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Category Archives: grammar
A.M. in the Morning, P.M. in the Afternoon
It seems to me that I hear this particular grammar error more frequently now than in the past. I don’t know why, and it doesn’t really matter; I’m just here to clear things up. Schools will open at 9:30 a.m. … Continue reading
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Tagged a.m. in the morning, ante meridiem, grammar, grammar error, p.m. in the afternoon, post meridiem, writing
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Continuous, Continual
Continuous means perpetual, uninterrupted, without a break. I ran continuously for 30 minutes means that I ran every second of every minute for 30 minutes. I did not stop for a water break or to catch my breath or to … Continue reading
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The Difference Between Drink, Drank, and Drunk in Grammar
I’ve written before about the past participle of the verb to run; I’ve noticed a similar problem with the pattern of the verb to drink. The present tense of drink is, of course, drink. He drinks eight glasses of water … Continue reading
Using Had: the Past Perfect Tense
A reader wanted to know how to use the word had in relation to verb tense, so I’m going to try to give a simple, short answer to her question. I think what the reader was asking about was the … Continue reading
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Portmanteau: Blame it on Lewis Carroll
A reader requested the following explanation: “…Perhaps you can tell me what word is used when a part of one word is combined with part of another word to form a whole new word.” Well, the short answer would have … Continue reading
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Tagged grammar, language, Lewis Carroll, neologism, portmanteau, writing
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Verb Moods: Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive. What Mood Are You In?
Verbs can have one of three moods: indicative, imperative, or subjunctive. The indicative mood only includes verbs in sentences that are either statements (declarative sentences) or questions (interrogative sentences). It is unfortunate that more people do not live their lives … Continue reading
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Tagged English, grammar errors, imperative, indicative, language, subjunctive, verb moods, writing
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Leave and Let: Either Leave It Alone or Let It Go
Do not mistakenly use let for leave. As is true for most words, there are other meanings and nuanced meanings (I’m just going to stick to what is needed for our purposes), but generally, to let means to allow and … Continue reading
Past or Passed: When the Past Has Passed
Use past to refer to the time that came before now or to refer to beyond something in distance. His ten years of working for a corporation with a bad reputation is in the past (the time before now). Their … Continue reading
Overspoke
I’m not sure what overspoke is supposed to mean. When you overeat, it means that you’ve eaten too much. When you oversleep, it means that you’ve slept too much and missed, for example, an appointment. So does overspoke mean that … Continue reading
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Tagged English, grammar errors, overspeak, overspoke, Tucker Carlson
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Is It Have Gone or Have Went?
Don’t get the past tense of the verb to go confused with the past participle of the verb to go. The past tense is went, and the past participle is gone, and each one has a different place in a … Continue reading
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Tagged English, grammar error, have or has, language, past participle, past tense, writing
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