Edgood's entries Page #88

Case - Subjective, Objective, Possessive

Pronoun Case - Watch OutRemember the section on nouns? Remember those nuggets of information we tucked away for the future? Remember those paragraphs mentioning the case of pronouns? Well, the future is now.1. Pronoun...

Number - Singular or Plural

More than OneWhen the Pronoun Committee met in Amber and Igor’s cave, it realized another universal truth:Often there would be more than one speaker, more than one listener, and more than one unfortunate soul ...

Person - Three People

Only Three People Exist on EarthAmber, Igor, and Miss Hamrick realized a long time ago that people mostly talk about only one thing—other people. That is, they gossip. They recognized, therefore, a universal truth:Whe...

1. Personal Pronouns

I, Me, My, Mine, We, Us, Our, Ours, etc.Let’s start with the personal pronouns, those that take the place of people or other living or once-living beings...

Seven Varieties of Pronouns

The first pronouns our forbears invented were the (1) personal pronouns, words that could substitute for Igor, Amber, and other members of the tribe. Then they invented (2) reflexive and intensive pronouns, those ‑self word...

Pronouns - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

WelcomeBelow you’ll find links to our discussion on pronouns. We recommend that you start with the first topic,Pronouns...

Pronouns - Words Substituting for Words

In this section, we’ll learn about pronouns. We have seven kinds in the English language. They cause all kinds of problems, even to people in positions of power. After all, haven’t you heard someone say, “Evan and myself want to thank you for t...

A Summary of Adverbs

In this section, we met the last of the working words, the adverb. We have visited the noun, the verb, the adjective, and now the adverb.We learned that adverbs come in a variety of sizes: one-word adverbs, multiword phrases, and multiword cl...

Adverbs - Phrases and Clauses

More Shouting SHOUTING time. Wake up! Again, learning this concept about chunks of words that act as nouns, adjectives, and now adverbs is crucial to your future as a writer.So here it is again, the key concept: Other...

4. What Are the Comparative and Superlative Forms?

Recall in the section on adjectives that we can show various degrees of the descriptive qualities of adjectives: hot plate (positive) hotter plate (comparative) hottest...

3. Placing the Word “Only”

According to Garner Oxford, the word only is “the most frequently misplaced of all English words.” Garner Oxford, p. 239. You should put only immediately before the word you intend to limit. The greater the distanc...

2. Where Do Adverbs Go?

Many writers make a mistake.As we learned in the section on verbs, every one-word verb has a one-word present tense and a one-word past tense. Thus: I write and I wrote. These one-word verbs are called s...

1. Do All Adverbs End in -ly?

What happened to the -ly ending?We use the ‑ly ending to add to adjectives to convert them to adverbs. Thus, the adjective easy becomes the adverb easily, the adjective rapid becomes the ad...

Adverbs - Four Questions

Four questions typically arise about the correct use of adverbs:1. Do all adverbs end in -ly? 2. Where do we put adverbs in the sentence? 3. Where does the word only go in a sentence? 4. How do we form the comparative and su...

Modifying an Entire Sentence or Clause

Use of Hopefully to Start a SentenceThis discussion will undoubtedly get some readers’ noses out of joint, because it points out that starting a sentence with the word hopefully is acceptabl...

Modifying Adjectives and Adverbs

Amber and Miss Hamrick also wanted to further describe the adjectives they used to modify nouns. Not content with saying The sunset is beautiful, they became grandiose and said The sunset is unbe...

Adverbs - More Words That Describe

We’ve learned about verbs. Now let’s study those words or groups of words that describe or modify verbs. We call them adverbs. Sometimes they end in ‑ly, and sometimes they don’t.Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs....

Adverbs - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

WelcomeBelow you’ll find links to our discussion on adverbs. We recommend that you start with the first topic,Adverbs - More ...

A Summary of Adjectives

In this section, we introduced ourselves to the adjective, which comes in a one-word form that either precedes or follows the noun it modifies.When the adjective precedes the noun, it’s in the attributive position.When it follows the ...

Adjectives - Phrases and Clauses

It’s SHOUTING time again. Wake up. This stuff is important.There are two main types of word chunks, clauses and phrases. A clause is a bunch of words with a conjugated verb in it. A phrase is a bunch of words without a conjugated verb in it....

Adjectival Phrases

Funny word, the adjective. When it appears as just one word, it must usually come before the word it modifies. Thus, we can write about the essential factor, and we must position essential before factor. But if we add some ...

Compound Adjectives

Hyphens in Compound AdjectivesThe English language is remarkably versatile, for it allows us to make up words and expressions that don’t otherwise appear in the dictionary. One type of expression we frequently invent is the c...

"Different from" vs. "Different than"

Watch OutThe word than typically follows a comparative adjective, such as closer or more bizarre. You would thus say: K  Street is ...

“Fewer” vs. “Less”

Nine Items or FewerA couple of adjectives cause many writers a lot of trouble: less vs. fewer. Let’s straighten out the problems. Write with fewer lesses. ...

Noun Modifiers

Noun Acting as an AdjectiveIronically, another word often acts as a modifier of nouns. The noun itself often modifies another noun.Our language overflows with noun modifiers: football ...