Edgood's entries Page #84

Chapter 13 - The “Like” Word

“Like, I’mlike gonna learn how to like talk.”If you have a “like” habit, the time has come: Break it. Many people cannot make it through a single sentence without scores of “I’m like” and “She was like” and “She’s all . . ....

I hope you’ve learned to fix the chapter title…

Our chapter read: “Bring along this advice when you go to work.”But now you know that “bring” and “go” don’t comfortably fit in...

Chapter 12 - “Bring” vs. “Take"

“Bring along this advice when you go to work.”I wish the writers of the Seinfeld series paid attention to the differences between bring and take. For hundreds of episodes, they routinely used br...

Our chapter title should thus read…

The title of the chapter read: “Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”But now you know that “principle” primarily means “rule.” So we fix it like ...

“Principle” vs. “Principal” - A Summary

In sum, the word principle is always a noun. Essentially it means “rule.” It will never appear as an adjective. Its only possible adjectival form is principled.The word pr...

The Word “Principal”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachThe word principal, on the other hand, has a variety of meanings as an adjective and as a noun.Principal as an AdjectiveLet’s look f...

The Word “Principle”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachInstead, let’s take a simple parts-of-speech approach to understanding the differences. The word principle will always appear as a noun form, never as an adjective. It is thus incorre...

Chapter 11 - “Principle” vs. “Principal”

“Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”Many writers use the “my principal is my pal” trick to help distinguish between principal and principle. But that trick fails to cover the many different m...

Let’s fix the title of the chapter …

So our chapter title incorrectly read: “Yesterday, they lead us astray.”But now you know that “led” is the past tense (and the past participle) of “lead.” So our chapter title ...

Chapter 10 - “Lead” vs. “Led”

“Yesterday, they lead us astray.”Here’s a quickie. Read on to learn that led is the correct word.Lead vs. Led: An OverviewMany writ...

So to fix the title of this chapter…

Our chaper read: “Should you take out it’s apostrophe?”But now you know that “it’s” is a contraction of “it is.” And you know that “its” is the possessive case...

Chapter 9 - “It’s” vs. “Its”

“Should you take out it’s apostrophe?”Hardly a day goes by without my seeing the use of its when the writer means it’s. Or it’s when the writer means its. The two expressions differ dramati...

Our chapter title should read…

So our chapter title read like this: “Bad habits will effect your writing.”But now you know: When “effect” acts as a verb, it means “produce” or “result in.” H...

“Impact” as a Verb

Some writers try to solve the problem by refraining from using affect as a verb. Instead, they use the verb impact. Dictionaries do recognize the verb impact as meaning “to influence.” Thus: The policy ...

Chapter 8 - “Affect” vs. “Effect”

“Bad habits will effect your writing.”There are huge differences between the words affect and effect. Good writers know these differences and use the words correctly. Now you can, too.Aff...

So the title to this chapter should read…

The chapter title read: “Their mixing up they’re theres.”Do you see the problems? They are mixing up their...

Chart Showing Various Uses

Learn the various ways the word there can act in our language. Word Function...

Chapter 7 - “There,” “Their,” “They’re”

“Their mixing up they’re theres.” I included this chapter at the request of my son. He says that everyone in his company confuses these three words. So I wrote the chapter and emailed it to him, and he forwarded it t...

Examples of Nondangling Participles

Check out these examples. Notice that the introductory adjective points directly to the grammatical subject: Enacted in 1964, the Civil Rights Act transferred power to the federal gov...

The chapter title needs repair…

The chapter title read: “When writing, your participle might dangle.”You can see that the subject “your partic...

Introductory Adjectival Phrases

Here’s Rule 11 in Strunk & White A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject. Strunk & White, p. 13. But many people seem to ha...

Chapter 6 - Dangling Participles

“When writing, your participle might dangle.”Here’s a biggie. Many highly educated people write sentences with dangling participles in them. Careful and knowledgeable readers—as in your boss or professor—know all about dangle...

Let’s now fix the chapter title…

The chapter title read: “If I was you, I’d learn the subjunctive mood.”Quite clearly, I am not you. To state a situation contrary to fact, you need the subjunctive mood. You fo...

Back to Our Robin Cook Examples

So why are the examples at the beginning of this chapter incorrect?Here are the examples from the best-selling Toxin: 1. Kelly regarded Tracy in an attempt to interpret her comment. Kelly couldn’t qui...

Situations Requiring the Subjunctive Mood

Let’s explore the modern uses of the subjunctive mood.1. situations contrary to fact 2. wishes 3. suppositions 4. commands1. Situations Contrary to FactLet’s look at the contr...