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.
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.
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.
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?
When a student is taking a while to answer a question, it’s easy to cut their thoughts short and jump to the answer yourself or give another student the chance. But waiting for the first student to think might be better for their brains.
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’ 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.
There may be disputes – or simply differing preferences – over rules like the oxford comma, using ‘they’ as singular, and writing out numbers, but whatever you choose, be consistent.
People break grammar rules all the time. Is that okay? Which rules can we break? In what situations is it okay to break rules? Are there rules to breaking rules? Here’s a look at which rules you can break in casual writing.
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