essay and my history essay.

Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions join independent and dependent clauses. A subordinating
conjunction can signal a cause-and-effect relationship, a contrast, or some other kind of
relationship between the clauses. Common subordinating conjunctions are because, since, as,
although, though, while, and whereas. Sometimes an adverb, such as until, after, or before can
function as a conjunction.
 Correct: I can stay out until the clock strikes twelve.
Here, the adverb until functions as a coordinating conjunction to connect two ideas: I can stay
out (the independent clause) and the clock strikes twelve (the dependent clause). The independent
clause could stand alone as a sentence; the dependent clause depends on the independent clause
to make sense.
The subordinating conjunction doesn’t need to go in the middle of the sentence. It has to be part
of the dependent clause, but the dependent clause can come before the independent clause.
 Correct: Before he leaves, make sure his room is clean.
If the dependent clause comes first, use a comma before the independent clause.
 Correct: I drank a glass of water because I was thirsty. Because I was thirsty, I drank a
glass of water.

Starting a Sentence with a Conjunction

Many of us were taught in school that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction, but
that rule is a myth. As mentioned above, a subordinating conjunction can begin a sentence if the
dependent clause comes before the independent clause. It’s also correct to begin a sentence with
a coordinating conjunction. Often, it’s a good way to add emphasis. Beginning too many
sentences with conjunctions will cause the device to lose its force, however, so use this technique
sparingly. Example:
 Correct: Have a safe trip. And don’t forget to call when you get home. Gertie flung open
the door. But there was no one on the other side.

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 LIST OF CONJUNCTIONS

Coordinating Conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Correlative Conjunctions both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but,

whether/or

Subordinating Conjunctions after, although, as, as if, as long as, as much as, as
soon as, as though, because, before, by the time, even
if, even though, if, in order that, in case, in the event
that, lest , now that, once, only, only if, provided that,
since, so, supposing, that, than, though, till, unless,
until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever,
whether or not, while

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 INTERJECTIONS

Ouch! Oh my! Wow! Yikes!

If you’ve ever uttered any of the words above, you’ve used an interjection, whether you knew it
at the time or not. The word interjection comes from the Latin words inter (between) and jacĕre
(to throw). So, an interjection is a word that you throw in between sentences or thoughts to
express a sudden feeling.

Standalone Interjections
Because interjections usually express sudden feelings, you’ll often see them used to convey
surprise (both good surprises and bad ones) or excitement.
Example:
 Yikes! There’s a snake in the garage! You planned this party just for me? Wow! Ouch!
That wasp just stung me! Yahoo! Oops. Terrific! Jordan will send you the contract this
afternoon.

There’s no strict rule about where an interjection must go in relation to other sentences. You can
use an interjection before or after a sentence that explains what’s going on. You can also use an
interjection alone, although it may not make sense if you haven’t adequately described the
situation that caused you to use the interjection. Interjections often use exclamation points, but
they don’t necessarily have to.

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Interjections in a Sentence
It’s possible to use an interjection within a sentence. When you do, treat the interjection as a
parenthetical element that’s separate from the rest of the sentence. You can put the interjection
inside parentheses or set it off with commas.
Example:
 I may not succeed, but, hey, at least I tried. The project was delayed because the logistics
team made a few (ahem) miscalculations. It will take only thirty minutes (Wow!) to
reach the city on the new train.

The important thing to remember is that the interjection should be set off somehow. Don’t just
drop it in with nothing to mark it as separate from the rest of the sentence.

 Incorrect: I forgot to do the homework assignment oops but my teacher gave me an extra
day to finish it.
 Correct: I forgot to do the homework assignment (oops), but my teacher gave me an extra
day to finish it.
 Incorrect: Gee I hadn’t thought of that.
 Correct: Gee, I hadn’t thought of that.

When to Use Interjections

Because interjections are usually separate from other sentences, it’s hard to use them incorrectly.
The bigger concern is whether it’s appropriate to use an interjection in your writing. Interjections
are fine to use in casual and informal writing. It’s okay to use them in speech, too. But avoid
using interjections in formal writing because it may appear that you’re not treating the topic
seriously.
And now, you’re ready to go out and use interjections. Hooray!

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 NOUNS

A noun is a word that names something: either a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can
play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement,
appositive, or adjective.

Types of Nouns
Nouns form a large proportion of English vocabulary and they come in a wide variety of types.
Nouns can name a person:
 Albert Einstein
 the president
 my mother
 a girl
Nouns can also name a place:
 Mount Vesuvius
 Disneyland
 my bedroom
Nouns can also name things, although sometimes they might be intangible things, such as
concepts, activities, or processes. Some might even be hypothetical or imaginary things.
 shoe
 faucet
 freedom
 The Elder Wand
 Basketball

Proper Nouns vs. Common Nouns

One important distinction to be made is whether a noun is a proper noun or a common noun. A
proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized.
Examples:
 Does Tina have much homework to do this evening?
Tina is the name of a specific person.
 I would like to visit Old Faithful.
Old Faithful is the specific name of a geological phenomenon.

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The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A
common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless
appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.
Example:
 The girl crossed the river.
Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this sentence, though
we know the action she takes. River is also a common noun in this sentence.

Types of Common Nouns

Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns, abstract
nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the senses;
something that is physical or real.
Examples:
 I heard the doorbell.
 My keyboard is sticky.

Doorbell and keyboard are real things that can be sensed.

Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be perceived by the senses.
 We can’t imagine the courage it took to do that.
Courage is an abstract noun. Courage can’t be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way, but we
know it exists.
A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things.
 That pack of lies is disgraceful.
Pack of lies as used here is a collective noun. Collective nouns take a singular verb as if they are
one entity – in this case, the singular verb is.
 A pride of lions roamed the savanna.
Pride of lions is also a collective noun.

Nouns as Subjects
Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun. The subject of a
sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being the verb in that sentence.

20 | P a g e
Example:
 Maria is happy.
Maria is the subject of this sentence and the corresponding verb is a form of to be (is).

Nouns as Objects
Nouns can also be objects of a verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun
that receives the action performed by the subject) or an indirect object (a noun that is the
recipient of a direct object).
Example:
 Give the books to her.
Books is a direct object (what is being given) and her is the indirect object (who the books are
being given to).

Nouns as Subject and Object Complements

Another type of noun use is called a subject complement. In this example, the noun teacher is
used as a subject complement.
 Mary is a teacher.
Subject complements normally follow linking verbs like to be, become, or seem. A teacher is
what Mary is.
A related usage of nouns is called an object complement.
 I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Husband and wife are nouns used as object complements in this sentence. Verbs that denote
making, naming, or creating are often followed by object complements.

Appositive Nouns and Nouns as Modifiers

An appositive noun is a noun which immediately follows another noun in order to further define
or identify it.
Example:
 My brother, Michael, is six years old.
Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the subject of the sentence, my brother.
Sometimes, nouns can be used adjectivally as well.
21 | P a g e
  He is a speed demon.
Speed is a normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon.

Plural Nouns
Plural nouns, unlike collective nouns, require plural verbs. Many English plural nouns can be
formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are many exceptions.
Examples:
 cat—cats
 These two cats are both black.
Note the plural verb are.
 tax—taxes
 house—houses

Countable Nouns vs. Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be extraordinarily
high (like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used with a/an, the,
some, any, a few, and many.
Example:
 Here is a cat.
Cat is singular and—obviously—countable.
 Here are a few cats.
 Here are some cats.

Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count;
liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air). They are always considered
to be singular, and can be used with some, any, a little, and much.
Examples:
 An I.Q. test measures intelligence.
Intelligence is an uncountable noun.
 Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.
This example refers to an unspecified, unquantifiable amount of homework, so homework is an
uncountable noun.

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Possessive Nouns
Possessive nouns are nouns which possess something; i.e., they have something. You can
identify a possessive noun by the apostrophe; most nouns show the possessive with an
apostrophe and an s.
Example:
 The cat’s toy was missing.
The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of -’s at the end of cat.
When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the same format often applies. This is a matter of
style, however, and some style guides suggest leaving off the extra s.
Examples:
 I have been invited to the boss’s house for dinner.
 Mrs. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair.
Plural nouns ending in s take only an apostrophe to form a possessive.
Example:
 My nieces’ prom dresses were exquisite.

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 PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions indicate relationships between other words in a sentence. Many prepositions tell you
where something is or when something happened. Most prepositions have several definitions, so
the meaning changes quite a bit in different contexts. Ending a sentence with a preposition is not
a grammatical error.

What Is a Preposition?
“Vampires! Zombies! Werewolves!”
“Where?!”
“Behind you!”
Thank goodness for prepositions. Imagine not knowing where the danger lay….
Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. When monsters are
approaching, it’s good to have these special words to tell us where those monsters are. Are they
behind us or in front of us? Will they be arriving in three seconds or at midnight?
Prepositions often tell us where one noun is in relation to another (e.g., The coffee is on the table
beside you). But they can also indicate more abstract ideas, such as purpose or contrast (e.g., We
went for a walk despite the rain).

Types of Prepositions
Prepositions indicate direction, time, location, and spatial relationships, as well as other abstract
types of relationships. Examples:
Direction: Look to the left and you’ll see our destination.
Time: We’ve been working since this morning.
Location: We saw a movie at the theater.
Space: The dog hid under the table.

Preposition Examples
Unfortunately, there’s no reliable formula for determining which preposition to use with a
particular combination of words. The best way to learn which prepositions go with which words
is to read as much high-quality writing as you can and pay attention to which combinations
sound right. Here are a few examples of the most common prepositions used in sentences.

24 | P a g e
Examples:

 I should rewrite the introduction of my essay.

 Sam left his jacket in the car.
 Did you send that letter to your mother?
 We’re cooking for ten guests tonight.
 Dan ate lunch with his boss.

Ending a Sentence With a Preposition

The old claim that it’s wrong to end a sentence with a preposition has been utterly debunked. It’s
not true and it never was true. Writers who always insist that a preposition can’t end a sentence
often end up with stilted and unnatural sentences:
Examples:
 There’s no one else to hide behind. (Grammatically correct and natural)
 There’s no one else behind whom to hide. (Grammatically correct, but unnatural)
 Where did you come from? (Grammatically correct and natural)
 From where did you come? (Grammatically correct, but unnatural)

That said, it is sometimes more elegant to move a preposition to an earlier spot in a sentence,
especially in very serious and formal writing. But if you do move the preposition, remember to
delete it from the end.
Examples:
 Correct: This is something we must meditate on.
 Correct: This is something on which we must meditate.
 Incorrect: This is something on which we must meditate on.

Unnecessary Prepositions
One of the most common preposition mistakes is adding an unnecessary at to the end of a
question.
Example:
 Incorrect: Where is your brother at?

25 | P a g e
Although this is common in some English dialects, it’s considered an error in writing. You can
fix the problem by simply deleting the at.
 Correct: Where is your brother?
On the bright side, if you’re not sure which preposition to use, sometimes you can just get rid of
it altogether. In fact, you should always get rid of unnecessary prepositional phrases. Too many
prepositions can be a sign of flabby writing. Look at how many prepositions appear in the
sentence below:
Example:
 Incorrect: For many people, the reality of an entry into a new area of employment is
cause for a host of anxieties.
Getting rid of the prepositions forces you to tighten up the sentence. The result is shorter, more
direct, and easier to understand:
 Correct: Changing careers makes many people anxious.
Here’s another example:
 Incorrect: Alex hit the baseball up over the fence.
Get rid of the up. You don’t need it:
 Correct: Alex hit the baseball over the fence.

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 PRONOUNS

What Is a Pronoun?
Pronouns make up a small subcategory of nouns. The distinguishing characteristic of pronouns is
that they can be substituted for other nouns. For instance, if you’re telling a story about your
sister Sarah, the story will begin to sound repetitive if you keep repeating “Sarah” over and over
again.
Example:
 Incorrect: Sarah has always loved fashion. Sarah announced that Sarah wants to go to
fashion school.

Instead, you can use the pronouns she and her to refer to Sarah.
 Correct: Sarah has always loved fashion. She announced that she wants to go to fashion
school.

Personal Pronouns
There are a few different types of pronouns, and some pronouns belong to more than one
category. She and her are known as personal pronouns. The other personal pronouns are I and
me, you, he and him, it, we and us, and they and them. If you learned about pronouns in school,
these are probably the words your teacher focused on. We’ll get to the other types of pronouns in
a moment.

Antecedents
Pronouns are versatile. The pronoun it can refer to just about anything: a bike, a tree, a movie, a
feeling. That’s why you need an antecedent. An antecedent is a noun or noun phrase that you
mention at the beginning of a sentence or story and later replace with a pronoun. In the examples
below, the antecedent is highlighted and the pronoun that replaces it is bolded.
 My family drives me nuts, but I love them. The sign was too far away for Henry to read
it. Sarah said she is almost finished with the application.

In some cases, the antecedent doesn’t need to be mentioned explicitly, as long as the context is
totally clear. It’s usually clear who the pronouns I, me, and you refer to based on who is
speaking.
It’s also possible to use a pronoun before you mention the antecedent, but try to avoid doing it in
long or complex sentences because it can make the sentence hard to follow.

27 | P a g e
  I love them, but my family drives me nuts.

Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns make up another class of pronouns. They are used to connect relative clauses
to independent clauses. Often, they introduce additional information about something mentioned
in the sentence. Relative pronouns include that, what, which, who, and whom. Traditionally, who
refers to people, and which and that refer to animals or things.
Example:
 The woman who called earlier didn’t leave a message. All the dogs that got adopted
today will be loved. My car , which is nearly twenty years old, still runs well.

Whether you need commas with who, which, and that depends on whether the clause is
restrictive or nonrestrictive.

Who vs. Whom—Subject and Object Pronouns

Now that we’ve talked about relative pronouns, let’s tackle the one that causes the most
confusion: who vs. whom. Who is a subject pronoun, like I, he, she, we, and they. Whom is an
object pronoun, like me, him, her, us and them. When the pronoun is the object of a verb or
preposition, the object form is the one you want. Most people don’t have much trouble with the
objective case of personal pronouns because they usually come immediately after the verb or
preposition that modifies it.
Examples:
 Incorrect: Please mail it to I.
 Correct: Please mail it to me.
 Incorrect: Ms. Higgins caught they passing notes.
 Correct: Ms. Higgins caught them passing notes.
 Incorrect: Is this cake for we?
 Correct: Is this cake for us?

Whom is trickier, though, because it usually comes before the verb or preposition that modifies it.
Examples:
 Correct: Whom did you speak to earlier?
 Correct: A man, whom I have never seen before, was asking about you.

28 | P a g e
  Incorrect: Whom should I say is calling?

One way to test whether you need who or whom is to try substituting a personal pronoun. Find
the place where the personal pronoun would normally go and see whether the subject or object
form makes more sense.
Examples:
 Who/whom did you speak to earlier?
Did you speak to he/him earlier?

 A man, whom I have never seen before, was asking about you.
Have I seen he/him before?

 Whom should I say is calling?

Should I say she/her is calling?
If the object pronoun (him or her) sounds right, use whom. If the subject pronoun (he or she)
sounds right, use who.

Demonstrative Pronouns
That, this, these and those are demonstrative pronouns. They take the place of a noun or noun
phrase that has already been mentioned.
This is used for singular items that are nearby. These is used for multiple items that are nearby.
The distance can be physical or metaphorical.
Example:
 Correct: Here is a letter with no return address. Who could have sent this? What a
fantastic idea! This is the best thing I’ve heard all day. If you think gardenias smell nice,
try smelling these.

That is used for singular items that are far away. Those is used for multiple items that are far
away. Again, the distance can be physical or metaphorical.
Example:
 Correct: A house like that would be a nice place to live. Some new flavors of soda came
in last week. Why don’t you try some of those? Those aren’t swans, they’re geese.

29 | P a g e
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used when you need to refer to a person or thing that doesn’t need to be
specifically identified. Some common indefinite pronouns are one, other, none, some, anybody,
everybody, and no one.
Example:
 Correct: Everybody was late to work because of the traffic jam. It matters more to some
than others. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.

When indefinite pronouns function as subjects of a sentence or clause, they usually take singular
verbs.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
yourselves, themselves.
Use a reflexive pronoun when both the subject and object of a verb refer to the same person or
thing.
Example:
 Correct: Henry cursed himself for his poor eyesight. They booked themselves a room at
the resort. I told myself it was nothing.

Intensive pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but their purpose is different. Intensive
pronouns add emphasis.
Example:
 Correct: I built this house myself. Did you yourself see Loretta spill the coffee?
“I built this house” and “I built this house myself” mean almost the same thing. But “myself”
emphasizes that I personally built the house—I didn’t hire someone else to do it for me.
Likewise, “Did you see Loretta spill the coffee?” and “Did you yourself see Loretta spill the
coffee?” have similar meanings. But “yourself” makes it clear that the person asking wants to
know whether you actually witnessed the incident or whether you only heard it described by
someone else.
Occasionally, people are tempted to use myself where they should use me because it sounds a
little fancier. Don’t fall into that trap! If you use a -self form of a pronoun, make sure it matches
one of the uses above.

30 | P a g e
Example:

 Incorrect: Please call Sarah or myself if you are going to be late. Loretta, Henry, and
myself are pleased to welcome you to the neighborhood.

Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns come in two flavors: limiting and absolute. My, your, its, his, her, our, their
and whose are used to show that something belongs to an antecedent.
Example:
 Sarah is working on her application. Just put me back on my bike. The students practiced
their presentation after school.

The absolute possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs. The absolute forms
can be substituted for the thing that belongs to the antecedent.
Example:
 Correct: Are you finished with your application? Sarah already finished hers. The blue
bike is mine. I practiced my speech and the students practiced theirs.

Some possessive pronouns are easy to mix up with similar-looking contractions. Remember,
possessive personal pronouns don’t include apostrophes.

Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. The interrogative pronouns are who, what, which,
and whose.
 Correct: Who wants a bag of jelly beans? What is your name? Which movie do you
want to watch? Whose jacket is this?

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 VERBS

There are up to five forms for each verb: root, third-person singular, present participle, past, and
past participle.

Root Form of the Verb

The root form of a verb is the base form of the word. Roots have not been conjugated and do not
include prefixes or suffixes.
The root form of the verb is the same as the infinitive form with “to” removed. See the examples
below:
 to see – see
 to be – be
 to wear – wear
 to go – go

The root form of a verb is used to create other forms of the verb when conjugated. This is always
true with regular verbs, but may not apply with irregular verbs, depending on the tense. The
examples below illustrate this concept.
Examples:
 I am going to school.

(Root: go)

 What did you do yesterday?

(Root: do)

 The girl showed her mother the picture she drew in school.

(Root: show)

 He had eaten three hamburgers.

(Root: eat)

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Third Person Singular Form of a Verb
The third person singular (he/she/it/one) conjugation is the verb form that tends to be different
from other conjugations. For regular verbs, this verb form end in - s (or sometimes - es). Consider
the examples below:
 he sees
 she watches
 it shrinks
 one does

Present Participle Form of a Verb

The present participle verb form is created by adding -ing to the root word. It’s used in the past,
present, and future progressive verb tenses. Look at the examples below:
 We’re coming to the party tonight.

(come – coming)

 They have been drawing for hours.

(draw – drawing)

 We will be washing the car before vacation.

(wash – washing)

Past and Past Participle Forms of the Verb

The past and past participle verb form for regular verbs is the root word + -ed. It’s only used with
the past tenses. Consider the examples below:
 We shopped for hours on Saturday afternoon.
(shop – shopped)
 The books were stacked on the shelf.
(stack – stacked)
 He had played computer games for the whole weekend.

33 | P a g e
 (play – played)
The past participle can be difficult to determine for some irregular verbs. It’s best to look these
up in a dictionary if you’re at all unsure of the past participle. Here are a few examples of
irregular verbs:

ROOT SIMPLE PAST PAST PARTICIPLE

Sing Sang Sung

See Saw Seen

Fall Fell Fallen

Give Gave Given

Go Went Gone

Example:

 I had forgiven him for his unkind words.

 Simon had lit candles all around the room.

34 | P a g e
 APOSTROPHE

Apostrophes can be tricky. Sometimes they form possessives. Sometimes they form contractions.
Can they ever make something plural?

Apostrophe Use: Contractions and Omissions

A contraction is a shortened form of a word (or group of words) that omits certain letters or
sounds. In a contraction, an apostrophe represents missing letters. The most common
contractions are made up of verbs, auxiliaries, or modals attached to other words: He
would=He’d. I have=I’ve. They are=They’re. You cannot=You can’t.
Some writers use less common contractions when they want to represent a particular style of
speech. They might write somethin’ to represent the way people often don’t pronounce the final
g of “something” in speech. Occasionally, you might see e’er (instead of ever) in poetry. And, of
course, in the American South, you will probably encounter y’all (you all). Decade names are
often contracted as well: the ’60s (the 1960s).

Contraction Uncontracted Examples

-n’t not Isn’t (is not), hasn’t (has not)
-‘re are They’re (they are), we’re (we are), you’re (you are)
-‘d had, would She’d (she had, she would), I’d (I had, I would)
-‘ll will We’ll (we will), you’ll (you will)
-‘s is He’s (he is), it’s (it is)
I’m I am —
let’s let us —
Contractions are usually considered to be relatively casual. If you’re writing something very
formal, you may want to avoid using them except in cases like o’clock, where the full phrase (of
the clock) truly is rare.

35 | P a g e
Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns
The rules about forming possessives probably cause the most apostrophe confusion. They vary a
little bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive. Here are the rules of
thumb:
For most singular nouns, add apostrophe+s (examples):
 The dog’s leash The writer’s desk The planet’s atmosphere
For most plural nouns, add only an apostrophe:
 The dogs’ leashes (multiple dogs) The writers’ desks (multiple writers) The planets’
atmospheres (multiple planets)

For plural nouns that do not end in s, add apostrophe+s (examples):

 The children’s toys The geese’s migration route
Style guides vary in their recommendations of what to do when you have a singular proper noun
that ends in s. Some recommend adding only an apostrophe (examples):
 Charles Dickens’ novels Kansas’ main airport
Others say to add apostrophe+s (examples):
 Charles Dickens’s novels Kansas’s main airport
No matter which style guide you use, add only the apostrophe to plural proper nouns that end in
s (examples):
 The Harrises’ house The Smiths’ vacation
Use whichever style matches the style guide you use for your writing. If you don’t have a style
guide, it’s OK to just pick one of the methods, as long as you don’t switch back and forth within
the same document.

Apostrophes and Possessive Pronouns

Personal pronouns, unlike regular nouns, do not use apostrophes to form possessives. Most
writers don’t have trouble with the possessive pronouns my, mine, his, her, and our.  It’s your,
yours, hers, its, ours, their, and theirs, that tend to cause the confusion. The relative possessive
pronoun whose is also frequently the victim of apostrophe abuse. Note that none of these forms
uses an apostrophe. In fact, for some of these pronouns, adding an apostrophe forms a
contraction instead of a possessive (see the table above).

Pronoun Possessive Pronoun Absolute (Independent) Form

36 | P a g e
Me My Mine
You Your Yours
He His His
Her Her Hers
It Its —
We Our Ours
Them Their Theirs
Who Whose —

How to Write Joint Possession

What do you do with the apostrophe when you’re talking about things that belong to more than
one person? When one thing belongs to two or more people, make only the final name
possessive:
Example:
 Bob and Jim’s bait shop (Bob and Jim co-own the same bait shop) Ryan, Jessica, and
Elinor’s parents (All three share the same parents)

When you’re talking about separate things that belong to different people, make all the names
possessive:
Example:
 Bob’s and Jim’s bait shops (Bob owns one bait shop and Jim owns a different one)
Ryan’s, Jessica’s, and Elinor’s parents (Each has a different set of parents)

Using possessive personal pronouns in joint constructions often sounds awkward (You have their
and my gratitude). Usually, the best solution is to rephrase the sentence to avoid the joint
construction (You have our gratitude or You have their gratitude and mine).

Apostrophes and Plurals

Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake.
Sometimes, it’s called the grocer’s apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery
store advertisements (3 orange’s for a dollar!). Don’t do it! With very few exceptions,
apostrophes do not make nouns plural.

37 | P a g e
The one notable exception to this rule is the plural form of lowercase letters, which are formed
with an apostrophe to prevent misreading:
Example:
 Incorrect: Don’t forget to dot all your is.
 Correct: Don’t forget to dot all your i’s.

Apostrophes with Surrounding Punctuation

An apostrophe is part of the word it belongs to, so it should not be separated from the word by
periods, commas, question marks, or any other punctuation mark.
Example:
 Can I ask you somethin’?
 “’Twas the night before Christmas,” he said.

In the second example, take note of the apostrophe at the beginning of ’Twas. Apostrophes that
fall at the very beginning of a contraction are often mistyped as left-hand single quotation marks.
Word processors tend to do this by default. Keep this in mind, especially when you are writing
about specific decades, such as the ’60s or the ’90s.

38 | P a g e
 COLON

A colon introduces an element or series of elements that illustrates or amplifies the information
that preceded the colon. While a semicolon normally joins two independent clauses to signal a
close connection between them, a colon does the job of directing you to the information
following it.
Many people are confused about using colons, but their function is actually quite
straightforward. Think of it as a flashing arrow that points to the information following it. When
a colon appears in a sentence, it usually gives the silent impression of “as follows,” “which
is/are,” or “thus.”
Example:
 There are three types of muscle in the body: cardiac, smooth, and skeletal.
The colon in this sentence signals that you are about to learn the names of the three types of
muscles the sentence already mentioned. We might silently read the sentence this way.
Example:
 There are three types of muscle in the body (and they are): cardiac, smooth, and skeletal.
Colons are often used with lists, as in the example above. They can also be used to signal further
clarification.
Example:
 We have two options here: stay and fight or run like the wind.
One might silently read this as:
 We have two options here (and they are as follows): stay and fight or run like the wind.
Colons can also introduce a quotation:
Example:
 He ended with the immortal words of Neil Young: “Rock and Roll can never die.”

Colons Separating Independent Clauses

A colon can be used to separate two independent clauses when a) the second clause is directly
related to the first clause (not just vaguely related) and b) when the emphasis is on the second
clause. While you can also use a semicolon or a period between two independent-yet-related
clauses, the colon is a little softer than the period, but a little harder than the semicolon.

39 | P a g e
Example:
 A dolphin is not fish: it is a warm-blooded mammal.
 The research is conclusive: climate change is a reality.

In British English, the word following a colon is not capitalized unless it is a proper noun or an
acronym. In American English, styles differ, but it is best to capitalize the first word after a colon
if what follows forms two or more complete sentences.

 I have several plans for my immediate future: First, I’m going to win the lottery. Second,
I’m going to buy a unicorn. Third, I will marry Brad Pitt.

Misuse of Colons

A colon should not separate a noun from its verb, a verb from its object or subject complement, a
preposition from its object, or a subject from its predicate.

To illustrate, here is one of our sentences from above rewritten incorrectly.

Examples:

 Incorrect: The three types of muscle in the body are: cardiac, smooth, and skeletal.

Putting the colon here separates the verb are from its subject complements (cardiac, smooth, and
skeletal).

 Incorrect: When I graduate, I want to go to: Rome, Israel, and Egypt.

The colon should be removed from this sentence because it separates the preposition to from its
objects (Rome, Israel, and Egypt). To write this sentence correctly, the colon should be removed.

 Correct: When I graduate, I want to go to Rome, Israel, and Egypt.

40 | P a g e
 COMMA

Ah, the comma. Of all the punctuation marks in English, this one is perhaps the most abused and
misused. And it’s no wonder. There are lots of rules about comma usage, and often the factors
that determine whether you should use one are quite subtle. But fear not! Below, you’ll find
guidance for the trickiest comma questions.

What Is a Comma?
While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. Some writers think of a
comma as a soft pause—a punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a
sentence.

Comma with Subjects and Verbs

With few exceptions, a comma should not separate a subject from its verb. Example:
 Incorrect: My friend Cleo, is a wonderful singer.
Writers are often tempted to insert a comma between a subject and verb this way because
speakers sometimes pause at that point in a sentence. But in writing, the comma only makes the
sentence seem stilted. Example:
 Correct: My friend Cleo is a wonderful singer.
Be especially careful with long or complex subjects (examples):
 Incorrect: The things that cause me joy, may also cause me pain.
 Correct: The things that cause me joy may also cause me pain.
 Incorrect: Navigating through snow, sleet, wind, and darkness, is a miserable way to
travel.
 Correct: Navigating through snow, sleet, wind, and darkness is a miserable way to travel.

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Comma Between Two Nouns in a Compound Subject or Object

Don’t separate two nouns that appear together as a compound subject or compound object.

 Incorrect: Cleo, and her band will be playing at Dockside Diner next Friday.
 Correct: Cleo and her band will be playing at Dockside Diner next Friday.
 Incorrect: Cleo will wear a sparkly red blazer, and high heels.
 Correct: Cleo will wear a sparkly red blazer and high heels.

When a subject or object is made up of two items and the second item is parenthetical, you can
set off the second item with commas—one before it and one after it. But you don’t need a
comma when you’re simply listing two items.

Comma Between Two Verbs in a Compound Predicate

You get a compound predicate when the subject of a sentence is doing more than one thing. In a
compound predicate that contains two verbs, don’t separate them with a comma.
 Incorrect: Cleo will sing, and play the banjo.
 Correct: Cleo will sing and play the banjo.

This mistake is most common when the predicate is made up of long verb phrases.
 Incorrect: I meant to buy tickets for Cleo’s show, but ran out of time.
 Correct: I meant to buy tickets for Cleo’s show but ran out of time.

Don’t use a comma in compound predicates unless there is a chance of misreading:

 Correct: Cleo spotted the man who entered the diner, and waved.
In the sentence above, you need the comma to make clear that it was Cleo who waved, not the
man.

Comma Splices
When you want to join two independent clauses, you need a conjunction or a semicolon. A
comma alone isn’t strong enough to join them. This kind of mistake is called a comma splice.
Example:
 Incorrect: We were out of milk, I went to the store.

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You can fix a comma splice by adding a conjunction or changing the comma to a semicolon.
Example:
 Correct: We were out of milk, so I went to the store.
 Correct: We were out of milk; I went to the store.

Or, you can simply write the two independent clauses as separate sentences.
 Correct: We were out of milk. I went to the store.

Comma After Introductory Phrase

A comma normally follows participial phrases that introduce a sentence (example):

 Correct: Grabbing her umbrella, Kate raced out of the house. Confused by her sister’s
sudden change in mood, Jill stayed quiet.

When an adverbial phrase begins a sentence, it’s often followed by a comma but it doesn’t have
to be, especially if it’s short. As a rule of thumb, if the phrase is longer than about four words,
use the comma. You can also use a comma with a shorter phrase when you want to emphasize it
or add a pause for literary effect. Example:

 Correct: After the show, Cleo will be signing autographs. Behind the building there is
enough space to park two limousines. Without knowing why, I crossed the room and
looked out the window. In 1816 life was very different. Suddenly, an angry black cat
sprang from the shadows.

But, if there is a chance of misreading the sentence, use the comma:

Example:

 Incorrect: Before eating the family said grace.

 Correct: Before eating, the family said grace.

Comma Within a Comparison

Don’t use a comma before “than” when you’re making a comparison.

 Incorrect: This box is lighter, than that box.

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  Correct: This box is lighter than that box.
 Incorrect: Hardcover books are more expensive, than paperback books.
 Correct: Hardcover books are more expensive than paperback books.

Commas with Interrupters or Parenthetical Elements

Interrupters are little thoughts that pop up in the middle of a sentence to show emotion, tone, or
emphasis. A parenthetical element is a phrase that adds extra information to the sentence but
could be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. Both interrupters and
parenthetical elements should be set off with commas. Examples:

 Incorrect: The weather I was happy to see was beginning to clear.

 Correct: The weather, I was happy to see, was beginning to clear.
 Incorrect: Geoff’s cooking skills if you can call them skills left something to be desired.
 Correct: Geoff’s cooking skills, if you can call them skills, left something to be desired.
 Incorrect: It was sadly the last day of camp.
 Correct: It was, sadly, the last day of camp.
 Incorrect: Mary unlike Anne is very organized.
 Correct: Mary, unlike Anne, is very organized.

Comma with a Question Tag

A question tag is a short phrase or even a single word that is added to the end of a statement to
turn it into a question. Writers often use question tags to encourage readers to agree with them. A
question tag should be preceded by a comma. Example:

 Correct: These willow trees are beautiful, aren’t they? You didn’t actually write a 600-
page vampire romance novel, did you? I know, right?

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Comma with Direct Address

When addressing another person by name, set off the name with commas. Example:

 Correct: Mom, I can’t find my shoes! Cleo, there’s someone on the phone for you. Hello,
Chester.

Comma with an Appositive

An appositive is a word or phrase that refers to the same thing as another noun in the same
sentence. Often, the appositive provides additional information about the noun or helps to
distinguish it in some way. If you could remove the appositive without changing the meaning of
the sentence, it is said to be nonessential and should be set off with commas. If the appositive is
necessary, it’s said to be essential and it should not be set off with commas.

Nonessential appositives example:

 Correct: My mother, Angela, is a wonderful cook. The painter, one of the city’s most
promising young artists, began showing his work in galleries before he was sixteen.
Chocolate, my favorite treat, always makes me feel better after a bad day.

Essential appositives example:

 Correct: Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven is a classic. Alec Baldwin’s brother
Stephen is the most underrated Baldwin. The detective Sherlock Holmes is one of
literature’s greatest sleuths.

Commas in Dates

When writing a date in month-day-year format, set off the year with commas. Example:

 Correct: July 4, 1776, was an important day in American history. I was born on Sunday,
May 12, 1968.

If you are using the day-month-year format, however, commas are unnecessary. Example:

 Correct: Applications are due by 31 December 2016.

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If you are referencing a day of the week and a date, use a comma:

 Correct: On Tuesday, April 13, at three o’clock, there will be a meeting for all staff.
Please join us on Saturday, June 14, 2010, for the marriage of Annie and Michael.

When you are referencing only a month and year, you don’t need a comma.

 Correct: The region experienced record rainfall in March 1999.

Comma Between Coordinate Adjectives

When multiple adjectives modify a noun to an equal degree, they are said to be coordinate and
should be separated by commas. One way to tell whether the adjectives are coordinate is to try
switching the order of them. If the sentence still sounds natural, the adjectives are coordinate.

Example:

 Correct: That man is a pompous, self-righteous, annoying idiot. That man is a self-
righteous, annoying, pompous idiot. The sweet, scintillating aroma of cinnamon buns
filled the kitchen. The scintillating, sweet aroma of cinnamon buns filled the kitchen.

If the adjectives are not coordinate, don’t separate them with a comma.

Example:

 Incorrect: The adorable, little boy was eating ice cream.

 Correct: The adorable little boy was eating ice cream.

Comma Before But

Use a comma before the word but if it is joining two independent clauses:

Example:

 Incorrect: Cleo is a good singer but she’s an even better dancer.

 Correct: Cleo is a good singer, but she’s an even better dancer.

If but is not joining two independent clauses, leave the comma out. Examples:

 Incorrect: My teacher is tough, but fair.

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  Correct: My teacher is tough but fair.
 Incorrect: Life is, but a dream.
 Correct: Life is but a dream.

Comma Before And

When you have a list that contains only two items, don’t use a comma before the and.
Examples:

 Incorrect: My dog Charlie is cute, and smart.

 Correct: My dog Charlie is cute and smart.
 Incorrect: Cleo’s favorite activities are singing on stage, and relaxing in the sunshine.
 Correct: Cleo’s favorite activities are singing on stage and relaxing in the sunshine.

When correcting a comma splice, that is when joining two independent clauses with a
coordinating conjunction, put the comma before and.

Commas with Lists

When you have a list that contains more than two elements, use commas to separate them.

 Incorrect: Julie loves ice cream books and kittens.

 Correct: Julie loves ice cream, books, and kittens.
 Correct: Julie loves ice cream, books and kittens.

(The comma before the and in a list of three or more items is optional. See below under Serial
Comma for more information.)

Your list might be made up of nouns, as in the example above, but it could also be made up of
verbs, adjectives, or clauses. Imagine, for a moment, that you have just finished doing three
chores. The chores were:

 Cleaning the house and garage

 Raking the lawn
 Taking out the garbage

If you were to list these three chores in a sentence, you would write:
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  Correct: I cleaned the house and garage, raked the lawn, and took out the garbage.
 Correct: I cleaned the house and garage, raked the lawn and took out the garbage.

Serial Comma (Oxford Comma)

As mentioned above, when you are listing three or more items, commas should separate each
element of the list. However, the final comma—the one that comes before the and—is optional.
This comma is called the serial comma or the Oxford comma. Examples:

 Mary needs bread, milk, and butter at the grocery store. (With serial comma)
 Mary needs bread, milk and butter at the grocery store. (Without serial comma)
 I still have to buy a gift, pack the suitcases, and arrange for someone to water the plants
while we’re at the wedding. (With serial comma)
 I still have to buy a gift, pack the suitcases and arrange for someone to water the plants
while we’re at the wedding. (Without serial comma)

Whether or not you use the serial comma is a style choice. Many newspapers do not use it. Many
trade books do use it. In your own writing, you can decide for yourself whether to use it or not—
just be consistent.

Keep in mind, though, that occasionally the serial comma is necessary for clarity. Example:

 I dedicate this award to my parents, Jane Austen and Albert Einstein.

The sentence above will almost certainly cause readers to do a double-take. Without a serial
comma, it looks like “Jane Austen and Albert Einstein” is an appositive, rather than two more
elements in a list. To put it another way, the writer seems to be saying that her parents are Jane
Austen and Albert Einstein. A serial comma eliminates the possibility of misreading, so even if
you’re not using serial commas in your writing, make an exception for sentences like this
example:

 I dedicate this award to my parents, Jane Austen, and Albert Einstein.

Comma Separating a Verb and Its Object

Don’t separate a transitive verb from its direct object with a comma. Examples:
 Incorrect: I’m glad I trained, Charlie not to beg for scraps.

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  Correct: I’m glad I trained Charlie not to beg for scraps.
 Incorrect: Mary said, she likes chocolate.
 Correct: Mary said she likes chocolate.

Comma with Nonrestrictive Clause

A nonrestrictive clause offers extra information about something you have mentioned in a
sentence, but the information isn’t essential to identify the thing you’re talking about.
Nonrestrictive clauses are usually introduced by which or who and should be set off by commas.
Examples:
 Correct: Posey’s Cafe, which Chester recommended, is a fantastic restaurant.
The clause “which Chester recommended” is nonrestrictive because “Posey’s Cafe” is already
specific. Identifying it as the restaurant recommended by Chester doesn’t narrow it down any
further.
 Correct: My wife, whom I love dearly, is a brilliant physicist.
The clause “whom I love dearly” is nonrestrictive because you could remove it and it would still
be clear that you’re talking about the same person—“my wife” is already specific.

Comma with Restrictive Clauses

A restrictive clause adds necessary information about something you have mentioned in a
sentence. Restrictive clauses are often introduced by that or who and should never be set off by
commas. Example:
 Incorrect: The cafe, that Chester recommended, is a fantastic restaurant.
 Correct: The cafe that Chester recommended is a fantastic restaurant.

The clause “that Chester recommended” is essential information in the sentence above. If you
removed it, there would be no way to tell which restaurant you were talking about.

Comma Between Correlative Conjunctions

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Correlative conjunctions are conjunctions that come in pairs (such as either/or, neither/nor, and
not only/but also) and connect words or phrases in a sentence to form a complete thought.
Typically, commas are unnecessary with correlative conjunctions. Examples:
 Incorrect: Either the blue shirt, or the red sweater will look good with your jeans.
 Correct: Either the blue shirt or the red sweater will look good with your jeans.
 Incorrect: You can wear a pashmina not only for warmth, but also for fashion.
 Correct: You can wear a pashmina not only for warmth but also for fashion.

Comma Between Direct Quote and Attributive Tag

An attributive tag is a phrase like “he said” or “she claimed” that identifies the speaker of a quote
or piece of dialogue. Attributive tags can come before, after, or even in the middle of a quote.
Use commas to separate attributive tags from quotations. Examples:
 Correct: The professor remarked, “How attentive you have been today!” “Once you
know the solution,” Tiffany said, “the whole problem seems very simple.” “You have ice
cream on your nose,” my friend snickered. “When you leave the house,” my mother
yelled, “don’t slam the door!”

If a quotation before an attributive tag ends in a question mark or exclamation point, however,
there’s no need for a comma. Examples:
 Incorrect: “You have a spider on your nose!”, my friend yelled.
 Correct: “You have a spider on your nose!” my friend yelled.
 Incorrect: “Where did that spider come from?”, I asked.
 Correct: “Where did that spider come from?” I asked.

Comma Inside Quotation Marks

In American English, commas always go before closing quotation marks. Example:
 Correct: “Pass me that thesaurus,” said Matthew. “If you knew what was good for you,
you’d sit down and finish that essay right now,” my roommate said. “We’re going down
to the soup kitchen to help serve dinner,” her mother called.

Comma Before Parenthesis

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Parentheses are used to give additional information to the reader—information that would disrupt
the flow of the sentence if written as a nonrestrictive clause. Commas may be placed after the
closing parenthesis but not before either the opening or the closing parenthesis. If the sentence
would not require any commas if the parenthetical statement were removed, the sentence should
not have any commas when the parentheses are added. Example:
 Correct: After opening the new cookie tin, Chester had a hard time replacing the lid.
After opening the new cookie tin (and eating several of the cookies), Chester had a hard
time replacing the lid.
 Incorrect: After opening the new cookie tin, (and eating several of the cookies), Chester
had a hard time replacing the lid. After opening the new cookie tin (and eating several of
the cookies,) Chester had a hard time replacing the lid.

Comma Between an Article and Noun

Don’t use a comma between an article and a noun. Examples:
 Incorrect: The company managers accidentally scheduled the, weekly meeting for
Saturday. A, bouquet of flowers may be created using more than one type of flower. I’ll
have an, apple.
 Correct: The company managers accidentally scheduled the weekly meeting for
Saturday. A bouquet of flowers may be created using more than one type of flower. I’ll
have an apple.

When speaking, we often pause while we think of the next word we want to say. In writing,
though, there’s usually no reason to add this pause. If you’re writing dialogue and you
specifically want to convey a pause here while someone is thinking, use an an ellipsis: I’ll have
an… apple.

Comma with As Well As

The phrase “as well as” usually doesn’t require commas unless it’s part of a nonrestrictive
clause.
 Correct: Please proofread for grammatical mistakes as well as spelling.
 Correct: Spelling mistakes, as well as grammatical errors, are distracting to readers.

Comma with Such As

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The phrase “such as” requires commas if it introduces a nonrestrictive clause. Example:
 Correct: Coniferous trees, such as pine and spruce, do not drop their needles in the
winter.

If “such as” introduces a restrictive clause, omit the commas. Example:

 Correct: Trees such as pine and spruce do not drop their needles in the winter.

Comma Before Too

Using a comma before “too” is optional. Example:
 Correct: I like bananas too. I too like bananas.
A comma simply adds emphasis. Example:
 Correct: I like bananas, too. I, too, like bananas.

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 DASHES

A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text (not at the bottom: that’s
an underscore). It’s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause.
Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does.
There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen.
The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—). A good way to
remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the
letter N and the em dash as the length of the letter M. These dashes not only differ in length; they
also serve different functions within a sentence.

Em Dashes
Em dashes save the day when other punctuation would be awkward. For instance, em dashes can
replace parentheses at the end of a sentence or when multiple commas appear in a parenthetical
phrase. Example:
 After a split second of hesitation, the second baseman leaped for the ball (or, rather,
limped for it).
 After a split second of hesitation, the second baseman leaped for the ball—or, rather,
limped for it.

Colons enable a writer to introduce a clause that amplifies whatever came before the colon. They
are more formal than dashes. However, em dashes are more emphatic than colons. When you
want to generate strong emotion in your writing or create a more casual tone, use em dashes.
Compare these sentence examples:
 He is afraid of two things: spiders and senior prom.
 He is afraid of two things—spiders and senior prom.

Writers and transcriptionists replace unknown, censored, or intentionally omitted letters with em
dashes. In these cases, em dashes appear in pairs or threesomes. Examples:
 A former employee of the accused company, ———, offered a statement off the record.
 “H—— are all the same. They cause trouble wherever they go.”
 Carved into the dresser drawer was a faded inscription: “Made for Kristina, by your de
——ted sailor.”

 
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En Dashes
Recall that en dashes are slightly shorter in length than em dashes. En dashes may look similar to
em dashes, but they function in a much different way.

Using the En Dash to Indicate Spans of Time or Ranges of Numbers

The en dash is often used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. In this context, the dash
should be interpreted as meaning either “to” or “through.” Consider the examples below:
 The teacher assigned pages 101–181 for tonight’s reading material.
 The scheduled window for the cable installation is 1:00–3:00pm.
 The 2015–2016 fiscal year was the most profitable year for the new business.

Using the En Dash to Denote a Connection

The en dash may also be used to indicate a connection between two words. Use an en dash when
you need to connect terms that are already hyphenated or when you are using a two-word phrase
as a modifier. When the dash is used in this way, it creates a compound adjective. See the
following examples:
 The pro-choice–pro-life argument is always a heated one.
 The Nobel Prize–winning author will be reading from her book at the library tonight.

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 ELLIPSIS

What do you call three periods in a row? Take your time, we’ll wait . . .

The Ellipsis
Those three little dots are called an ellipsis (plural: ellipses). The term ellipsis comes from the
Greek word meaning “omission,” and that’s just what an ellipsis does—it shows that something
has been left out. When you’re quoting someone, you can use an ellipsis to show that you’ve
omitted some of their words. For example:
 Hamlet asked whether it was “nobler . . . to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

In the sentence above, the words “in the mind” have been omitted from the quote. Occasionally,
you might need to leave out part of a quote because it’s irrelevant or makes the quote hard to
understand in the context of the sentence. The ellipsis shows that you have left something out.
You can also use an ellipsis to show a pause in speech or that a sentence trails off. This technique
doesn’t belong in formal or academic writing, though. You should only use the ellipsis this way
in fiction and informal writing. For example:
 Andrew, can you, um . . . never mind, I forgot what I was saying. So, do you think we
should . . . ?

How Many Dots?

How many dots are in an ellipsis? The answer is three. But, if the ellipsis comes immediately
after a grammatically complete sentence, that sentence still needs its own period. So you would
end up with a period, plus an ellipsis, which looks like four periods in a row. For example:
 “Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.”
might be shortened to:
 “Call me Jonah. . . . They called me John.”

Spacing
Whether you put spaces between the dots or not is a matter of style. The Chicago Manual of
Style calls for spaces between each ellipsis point. The AP Stylebook says to treat the ellipsis as a

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three-letter word, with spaces on either side of the ellipsis but no spaces between the dots. You
can use either style; just be consistent throughout your document.

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 EXCLAMATION POINT

The exclamation point, also called an exclamation mark, is a punctuation mark that goes at the
end of certain sentences. It’s less common than the period or question mark, but it’s very easy to
use. Some might say it’s too easy to use.

What Is an Exclamation Point For?

Periods go at the end of declarative sentences, question marks go at the end of interrogative
sentences, and exclamation points go at the end of exclamatory sentences. An exclamatory
sentence is one that expresses a strong or forceful emotion, such as anger, surprise, or joy.
Example:
 I got a perfect score on the SAT! Get out of my sight!
Exclamation points are also commonly found with sentence fragments or sudden interjections.
Occasionally, you might see one at the end of a sentence that is phrased as a question.
 Careful! That spider is poisonous. Holy cow! How could I have forgotten to pack
underwear!

Exclamatory Quotations
Using an exclamation point is usually quite simple—you just put it at the end of the sentence.
But it can get a little tricky when you also have a quotation mark at the end of the sentence. Here
are the rules:
Put the exclamation point inside the closing quotation marks if it applies to the words enclosed
by the quotation marks. Example:
 “There’s a spider on my arm!” yelped Jeremy.
If the exclamation point applies to the sentence as a whole, then place it at the very end.
 And then the paramedics tried to tell Jeremy it was “only a spider”!

Exclamation Points and Parentheses

Put the exclamation point inside the parentheses when it applies to the words inside the
parentheses.

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  Jeremy didn’t find out until later what kind of spider it was (a black widow!).
Put the exclamation point outside the parentheses if it applies to the whole sentence. Example:
 They settled out of court and Jeremy got a million dollars (cash)!
Using exclamation points and parentheses this way is relatively rare.

Exclamation Abuse
The hardest thing about using an exclamation point is probably knowing when not to use one. In
writing, it’s often hard to convey the emotion and intent behind a simple statement. If you spoke
the words “I can’t believe you threw me a surprise party” aloud, it would be clear from the tone
of your voice and body language whether you meant this as an expression of gratitude or
reproach. An exclamation point can help make it clear by conveying your excitement: “I can’t
believe you threw me a surprise party!”
But using too many exclamation marks makes them less effective. F. Scott Fitzgerald said that
using exclamation marks is like laughing at your own jokes. After a while, your readers will
simply ignore them, or worse, become annoyed by them. On top of that, they’re considered to be
relatively casual, so using them in business or formal academic writing is a no-no. Instead of
relying on exclamation points to convey your urgency or excitement, use more vivid vocabulary.
Instead of “Make sure you finish this by tomorrow morning!” try “It’s crucial that you finish this
before tomorrow morning’s deadline.”

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 HYPHEN

What Is a Hyphen?
 A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. It’s not
interchangeable with other types of dashes.
 Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word it’s
modifying.
 If you’re not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred
dictionary.

Hyphen with Compound Modifiers: Two-Word Adjectives Before Nouns

Using hyphens to connect words is easy. Picking the right words to connect is a little harder.
Let’s start with compound modifiers.

A compound modifier is made up of two words that work together to function like one adjective.
When you connect words with the hyphen, you make it clear to readers that the words work
together as a unit of meaning. Example:

 Incorrect: It’s recommended you don’t take down any load bearing walls when
renovating.

In this sentence, it sounds like you shouldn’t take down any load that is holding up a wall. A
hyphen should be inserted between load and bearing to make it clear that we’re talking about
walls that are bearing a load. Examples:

 Correct: It’s recommended you don’t take down any load-bearing walls when
renovating.
 Correct: This rock-hard cake is absolutely impossible to eat.
 Correct: We’re looking for a dog-friendly hotel.

Generally, you need the hyphen only if the two words are functioning together as an adjective
before the noun they’re describing. If the noun comes first, leave the hyphen out. Example:

 Correct: This wall is load bearing.

 Correct: It’s impossible to eat this cake because it is rock hard.

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  Correct: Is this hotel dog friendly?

You also don’t need a hyphen when your modifier is made up of an adverb and an adjective.

 Incorrect: Do you expect me to believe this clearly-impossible story?

 Correct: Do you expect me to believe this clearly impossible story?

Hyphens With Participles

Compound modifiers that include present or past participles follow the same rules as any other
compound modifier.

Hyphen With a Noun, Adjective Or Adverb and a Present Participle

When we combine a noun or adjective and a present participle (a word ending in -ing) to form a
unit of meaning that describes another word, use a hyphen to make that unit of meaning clear.

 Incorrect: There are some beautiful looking flowers in the garden.

Without the hyphen between beautiful and looking, your reader may stumble over the sentence.
Perhaps there’s a new type of daisy called the “looking flower”?

 There are some beautiful-looking flowers in the garden.

 Fast-acting medication can be useful when one has a headache.

Don’t use a hyphen when the modifier comes after the noun it’s describing.

 This medication is fast acting.

Don’t use a hyphen when you are combining an adverb and a participle.

 Incorrect: The room was like a heavily-decorated chocolate box.

 Correct: The room was like a heavily decorated chocolate box.

Hyphen in a Compound Expression With a Noun and Past Participle

Compound modifiers that contain a past participle also follow the same rules as any other
compound modifier. Use a hyphen when the compound goes before the noun it modifies:

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Examples:

 The municipal government is funding a community-based education system.

 Wind-powered generators can be excellent sources of electricity.
 Many veterinarians find meat-fed cats to be quite healthy.
 A well-known local singer will perform tonight.

Don’t use a hyphen when the compound comes after the noun it describes.

 The singer performing tonight is well known.

Hyphenated Compound Words

Hyphenated compound words are the ones (obviously) with a hyphen between the words. Over
time, many hyphenated compounds become closed compounds—teen-ager became teenager for
instance. Check a dictionary if you’re not sure whether to use a hyphen or not. Here are a few
examples of common hyphenated compound words examples:

 Mother-in-law
 Master-at-arms
 Editor-in-chief
 Ten-year-old
 Factory-made
 Twelve-pack

Closed Compound Words

Hyphenated words tend to become closed compounds (single words with no hyphens) over time.
Email instead of e-mail, for example, is increasingly common. If you aren’t sure whether a words
is a closed compound or a hyphenated one, check your preferred dictionary. Examples:

 Notebook
 Superman
 Waistcoat
 Bookstore
 Fireman

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Open Compound Words

Open compounds are typically made up of two nouns that are used together to represent a single
idea. “Open” means that there is a space between the two words and no hyphen. A good
dictionary is the best place to check whether a compound is open or not. Examples:

 Living room
 Real estate
 Dinner table
 Coffee mug

Hyphens and Numbers

Numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine should be hyphenated when they’re spelled out.
Examples:

 Fifty-six bottles of pop on the wall, fifty-six bottles of pop…

 No, I won’t party “like it’s nineteen ninety-nine.”
 I’ve got a hundred and twenty-two of these gizmos to sell.

Hyphen in Compound Adjective With Numbers

When numbers are used as the first part of a compound adjective, use a hyphen to connect them
to the noun that follows them. This way, the reader knows that both words function like a unit to
modify another noun. This applies whether the number is written in words or in digits.
Examples:

 The president of the company gave a 10-minute speech to the Board of Directors.
 He is knowledgeable in thirteenth-century politics.
 The boy threw a rock at the second-story window.

However, a hyphen is not required if the number is the second word in the compound adjective.
Examples:

 He is a victim of Type 2 diabetes.

 This elevator doesn’t go down to Basement 3.

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Hyphen In Compound Adjective With Fractions

When using a fraction (e.g. half or quarter) as part of a compound adjective, it should be
hyphenated so the reader understands which fraction is modifying which noun. Examples:

 I half-wanted to commit a felony.

 A quarter-million dollars is still a large amount of money.
 You’ll need one-third of a pound of flour and one egg.
 That’s a half-baked idea if I ever heard one!

Hyphen With Prefixes: Ex-, Self-, All-

Use a hyphen with the prefix ex- (meaning former). Examples:

 Don’t sit Adam next to Martha! She’s his ex-wife!

 Though he no longer held an official position, the ex-mayor still attended all the town’s
functions.

Use a hyphen with the reflexive prefix self-. Examples:

 Lying on the floor beside the plant he had knocked over and chewed on, the cat looked
extremely self-satisfied.
 Do you want a self-serve or a full-serve gas station?

Make sure you don’t confuse the prefix self- with the noun self. Examples:

 The self serves no other.

When using all as a prefix, add a hyphen. Examples:

 It’s a bad leader who thinks of himself as all-powerful.

Hyphens with High or Low

When using high or low as part of a compound adjective, use a hyphen when the compound
comes before the noun it’s modifying. Some examples of compound adjectives using high and
low include high-level/low-level and high-impact/low-impact. Examples:

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  Low-flying airplanes contribute to the noise pollution in the area.
 This car runs best on high-octane gasoline.
 Low-income families often face more stress than their higher-income counterparts.
 A high-interest savings account is one of the best ways to save money.

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 PARENTHESES

Parentheses are punctuation marks that are used to set off information within a text or
paragraph. Outside the realm of emoticons, parentheses always come in pairs. They can enclose
a single word, a phrase, or even an entire sentence. Typically, the words inside the parentheses
provide extra information about something else in the sentence. Example:
 Curators from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) have announced a
new dinosaur exhibit. While walking down the street (paying more attention to her phone
than to her feet), Catherine tripped over the curb and sprained her ankle.

Brackets, sometimes called square brackets, are most often used to show that words have been
added to a direct quotation. Sometimes, when quoting a person or document, adding a word or
two is necessary to provide enough context for the quote to make sense. For example, the
original sentence you want to quote might read “We went and had a great time.” Out of context,
this sentence doesn’t mean much. But you can add bracketed information to make the context
clear. Example:

 “We went [to the new dinosaur exhibit] and had a great time.”

It’s extremely important to use brackets when you change a direct quote—forgetting to add them
results in a misquote.

Parentheses or Brackets With Surrounding Punctuation

Treat parentheses or brackets and the words inside them as separate from the rest of the sentence.
Any sentence that contains a parenthetical element should still make sense if the element is
removed. Examples:

 Incorrect: Meena (studied all night for) the grammar test.

 Correct: Meena studied (all night) for the grammar test.
 Correct: Meena studied for the grammar test.

Periods, question marks, and exclamation points should go before the closing parenthesis or

bracket only if they belong to the words inside the parentheses or brackets. If the punctuation
belongs to the surrounding sentence, put them outside the parentheses or brackets. Never put a
comma immediately before a closing parenthesis. Example:

 Incorrect: After dinner (an enormous, healthy salad,) Posey treated herself to ice cream.

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  Incorrect: After dinner, (an enormous, healthy salad) Posey treated herself to ice cream.
 Correct: After dinner (an enormous, healthy salad), Posey treated herself to ice cream.

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 PERIOD

The period, called a full stop in British English, is one of the first punctuation marks we learn
about when we begin reading and writing. Compared to commas or semicolons, the rules for
using periods are blessedly simple.

What Does a Period Do?

The most common use of the period is, of course, to end a declarative sentence. Interrogative
sentences (questions) end with a question mark. Example:
 I like dogs. My dog is named Charlie. Charlie is the coolest dog who has ever lived;
that’s a fact and not just my opinion.

Periods and Quotation Marks

When writers get confused about periods, it’s usually because they aren’t sure where to put them
in relation to other nearby punctuation. In American English, the period goes inside the closing
quotation mark at the end of a sentence. Example:
 My mother loved to remind me of the old saying “waste not, want not.” Phillip said, “I
can’t remember where I heard about the banjo concert, but I sure want to go.”

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Periods and Parentheses
When a complete, independent sentence is entirely enclosed by parentheses, the period goes
inside the closing parenthesis. Example:
 Charlie scarfed up every Cheeto that fell out of the bag. (I wasn’t fast enough to stop
him.) At least we won’t have to sweep the floor.
But, if the parenthetical material is nested inside another sentence, the period should go on the
outside. Example:
 Charlie barked wildly when he caught the scent of fresh bacon (his favorite).

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 QUESTION MARK

Without question marks, we’d miss out on all kinds of things: invitations, jokes, the Riddler . . .
No doubt, the question mark is a nice little piece of punctuation. And, best of all, it’s easy to use!

What Is a Question Mark For?

The main purpose of a question mark, perhaps unsurprisingly, is to indicate that a sentence is a
question. Direct questions often (but not always) begin with a wh- word (who, what, when,
where, why). Example:
 Why did the chicken cross the road? Who wants to know? Is it really that important?
But, not all questions are phrased as questions. Sometimes we phrase questions the same way we
would phrase a declarative sentence. In speech, the way your voice rises at the end of the
sentence usually makes it clear that you’re asking a question and not just making a statement.
But in writing, you need a question mark to signal to readers that they should read the sentence
as a question. Example:
 You came all this way to ask me about a chicken? Cross the road? Never!
Phrasing a question as an imperative or declarative statement is an emphatic way to express
surprise, doubt, or disbelief.

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Question Marks and Quotation Marks
When your sentence is a straightforward question, the question mark goes at the very end and
serves as the terminal punctuation mark. But things can get tricky when you have other
punctuation nearby.
At first glance, the rules about question marks and quotation marks can seem complicated. But
the logic is fairly simple. Keep the question mark inside the quotation marks if it logically
applies to what is enclosed by the quotation marks. You’ll often see this in written dialogue:
Example:
 The chicken asked, “Why is everyone so concerned about where I’m walking?” “What
do you have to hide?” asked the nosy reporter.

If the question mark applies to the sentence as a whole instead of to the phrase inside the
quotation marks, put it at the very end:
Example:
 Haven’t you ever heard the expression “It’s a free country”?
This holds true even when you have a quotation containing a question:
Example:
 “When I spoke to the chicken, she said ‘Why won’t you leave me alone?’” recalled the
reporter.

And for a quoted question containing a quoted statement:

Example:
 “What did the chicken mean,” the reporter wondered, “when she said ‘It’s a free
country’?”
When you have a question mark that applies to both the quoted phrase and the rest of the
sentence, just use one question mark:
Example:
 Who said “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

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Question Marks and Parentheses
The rules for question marks and parentheses are similar to the rules for question marks and
quotation marks. If a question mark applies to the parenthetical information, place the question
mark inside the parentheses:
Example:
 I saw the chicken (or was it the rooster?) crossing the road.
 The chicken wrote a bestselling memoir called My Road (published abroad as Who
Needs a Crosswalk?).

When the question applies to the whole sentence, put it outside the parentheses:
 Will the chicken cross the road again tomorrow (April 1)?

Indirect Questions
There is one type of question that never takes a question mark: the indirect question. Indirect
questions are embedded within declarative statements:
Example:
 The chicken asked whether anyone wanted to cross the road with her. We all wondered
why the chicken was so obsessed with that road.

Sometimes, with one-word questions, it’s hard to decide whether it’s a direct or indirect
question. In most cases, it’s fine to treat it as an indirect question:
 As the chicken contemplated crossing the road, she asked herself why.

When a Question Mark Isn’t Enough

As useful as the question mark is, sometimes it’s tempting to embellish the end of your sentence
with extra punctuation, especially when you’re trying to convey something really surprising and
exciting. Example:
 Did you hear that the chicken crossed the road and found a million dollars on the other
side??? Are you saying the chicken is a millionaire?! Can you believe it‽

If you don’t recognize the symbol at the end of the last sentence, it’s called an interrobang, and
it’s a combination of a question mark and an exclamation point. Interrobangs, multiple question
marks, and combinations of question marks and exclamation points might be fine for casual

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writing, but in formal writing, it’s best to limit yourself to just a plain old question mark.
Sometimes, you can make the choice easy with just a little rewriting:
 Did you hear? The chicken found a million dollars on the other side of the road!
And that’s everything you need to know to go out and use the question mark. What are you
waiting for?

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 QUOTATION MARKS

Quotation marks are used to identify words that someone has said. You’ll often find them in
fiction, where they signify dialogue, the words spoken by the characters. In newspapers,
journalists use quotation marks to signify that something is a direct quote from a person in the
article. In academic papers, quotation marks can signify that you are quoting material that was
written by someone else. Quotation marks always come in pairs; the first set opens the quote and
the second set closes the quote.

Dialogue
When writers become confused about quotation marks, it usually has to do with where to put
other nearby punctuation. Below is an example of a conversation between two characters, with
their dialogue correctly punctuated.
Martin said, “I’m going over to Jennifer’s house for a few hours.”
“You can’t be serious!” cried Fauntleroy.
“Oh, but I am,” Martin replied.
“How will you get there?” Fauntleroy asked.
“I thought I’d take the bus.”
“And,” Fauntleroy continued, “exactly how long is ‘a few hours’?”
“Probably two or three.”
“Well . . . fine. Tell Jennifer I said hello.”
In the first sentence, Martin makes a declarative statement that ends in a period. The period goes
inside the quotation marks. Treat anything within quotation marks as separate from the rest of
the sentence you’ve written, and make sure it has its own correct punctuation. If the quote is a
full sentence, it must begin with a capital letter, even though it is within the larger structure of
another sentence.
The second sentence begins a new paragraph because a different character is speaking.
Fauntleroy responds with an outburst, ending with an exclamation mark. When an exclamation
mark belongs to the sentence inside the quotation marks, it goes before the closing quotation
mark.
In the third sentence, Martin is making another declarative statement. This time, however, the
statement is followed by the dialogue tag Martin replied. In dialogue, when a sentence that
would normally end in a period is followed by a dialogue tag, the period becomes a comma. It
should go before the closing quotation mark.

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In the fourth sentence, Fauntleroy’s query ends with a question mark. As with exclamation
marks, a question mark goes before the closing quotation mark when it belongs to the sentence
inside the quotation marks.
In the fifth sentence, Martin is speaking, but there is no dialogue tag. Writers often omit dialogue
tags when the context of a conversation makes it clear who the speaker is.
In the sixth sentence, the dialogue tag Fauntleroy continued appears in the middle of
Fauntleroy’s sentence. Notice the placement of the commas after And and continued; commas go
before quotation marks. This sentence also contains a quote within a quote, which is enclosed
with single quotation marks. Fauntleroy is repeating Martin’s words a few hours.
The final two sentences of the conversation also omit the dialogue tags, because it’s clear which
character is speaking in both instances.

Non-Dialogue Quotations
In nonfiction or academic contexts, you may want to quote someone without styling it as
dialogue. The same rules for where to put other punctuation in relation to the quotation marks
apply. But you should also take care to construct your sentence so that the quoted words fit
within it grammatically. Example:
 Correct: The mayor said his two golden retrievers were “the best dogs in the world” and
added that he was not a cat person.
 Incorrect: The mayor said his two golden retrievers were “the best dogs in the world. I’m
not a cat person.”

In the second example, the sentence begins in the third person and past tense but abruptly
switches to the first person and present tense halfway through the quote. The result is jarring for
the reader, and sometimes hard to follow.

Scare Quotes
Occasionally, writers enclose certain terms they wish to distance themselves from in quotation
marks. Quotation marks used this way are commonly called scare quotes or shudder quotes. It’s
a way of implying that you’re using a term in an unusual way or that you don’t necessarily
approve of it. For example:
 Silicon Valley has fully embraced the “sharing economy.”
The scare quotes around sharing economy suggest that it’s not a fully accepted term. Perhaps the
writer feels that it’s jargon or just doesn’t like it. But, unless you’re writing for an audience who
is totally unfamiliar with the subject, it’s better to leave the quotation marks out and instead

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provide enough context to make the meaning of the term clear. Overusing scare quotes will
quickly annoy readers, so reserve them for terms that truly require them (example):
 For too many people, “computer security” is an oxymoron.
In the sentence above, the scare quotes are needed to indicate that the writer is not talking about
computer security in general, but rather the term itself.
Because scare quotes usually suggest a sniff of disapproval or sarcasm from the writer, you
should never use them purely for emphasis or decoration. A sign outside a restaurant that
proclaims Best “Flapjacks” in Town will make people stop and wonder why the flapjacks need
the scare quotes. Are they really flapjacks? Or are they some kind of inferior imitation?
Likewise, if you write someone a note that says I “love” you, the recipient will probably assume
that you meant the exact opposite!

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 SEMICOLON

How to Use a Semicolon Correctly

The most common use of the semicolon is to join two independent clauses without using a
conjunction like and.
Do you use a capital letter after a semicolon? The general answer is no. A semicolon should be
followed by a capital letter only if the word is a proper noun or an acronym. Example:
 Correct: We can go to the museum to do some research; Mondays are pretty quiet there.
Remember, semicolons are not interchangeable with commas or periods. Instead, they’re
somewhere in between: stronger than a comma but not quite as divisive as a period. Sounds
pretty cunning to us.
Here are the rules for using semicolons correctly; we hope you’re taking notes.
 

1. Semicolons Connect Related Independent Clauses

You can use a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses. Let’s put that another
way. The group of words that comes before the semicolon should form a complete sentence, the
group of words that comes after the semicolon should form a complete sentence, and the two
sentences should share a close, logical connection. Example:
 Correct: I ordered a cheeseburger for lunch; life’s too short for counting calories.
 Correct: Money is the root of all evil; I don’t believe the reverse is necessarily true.
 Correct: Martha has gone to the library; Andrew has gone to play soccer.

Notice that the letter following the semicolon is not capitalized. The examples above are both
made up of two complete, grammatically correct sentences glued together. Yes, that means there
are six total sentences up there—and thanks to the semicolon, only two capital letters. That’s
exactly why you can’t substitute a comma for a semicolon. Using a comma instead of a
semicolon in the sentences above would result in a comma splice. And there’s nothing as painful
as a comma splice.

2. Delete the Conjunction When You Use a Semicolon

A semicolon isn’t the only thing that can link two independent clauses. Conjunctions (that’s your
ands, buts, and ors) can do that too. But you shouldn’t use a semicolon and a conjunction. That
means when you use a semicolon, you use it instead of the ands, buts, and ors; you don’t need

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both. Here’s a hint: if you used a comma and an “and” to link two related ideas, think of the
period (you know, the top part of the semicolon) as a replacement “and.” Example:
 Correct: I saw a magnificent albatross, and it was eating a mouse.
 Correct: I saw a magnificent albatross; it was eating a mouse.

You need a comma plus something to avoid a comma splice. That something can either be the
right conjunction or the period that turns a comma into a semicolon. If semicolons can link
independent clauses that would otherwise have a period or a conjunction between them, that
means they can demonstrate contrast, too. This is part of the same rule, but the conjunction in
question is “but” instead of “and.” In other words (example):
 Correct: This is part of the same rule; the conjunction in question is “but” instead of
“and.”

To summarize, a semicolon links up two related ideas by narrowing the gap between the ideas of
two separate sentences or by replacing a conjunction between two related ideas. That goes for
showing contrast, too: just because two ideas are opposed or contradictory, that doesn’t mean
they aren’t related closely enough to earn themselves a semicolon.

3. Use Semicolons in a Serial List

You can use semicolons to divide the items of a list if the items are long or contain internal
punctuation. In these cases, the semicolon helps readers keep track of the divisions between the
items (example):
 Correct: I need the weather statistics for the following cities: London, England; London,
Ontario; Paris, France; Paris, Ontario; Perth, Scotland; Perth, Ontario.
 Correct: My plan included taking him to a nice—though not necessarily expensive—
dinner; going to the park to look at the stars, which, by the way, are amazing this time of
year; and serenading him with my accordion.

Let’s recap: so far we’ve got semicolons for linking two independent clauses; replacing a
conjunction (whether showing similarity, like “and,” or opposition, like “but”); and long,
comma-loving lists. Yup, that was one now.

4. Use Semicolons With Conjunctive Adverbs

When you have a conjunctive adverb linking two independent clauses, you should use
a semicolon. Some common conjunctive adverbs include moreover, nevertheless, however,
otherwise, therefore, then, finally, likewise, and consequently. Example:

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  Correct: I needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air; also, I needed to buy milk.
 Correct: Reports of the damage caused by the hurricane were greatly exaggerated;
indeed, the storm was not a “hurricane” at all.
 Correct: The students had been advised against walking alone at night; however, Cathy
decided walking wasn’t dangerous if it was early in the evening.
 Correct: I’m not all that fond of the colors of tiger lilies; moreover, they don’t smell very
good.

These words sometimes show up in other parts of a sentence; therefore, the semicolon rule only
applies if it helps the conjunctive adverb join two independent clauses. (See what we did there?)
This conjunctive adverb rule is similar to the conjunction rule. In both cases, check that the two
ideas are independent clauses that could stand on their own as sentences. If so, then you’re
grammatically good to go as far as the semicolon is concerned.

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 SLASHES

There are two types of slashes: a backslash (\) and a forward slash (/). The backslash is used
only for computer coding. The forward slash, often simply referred to as a slash, is a punctuation
mark used in English. The only time it is appropriate to use a comma after a slash is when
demonstrating breaks between lines of poetry, songs, or plays.

What Does / Mean Between Words?

An explanation of what a forward slash means in a text depends on the context. Slashes can
mean many different things, depending on how they are used.

To Separate Lines in Prose

A slash can show a line break in a poem, song, or play, usually if several short lines are being
written together on one long line. Consider the two examples below:
 Mary had a little lamb/ little lamb, little lamb/ Mary had a little lamb/ whose fleece was
white as snow.
 The quality of mercy is not strained/ it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/ upon
the place beneath. It is twice blest:/ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Note that there is a space after each slash.

To Indicate Or
Often, when a slash is used in a formal or informal text, it is meant to indicate the word or. The
examples below illustrate this meaning of the forward slash (example):
 When leaving the classroom, the teacher noticed that a student had left his/her backpack.
 College freshmen should bring a mattress and/or cot to sleep on during orientation.
 If/when Mary ever shows up, we can all head out to the party together.
 Burgers or pizza for dinner? Yeah, either/or is fine with me.

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To Form Abbreviations
Slashes can also be used to form some abbreviations or shortened forms of words or phrases,
although these shouldn’t be used in formal writing. Example:
 w/o = without; w/ = with; c/o = care of (used when posting a letter or parcel); a/c = air
conditioning

Notice that in these cases, no space is necessary after the slash.

To Indicate Connecting and Conflicting Relationships

Slashes can also be used to note that there is a connection or conflict between two words or
phrases in a sentence. Some examples include:
 The pro-life/pro-choice debate is a hot-button issue for many voters this election.
 The designer often works in his bonus room/home office.

To Denote Dates and Fractions

One of the most commonly recognized usages of the forward slash is to indicate dates and
fractions. Example:
 ½
 11/17/16

Space Before and After Slash

Many people wonder whether to use a space before and after slashes in a sentence. The answer is
typically no on both fronts. Spaces before slashes should be avoided. The only time it’s
acceptable to use a space after a slash is when breaking up lines of a poem, song, or play, or
when used to separate phrases or multi-word terms for ease of reading. Example:
 Word War I/ First World War

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 ABBREVIATION

An abbreviation, simply put, is a shortened form of a word. In writing, abbreviations are useful
when you need to squeeze a lot of writing into a small space. You can also use them in place of
long or cumbersome phrases to make your sentences easier to read.
One thing to remember about abbreviations is that certain ones are considered informal. If you
are writing something very formal, it’s better to err on the side of spelling things out. The other
thing to remember is that some readers may not know what an abbreviation means. If the
abbreviation is obscure or unfamiliar, make sure to explain what it means the first time you use
it.

Acronyms and Initialisms

Abbreviations come in a few different varieties. Both acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations
that are formed by combining the first letter of each word in a longer name or phrase. Typically,
acronyms and initialisms are written in all capital letters to distinguish them from ordinary
words.
An acronym is pronounced as a single word, rather than as a series of letters. NASA, for instance,
is an acronym. It stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Occasionally, an
acronym becomes so commonplace that it evolves into an ordinary word that people no longer
think of as an acronym. The words scuba and laser, for instance, originated as acronyms (self-
contained underwater breathing apparatus and light amplification by stimulated emission of
radiation, respectively).
Initialisms are similar to acronyms in that they are also formed using the first letter of each word
in a longer phrase. Unlike acronyms, however, initialisms are pronounced as a series of letters.
NFL (National Football League), for example, is pronounced en-eff-ell.
If you need to use an indefinite article before an acronym or initialism, use the initial sound of
the word (not necessarily the initial letter) guide your choice.
Internet slang often takes the form of initialisms: LOL, IDK, IMO, BRB. Although this type of
slang isn’t appropriate for important correspondence like emails to your professor or colleagues,
or in online comments when you want to be taken seriously, it can be handy for informal online
chatting, especially if you type slowly.

Abbreviations for Courtesy Titles and Academic Degrees

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Titles such as mister, miss, and doctor, as well as the names of academic degrees such as
Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy are almost always abbreviated. In American English,
title abbreviations are followed by a period.
The most common title abbreviations include:
Example:
 Mr. = Mister; Mrs. = Missus; Ms. = (pronounced “miss” or “miz”); Sr. = Senior; Jr. =
Junior; Dr. = Doctor
 Mr. Green asked Ms. Grey if she had met Dr. Jekyl.

The most common academic degree abbreviations include:

 B.S. = Bachelor of science; B.A. = Bachelor of Arts; M.A. = Master of Arts; M.B.A. =
Master of Business Administration; Ph.D. = Doctor of Philosophy

The periods are optional with abbreviations of academic degrees. Follow whichever style your
style guide recommends, or just choose one and use it consistently. When an academic degree is
used like a title, it follows a person’s name and is set off by commas. Example:
 Molly Beagle, Ph.D., runs the canine cognition lab at Stanford University.

Latin Abbreviations
There is a small handful of abbreviations for Latin terms that are used (and misused) frequently
in English writing. Use periods with these abbreviations. Examples:
e.g.: exempli gratia It means “for example.” Use e.g. when you want to provide specific
examples of a generalization.
 We expect volunteers from many surrounding cities, (e.g., Springfield, Oakdale,
Hogsmeade.)

i.e.: id est It means “that is.” Use i.e. when you want to provide more specific information about
something you mentioned.
 After a reasonable amount of time has passed—i.e. two business days—please report the
missing shipment to our customer service department.

etc.: et cetera It means “and so forth.” Use it when you’re providing a partial list of details.
 You should see the doctor when you have flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, etc.)

Other Common Abbreviations

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Below are a few other abbreviations that are common in English. Remember that abbreviations
are not always completely standardized. One style guide may advise you to abbreviate Thursday
as Thurs. while another may argue for Thu. Likewise, some style guides allow you to omit the
periods with these abbreviations, but it’s never wrong to include periods. So, if you aren’t sure
whether to use the periods, err on the side of leaving them in.

Times and dates

Examples:
a.m. (ante meridiem) = before noon p.m. (post meridiem) = after noon
 The mall opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m.
Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec.
 I was born on Nov. 6, 1980.
Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat,. Sun.
 The class will run Mon.-Fri. next week.

Places
Examples:
U.S. (United States) U.K. (United Kingdom) E.U. (European Union) U.A.E. (United Arab
Emirates)
 The U.S. highway system seems enormous to visitors from the U.K.

Units of Measurement
Examples:
in. (inches) ft. (feet) lbs. (pounds)
mm. (millimeters) cm. (centimeters) m. (meters)
mg. (milligram) g. (gram) kg. (kilogram)
 My cat weighs 10 lbs., which is about 4.5 kg.

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 CONTRACTIONS

What is a contraction?
A contraction is a shortened form of a word (or group of words) that omits certain letters or
sounds. In most contractions, an apostrophe represents the missing letters. The most common
contractions are made up of verbs, auxiliaries, or modals attached to other words: He
would=He’d. I have=I’ve. They are=They’re. You cannot=You can’t.

Contractions are common in speech—so common that we don’t always take the time to
pronounce them precisely, which leads to a particular contraction mistake writers might make if
they’re not paying attention. In speech, we often pronounce could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve in
a way that sounds identical to “could of,” “should of,” and “would of.” But you should never
write could of, should of, or would of. Remember, could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve are
contractions that mean could have, should have, and would have.

Other contractions
Some writers use less common contractions when they want to represent a particular style of
speech. They might write somethin’ to represent the way people often don’t pronounce the final
g of “something” in speech. Occasionally, you might see e’er (instead of ever) in poetry. And, of
course, in the American South, you will probably encounter y’all (you all). Decade names are
often contracted as well: the ’60s (the 1960s).
There are a few contractions, such as gonna (going to) and wanna (want to) that are written
without apostrophes.

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When to use contractions
Contractions are perfectly standard, but they’re usually considered to be relatively casual. If
you’re writing something very formal, you may want to avoid using them except in cases like
o’clock, where the full phrase (of the clock) truly is rare.

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 CAPITALIZATION

At first glance, the rules of English capitalization seem simple. You probably know you should
capitalize proper nouns and the first word of every sentence. But you also (sometimes) capitalize
the first word of a quote. Usually you don’t capitalize after a colon, but there are exceptions. And
what do you do when you’re not sure whether something is a proper noun?

1) Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence

This one’s easy. Always capitalize the first word of a sentence. Examples:
 Correct: The cat is sleeping.
 Correct: Where did I put that book?
 Correct: Hey! It’s great to see you! How have you been?

2) Capitalize Names and Other Proper Nouns

You should always capitalize people’s names. Examples:
 Correct: My favorite author is Jane Austen.
 Correct: Tom and Diane met at Judy’s house.
 Correct: Have you met my dog, Boomer?

Names are proper nouns. The names of cities, countries, companies, religions, and political
parties are also proper nouns, so you should capitalize them, too. Example:
 Correct: We experienced some beautiful Southern California weather last fall when we
attended a Catholic wedding in San Diego.

You should also capitalize words like mom and grandpa when they are used as a form of
address. Examples:
 Correct: Just wait until Mom sees this!
But
 Correct: My mom is not going to like this.

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3) Don’t Capitalize After a Colon (Usually)
In most cases, you don’t need to capitalize after a colon. Example:
 Correct: I have one true passion: wombat racing.
There are a couple of common exceptions. One is when the word following the colon is a proper
noun. Example:
 Correct: There is only one place I want to visit: New York City.
The other exception is when the words following the colon form one or more complete
sentences. Example:
 Correct: Maggie wears a brimmed cap at all times for these two reasons: Strong light
often gives her a headache. She also likes the way it looks.

4) Capitalize the First Word of a Quote (Sometimes)

Capitalize the first word of a quote when the quote is a complete sentence. Example:
 Correct: Mario asked, “What is everyone doing this weekend?”
 Correct: Stacy answered, “My sister and I are going to the water park.”

Don’t capitalize the first word of partial quotes. Example:

 Correct: Gretchen said she was “way too busy” to join the gym.
 Correct: Mr. Thompson described the rules as “extremely difficult to understand if you
don’t have a law degree.”

5) Capitalize Days, Months, and Holidays, But Not Seasons

The names of days, months, and holidays are proper nouns, so you should capitalize them.
Example:
 Correct: I hate Mondays!
 Correct: Tom’s birthday is in June.
 Correct: Oh no! I forgot about Valentine’s Day!

The names of seasons, however, are not proper nouns, so there’s no need to capitalize them.
 Correct: I hate winter!
 Correct: Having a summer birthday is the best.

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6) Capitalize Most Words in Titles
The capitalization rules for titles of books, movies, and other works vary a little between style
guides. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like
is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions,
and prepositions—however, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions
that are longer than five letters.
 Correct: Sense and Sensibility is better than Pride and Prejudice.
 Correct: The first movie of the series is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

7) Capitalize Cities, Countries, Nationalities, and Languages

The names of cities, countries, nationalities, and languages are proper nouns, so you should
capitalize them.
 Correct: English is made up of many languages, including Latin, German, and French.
 Correct: My mother is British, and my father is Dutch.
 Correct: The capital of Botswana is Gaborone.

8) Capitalize Time Periods and Events (Sometimes)

Specific periods, eras, and historical events that have proper names should be capitalized.
 Correct: World War I happened from 1914-1918.
 Correct: In the Middle Ages, poor hygiene was partly responsible for the spreading of
bubonic plague.
 Correct: Middle school students often enjoy studying the social changes that took place
during the Roaring Twenties.

However, centuries—and the numbers before them—are not capitalized.

 Correct: In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, England blossomed into an empire.

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 COMPOUND WORDS

When two words are used together to yield a new meaning, a compound is formed. Compound
words can be written in three ways: as open compounds (spelled as two words, e.g., ice cream),
closed compounds (joined to form a single word, e.g., doorknob), or hyphenated compounds
(two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., long-term). Sometimes, more than two words can form a
compound (e.g., mother-in-law).
The most common spelling quandary writers face is whether to write compounds as separate
words, one word, or hyphenated words.

Open Compound Words

An open compound word is created in cases when the modifying adjective is used with its noun
to create a new noun. This isn’t quite the same as a noun with a modifying adjective. We just use
a space between the adjective and the noun, so sometimes it can be hard to identify as a
compound; however, if the two words are commonly used together, it’s considered to be a
compound word. Examples:
 living room
 full moon
 real estate
 dinner table
 coffee mug
When adverbs ending in -ly combine with another word, the resulting compound is always
spelled as two separate words. Examples:
 largely irrelevant
 newly formed

Closed Compound Words

Closed compound words look like one word. At one point, these words weren’t used together,
but they’re now accepted as a “real word” in the English language. Closed compound words are
usually made up of only two words. Here are some closed compound examples.
 notebook
 Superman
 waistcoat
 bookstore
 fireman

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The English language is always evolving, and when words become used more frequently, they
are often eventually written as one word. When the Internet first began, for example, we talked
about going on-line. Now that this is a daily experience for most of us, the spelling online has
become commonly accepted.

Hyphenated Compound Words

There are a great many grammar rules regarding hyphens in compound words. One important
rule of thumb to remember is that in most cases, a compound adjective is hyphenated if placed
before the noun it modifies, but not if placed after the noun. Examples:
 a long-term solution
 an up-to-date user guide
But…
 This is not a good solution for the long term.
 This user guide is not up to date.
This is just one of many rules concerning hyphens in compound words and it is often necessary
to consult the dictionary to determine whether these terms should be hyphenated or not.

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 HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole language that is obviously exaggerated and not meant to be taken literally. Writers
often use hyperbole for emphasis or to be funny.

Hyperbole: The Best Thing Ever

You can find hyperbole in plenty of English idioms: She’s asked a million questions. You could
have knocked me over with a feather. He’s as quiet as a mouse. Now I’ve seen everything.

Where and When to Use Hyperbole

Hyperbole, like metaphors and similes, is a type of figurative language. In fact, metaphors and
similes often incorporate hyperbole. When done right, hyperbole can make your writing livelier
and more engaging for readers. Consider the difference between these two sentence examples:
 Many people heard Jeremy shouting when the spider landed on him.

Vs.

 The entire tri-state area could hear Jeremy shouting when the spider landed on him.

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Both of these sentences mean that lots of people heard Jeremy. But the hyperbole in the second
sentence places particular emphasis on Jeremy’s volume. Of course, it’s impossible for one
person’s shout to travel for hundreds of miles—the point is that Jeremy was really freaking out
about that spider.

Beware the Hyperbolic “Literally”

Sometimes, people use the word “literally” in a figurative sense to amplify an already hyperbolic
statement. But unless your teacher has asked you to go out and, say, harass a cranky grizzly bear,
This homework is literally killing me! is just a hyperbolic way to say that your homework is
harder or more abundant than you’d like. Although this usage is widespread and even accepted
by some dictionaries, it’s generally a good idea to avoid it because many readers find it
annoying. In the example above, you can even get rid of “literally” without sacrificing the
hyperbole: This homework is killing me!

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 ONOMATOPOEIA

Boom! Crunch! Pop!

Onomato . . . what?
Hard to spell but easy to use, an onomatopoeia (ahn-uh-mat-uh-PEE-uh) is a word that sounds
like what it means.
If you think for a minute, you can probably come up with lots of examples. Hiss, snip, thud,
clonk . . . Comic books are a great place to look for onomatopoeias in action. Pow!
Or, try thinking about a barnyard. Most languages have onomatopoeic words for the sounds
animals make. In English, dogs woof, cats meow, and cows moo.

Using onomatopoeias
Onomatopoeias, like alliteration and consonance, can bring your writing to life by making the
words themselves sound compelling to your reader.
Consider a sentence like this example:
 Diego lay awake, listening to the unending sound of the clock on the mantelpiece.
It’s fine, but a little bland. A well-placed onomatopoeia can give it some punch.

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  Diego lay awake, listening to the relentless tick-tock of the clock on the mantelpiece.
If you don’t get why they’re different, try reading the sentences out loud. Really pay attention to
the way the words themselves sound. Which sentence leaves you with a stronger impression of a
clock ticking away across the room? Just as literary imagery helps your readers envision what
you’re talking about, onomatopoeias help them hear it.

Beyond onomatopoeias
Still not convinced that just the sound of a word can affect your reader? Consider the
phenomenon known as sound symbolism. Sound symbolism describes the tendency for clusters
of words with similar meanings to share certain sounds. Here’s an example: think of a word to
describe something that shines in the darkness. Does your word start with gl-? Chances are, it
does. There is a conspicuous abundance of gl- words to describe things that shimmer: glow,
gloss, glisten, glitter, glimmer, gleam, glint, glare, glaze, glitz.
Or, consider the words that come to mind when you think about gliding movement and smooth,
wet surfaces: slide, slime, slippery, slick, slink, slither.
Linguists and psychologists are still learning about the relationship between sounds and semantic
meaning. But there is a famous study that suggests the connection between certain sounds and
meanings is not always arbitrary.

In 2001, V.S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard repeated an experiment Wolfgang Kohler had
conducted in 1929. They told English speakers in the U.S. and Tamil speakers in India that the
two shapes in the picture above were named Kiki and Bouba. Then they asked which name went
with which shape. A whopping 95 to 98 percent of both English and Tamil speakers said the
rounded shape was Bouba and the spiky shape was Kiki. Clearly, there is a connection.
So, the next time you want your readers to lose themselves in your writing, consider tossing in an
onomatopoeia or two. If nothing else, most of them are awfully fun to say. Kaboom!

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 IDIOMS

What’s an Idiom?
Broadly speaking, an idiom is a widely used phrase that, when taken as a whole, has a particular
meaning that you would not be able to deduce from the meanings of the individual words. The
ubiquitous greeting “How are you doing today?” is an example of an idiom. Normally, how
means “in what manner” or “to what degree.” Taken literally, the question doesn’t make a lot of
sense. But fluent English speakers understand the idiomatic meaning; “How are you doing
today?” usually just means “hello.”

Idiom vs. Cliché

The terms idiom and cliché are often used interchangeably, especially when people talk about
things you shouldn’t say. But they’re not quite the same thing. A cliché is an expression like
“throw the baby out with the bathwater” or “the cat who ate the canary”—a phrase that has been
repeated so often that it’s no longer effective. Clichés are like idioms in that you can’t
understand the meaning of the phrase by looking at the literal meaning of each word. Throwing
the baby out with the bathwater has nothing to do with babies or bathwater; it means that you’re
in such a hurry to get rid of something that you accidentally throw out something valuable, too.
Someone who looks like a cat who ate the canary doesn’t look like a feline. She looks like
someone who is proud of getting away with mischief.

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But not all idioms are clichés in the same way that “throw the baby out with the bathwater” is.
Consider the phrase “all of a sudden.” You probably know that this phrase means “suddenly.”
But it’s hard to see why. We don’t normally use sudden as a noun, as it seems to be in this
phrase. And why all? Can you have part of a sudden? Some idioms that seem nonsensical now
actually did make logical sense in the past (sudden was a noun, once, but that usage died out
everywhere except in this phrase).

Other Types of Idiomatic Usage

English prepositional idioms are numerous and often arbitrary. They are enormously challenging
for English language learners, and for that matter, they give native English speakers plenty of
trouble, too. In standard English, you can comply with a rule or conform to a rule, but you can’t
comply to a rule. There’s no obvious reason why these particular words require these particular
prepositions. The best way to learn which prepositions are construed with which words is by
osmosis. In other words, read—a lot—and eventually you will internalize the most common
prepositional idioms.
Words that tend to be used together by native speakers are called collocations. In English, it’s
common to describe a backup of cars on the highway as “heavy traffic.” It’s not common to
describe it as “crowded traffic.” Although the phrases could reasonably be interpreted the same
way, the collocation “heavy traffic” simply “sounds right” to English speakers.

Commonly Confused Idioms

Different From The preferred preposition with different is from, although different than is
common in speech. However, most authorities will accept different than in a sentence like “Ice
cream tastes different than it did when I was a kid,” because otherwise you’d have to resort to
some wordier construction like “Ice cream tastes different from how it tasted when I was a kid.”
Take for Granted It’s easy to mishear this one as take for granite. It does kind of make sense,
after all. Taking something for granted means that we fail to appreciate it because it seems like it
has always been there and always will be. Granite is pretty long-lasting, right? But what the
expression really means is that we mistakenly believe that something has been permanently
granted to us.
Just Deserts Just deserts is another example of an idiom that preserves an obsolete form of a
word that has fallen out of use outside this particular expression. The phrase is often incorrectly
written as just desserts because that’s the way we pronounce it. But in fact, this expression has
nothing to do with cake and ice cream or with hot, sandy wastelands. When we say someone got
their just deserts we mean that they got what was coming to them. Or, to put it another way, they
got what they deserve. Deserts is an archaic noun form of deserve.

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 SIMILES

 Example: Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know which one you’re going to get.
Let’s use this example to understand what a simile is:
 A simile is a phrase that uses a comparison to describe. For example, “life” can be
described as similar to “a box of chocolates.”
 You know you’ve spotted one when you see the words like or as in a comparison.
 Similes are like metaphors. But metaphors aren’t the same as similes.
 Similes are great for famous authors, public speakers, and folks who want to make their
writing as exciting as a spontaneous show of fireworks.

What is a Simile?
Even if you don’t know the definition like the back of your hand, you’ve probably seen plenty of
similes. For example:
 I know that definition like the back of my hand. Those two are as different as night
and day. He stood out like a sore thumb. That answer is as clear as mud. The mouse is
as dead as a doornail.

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More Simile Examples
Similes can make writing more colorful and interesting. If you don’t believe us, ask these famous
writers.

William Shakespeare
 O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night,
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear…”

-Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5

As a side note, the word “Ethiop” isn’t exactly politically correct. But Shakespeare didn’t know
that when he used it to evoke Juliet’s jeweliness.

William Wordsworth
 I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills.
- “Daffodils”
That’s pretty lonely.

Langston Hughes
 What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester
like a sore— And then run?

- “Harlem, 2”
Don’t defer your dreams, folks. You don’t know what could happen to them.

Similes in Writing
The above examples represent the height of poetic creation. But similes also boost everyday
writing by painting a vivid image in just a few words. Compare these sentence examples:
 Lois walked across the room with purpose.
Vs.
 Lois moved across the room like a warship sailing into battle.

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The first sentence is relatively bland. But the simile in the second sentence invites the reader to
imagine an old-fashioned warship sailing to battle: stately, determined, proud, perhaps with a
hint of danger. It characterizes Lois as an imposing figure and hints that she’s planning
something big once she gets to the other side of the room.

Simile vs. Metaphor

While a simile makes comparisons with help from like or as, a metaphor states outright that one
thing is another thing. It’s important to understand the difference between a metaphor and simile.
To compare these forms of comparisons, here are some examples:
 Life is like a box of chocolates. (Simile)
 My life is an open book. (Metaphor)
 That baby is as cute as a button! (Simile)
 Baby, you’re a firework. (Metaphor)

Fun fact: Because they both make figurative comparisons, all similes are metaphors, but
not all metaphors are similes. For the most part, keep like and as in mind if you’re on the hunt
for similes, and you’ll be set.

Similes and Exaggeration

Similes often make use of hyperbole, or exaggeration. Examples:
 He runs as fast as lightning.
 She’s as sweet as honey.
 You sing like an angel.

Similes focus on a particular aspect of a comparison, so they keep hyperbolic statements from
seeming over-the-top. Contrast these sentence examples:
 Dirk’s a mean snake.
 Dirk’s as mean as a snake.

The first version is a metaphor, but it’s so blunt that it risks seeming clumsy or childish. The
second version, a simile, more clearly emphasizes the quality that Dirk shares with snakes:
meanness.
Figurative language is an excellent way to add interest and imagery to your writing. So next time
you’re struggling to find exactly the right words for a description, try to come up with a simile
that’s as perfect as a flawless diamond.
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 METAPHORS

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally
true but helps explain an idea or make a comparison.
Here are the basics:
 A metaphor states that one thing is another thing
 It equates those two things not because they actually are the same, but for the sake of
comparison or symbolism
 If you take a metaphor literally, it will probably sound very strange (are there actually
any sheep, black or otherwise, in your family?)
 Metaphors are used in poetry, literature, and anytime someone wants to add some color
to their language
If you’re a black sheep, you get cold feet, or you think love is a highway, then you’re probably
thinking metaphorically. These are metaphors because a word or phrase is applied to something
figuratively: unless you’re actually a sheep or are dipping your toes in ice water, chances are
these are metaphors that help represent abstract concepts through colorful language.

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Metaphor Definition and Examples
Those are the uses of metaphor, and this is the official definition:
 A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or
suggest that they are similar
 An object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol of something else
Metaphors are a form of figurative language, which refers to words or expressions that mean
something different from their literal definition. In the case of metaphors, the literal
interpretation would often be pretty silly. For example, imagine what these metaphors would
look like if you took them at face value:
 Love is a battlefield.
 Bob is a couch potato.
 Baby, you’re a firework.
 I am titanium.

Once you get past the image of going on a date armed with a battleaxe or David Guetta made out
of corrosion-resistant metal, the result is a much more powerful description of people or events
than you’d get with phrases like “love is difficult” or “I’m very strong.”
Metaphors show up in literature, poetry, music, and writing, but also in speech. If you hear
someone say “metaphorically speaking,” it probably means that you shouldn’t take what they
said as the truth, but as more of an idea. For example, it’s finals period and after exams, students
are saying things like “That test was murder.” It’s a fair guess they’re still alive if they’re making
comments about the test, so this is an example of speaking metaphorically or figuratively.
Metaphors can make your words come to life (or in the case of the exam, to death). Often, you
can use a metaphor to make your subject more relatable to the reader or to make a complex
thought easier to understand. They can also be a tremendous help when you want to enhance
your writing with imagery. As a common figure of speech, metaphors turn up everywhere from
novels and films to presidential speeches and even popular songs. When they’re especially good,
they’re hard to miss.
Take these famous metaphor examples:
 “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their
exits and their entrances.”

-William Shakespeare

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  “America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.”
-John F. Kennedy
 Chaos is a friend of mine.
-Bob Dylan
 A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
-Benjamin Franklin
 You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time.
-Elvis Presley

Metaphor vs. Simile

If you’re trying to tell the difference between metaphors and similes, the more obvious
comparison in similes makes them easier to identify as figures of speech.
While someone might actually think that Elvis Presley has a hound dog who happens to be
particularly noisy, imagine if his lyric went “You’re like a hound dog,” or “You’re as whiny as a
hound dog.” In these cases, Elvis would be using a simile, which makes it a bit clearer that he’s
not actually singing to a sad puppy. But on the flip side, the rhythm wouldn’t be quite as catchy.
Read up on similes, and check out these examples to get a taste for how they work:
 She’s as cute as a button.
 It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
 He’s as nutty as a fruitcake.
 Ogres are like onions. * (That one’s from Shrek.)

Different Types of Metaphors

Let’s rewind to the definition of a metaphor as a figure of speech. Another example is that catchy
tune, “You are my sunshine.” Although you aren’t literally a ray of light, you probably have a
similarly uplifting effect on the speaker.
But the definition of metaphor is actually broader than that. Often, metaphor is used loosely to
mean any kind of symbolism. In literature, there are are many other types of metaphors, too:
implied, sustained, dead, and others.

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Implied Metaphor
Take these two sentence examples:
 Jordan got his courtship cues from the peacock. In a room full of ladies, Jordan simply
fans his feathers.

In both sentences, we are comparing Jordan to a peacock. In the first sentence, the comparison is
overt: the peacock is mentioned directly. But in the second sentence, we imply that Jordan is the
peacock by comparing his behavior (fanning his feathers) to something peacocks are known for
doing. That isn’t meant to suggest that Jordan actually has feathers, but that he is behaving in a
showy and flirty way to catch the attention of the ladies.

Sustained Metaphor
This kind of metaphor is often found in songs and poetry. In a famous example from
Shakespeare, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun over several lines.
 But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief.

Kind of puts “You are my sunshine” to shame.

Dead Metaphor
With a good, living metaphor, you get that fun moment of thinking about what it would look like
if Elvis were actually singing to a hound dog (for example). But with a dead metaphor, the
original image has already receded into the background. Using too many dead metaphors will
cause your reader to lose interest. Reach a little further for an original image or think about ways
to use a familiar metaphor in an unconventional way.

Watch Out for Mixed Metaphors

Another reason to avoid dead metaphors is that it’s easy to mix them up. Example:
 Let’s get all our ducks on the same page. (A mashup of “get our ducks in a row” and
“get on the same page.”)

Mixed metaphors can be pretty funny; the great Yogi Berra was famous for his “Yogi-isms,”
which often contained bewilderingly mixed metaphors that still managed to get his point across:
 Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

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But if you’re not trying to be funny, mixed metaphors can come off as awkward or even
undermine the point you’re trying to make.

How to Come Up with a Metaphor

You don’t need anything but your imagination to come up with a good metaphor, but some
added flair can go a long way. Remember, metaphors often represent something that is hard to
take literally. Think of the metaphor “rule with an iron fist” as an example. Outside of the world
of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, it would be a bit difficult to find a person with an
actual hand made of iron. However, we are still able to interpret that metaphor as meaning
someone who is hard and heavy-handed on governance.
Here is a simple example:
 It’s been a real circus at home since Mom went on vacation.
You wouldn’t typically refer to your house as a circus, but this sentence implies that things are
wild, full of excitement, and maybe a bit chaotic with Mom out of the house.
The next time you think your writing could use some energy, try giving it a jolt with a well-
crafted metaphor. It’s sure to be a lightning bolt for your writing.

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 PASSIVE VOICE

The passive voice is often maligned by teachers and professors as a bad writing habit. Or, to put
it in the active voice, teachers and professors across the English-speaking world malign the
passive voice as a bad writing habit.

What is the passive voice?

In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and, you guessed it, more
active. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in the sentence. With the
passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other performer of the verb. (In case you
weren’t paying attention, the previous two sentences use the type of voice they describe.)
But the passive voice is not incorrect. In fact, there are times when it can come in handy. Read
on to learn how to form the active and passive voices, when using the passive voice is a good
idea, and how to avoid confusing it with similar forms.

The difference between active and passive voice

While tense is all about time references, voice describes whether the grammatical subject of a
clause performs or receives the action of the verb. Here’s the formula for the active voice:
[subject]+[verb (performed by the subject)]+[optional object]
 Chester kicked the ball.
(S) (V) (OBJ.)

In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the action of the
verb. So, the ball from the above sentence, which is receiving the action, becomes the subject.
The formula: [subject]+[some form of the verb to be]+[past participle of a transitive verb]+
[optional prepositional phrase]
 The ball was kicked by Chester.
(S) (V) (PART.) (PREP.)

That last little bit—“by Chester”—is a prepositional phrase that tells you who the performer of
the action is. But even though Chester is the one doing the kicking, he’s no longer the
grammatical subject. A passive voice construction can even drop him from the sentence entirely:
 The ball was kicked.
How’s that for anticlimactic?

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When (and when not) to use the passive voice
If you’re writing anything with a definitive subject who’s performing an action, you’ll be better
off using the active voice. And if you search your document for instances of was, is, or were  and
your page lights up with instances of passive voice, it may be a good idea to switch to active
voice.
That said, there are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an idea,
especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are three common uses of
the passive voice examples:
1) Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators
 My car was stolen yesterday.
If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The passive voice
emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft.
2) Scientific contexts
 The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.
Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the experiment
they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice.
3) When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of the action is irrelevant or
distracting:
 The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.
How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in presidents? Clearly the
occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing to emphasize here. In each of the
above contexts, the action itself—or the person or thing receiving the action—is the part that
matters. That means the performer of the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent
from the sentence altogether.

Creative ways to use the passive voice in writing

The above examples show some formal uses of the passive voice, but some writers take
advantage of the shift in emphasis it provides for other reasons. Here are moments when the
passive voice is a stylistic decision that suits the author’s writing goals.
1) Avoid getting blamed. There are times when you want to get away with something without
making it crystal-clear who’s at fault. The classic example:
 “Mistakes were made.” —most politicians

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Who made them? Is anyone taking responsibility? What’s the solution here? One political
scientist dubbed this structure the “past exonerative” because it’s meant to exonerate a speaker
from whatever foul they may have committed. In other words, drop the subject, get off the hook.
2) Beat around the bush.
Jane Austen is a master of poking fun at her characters so euphemistically that it seems almost
polite, and the passive voice is one of her favorite methods for doing that.
 “[He] pressed them so cordially to dine at Barton Park every day till they were better
settled at home that, though his entreaties were carried to a point of perseverance
beyond civility, they could not give offense.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Austen could have rephrased this sentence like so:

 “Though Mr. Middleton carried his entreaties to a point of perseverance beyond civility,
they could not give offense.”

Though maybe she means something closer to:

 “Mr. Middleton pushed his invitations beyond the point of politeness and into pushiness,
but he still meant well.”

In cases like this, the passive voice allows for more polite phrasing, even if it’s also a little less
clear.
3) Make your reader pay more attention to the something
This is like the president getting sworn in: the thing that gets the action of the verb is more
important than the people performing the action.
 “That treasure lying in its bed of coral, and the corpse of the commander floating
sideways on the bridge, were evoked by historians as an emblem of the city drowned in
memories.” —Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Here, you could invert the sentence to say “Historians evoked that treasure (and so on).” But that
would take the focus away from that oh-so-intriguing treasure and the corpse. And since the
historians are less important here, the author makes the choice to stress the key idea of the
sentence through the passive voice.
Here’s another famous example that puts the emphasis on what happens to the subject, instead of
on what the subject is doing:

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  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” —The Declaration of Independence, 1776

“All men” (and these days, women, too) get boosted to the front of the phrase because their
equality and rights are the focus. It makes sense that a statement declaring independence would
focus on the people who get that independence, after all.

So writers use it. Can you?

The above examples lean toward the literary side of things, but don’t forget that there are times
when the passive voice is useful and necessary in daily life. In each of the sentences below, the
passive voice is natural and clear. Rewriting these sentences in the active voice renders them
sterile, awkward, or syntactically contorted.
 Passive: Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident.
Active: A motorcycle accident injured Bob Dylan.
 Passive: Elvis is rumored to be alive.
Active: People rumor Elvis to be alive.
 Passive: Don’t be fooled!
Active: Don’t allow anything to fool you!

When passive voice isn’t passive voice

Deciding when to use the passive voice can be tricky. Identifying it can be even trickier.
Example:
 Chester’s favorite activity is kicking. The bank robbery took place just before closing
time. There is nothing we can do about it. There were a great number of dead leaves
covering the ground.

Despite what any well-meaning English teachers may have told you, none of the sentences above
are written in the passive voice. The sentence about the leaves, in fact, was (wrongly) presented
as an example of the passive voice by none other than Strunk and White in The Elements of
Style. Here’s how to remember: using the verb to be doesn’t automatically put a verb phrase into
the passive voice. You also need a past participle. That’s how to keep passive voice
masqueraders from fooling you.

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