Multiple Nouns in a Phrase
Sometimes “going with whatever sounds right” doesn’t work with multiple nouns in a noun phrase. We might need to think about parallelism or grouping in order to word the sentence correctly.
Insights Posts
Category: grammar uncovered
How We Use ‘Like’
The word ‘like’ is used frequently in casual speech, especially by younger Americans. Beyond the traditional definitions, there are 4 different ways the modern ‘like’ can be applied.
Words Associated with Positive vs Negative/Interrogative Expressions
There are some words we use almost exclusively in negative or interrogative clauses, most of which have corresponding words used almost exclusively for positive clauses. There’s just a handful of these, but they’re pretty common.
Why ‘Will’ is a Modal
When we think of ‘will’ on its own, we probably only think of its designation of the future. But then why is it considered a modal verb? Maybe there’s more to the word than we realize.
Tricky Object Pronouns
Should we always say “you and I” instead of “you and me”? What’s the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’? It helps to pay attention to where these pronouns fit into a sentence and their relationship to the main verb.
When Irregular Plurals Become Regular
What happens when nouns with irregular pluralizations are used in proper nouns? How do we pluralize them then? Do we say ‘Batmans’ or ‘Batmen’? Is my friend’s family the Fairchilds or the Fairchildren?
The 3 Types of Modal Verbs
As a teacher, it helps to be aware of the three categories of modals because they allow for different uses of the same word, dictate how multiple modals can be combined in a verb string, and determine whether defective forms can/should be used.
‘They’ as Singular
‘They’ is acceptable as the 3rd-person singular pronoun for nouns of an unknown or undefined gender. Here’s how we can use them and what happens to their verbs.