Grammar and Usage Archives

A purple and White background with the words home in or hone in?

Hone In or Home In?

Updated September 14, 2022 – I was scrolling through the excellent Grammar Hell site today, when I came upon a bit of information that surprised me. The topic was “hone in” or “home in”? Let’s look at the issue. Which is correct in this sentence,… continue reading

Hyphenation Information

Doubts about hyphens drive people nuts. In my business writing classes, people regularly raise anxious questions about hyphen/no hyphen and word open/word closed. I just got an email from a client who had three hyphen questions, so I am inspired to supply some Hyphenation Information.… continue reading

Don’t Appraise Your Readers

In a recent Better Business Writing class an attendee wrote a sentence like this one in a letter to a customer: You may be certain that I will appraise you as soon as I receive the investigator’s report. But the reader would want to be… continue reading

I.e.–Don’t Even Think About It

In writing classes, participants often ask about the abbreviation i.e. They want to know how to capitalize and punctuate it. But my response goes beyond those questions. I recommend not even using it. Here is my explanation: Almost no one knows what i.e. means. I… continue reading

Its? It’s? Or Its’?

A friend of mine asked me to write about how to choose the correct form of its, and I am happy to comply. Those three little letters cause a lot of confusion, but once you master a couple of basic rules, the choice becomes simple.… continue reading

Grammar and Usage

Is: A Singular Verb

In the last hour of reading my email, I have read three sentences whose subjects and verbs do not agree. In each example, the verb is is. Attached is the evaluations. Your insight and feedback is very important to me and my team. Computer languages… continue reading

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifiers–these are the phrases that appear at the beginning of a sentence (usually) that give people a chuckle because of what follows them. Here is an illustration: Chewing contentedly on our rose bushes, Aunt Amy saw a doe and a small deer. Because the… continue reading

What Is “Grammar and Usage”?

Lately people have been visiting this site looking for the answer to this question: "What is the difference between grammar and usage?" Here is my answer: Grammar has to do with the correct placement of words in a sentence. Usage involves using the proper word.… continue reading

Graphic asking if contractions are sloppy with examples of contractions

Don’t Use Contractions?

Are contractions sloppy? That question came to me today when a writing class participant told me she would never use a contraction. And here’s the reason she wouldn’t: A teacher had drilled into her head that their use is wrong. In fact, the participant called… continue reading

Grammar and Usage

Go Ahead, Split an Infinitive!

This week in a Better Business Writing class, an attendee named Carmen told me how important it was to her to avoid splitting an infinitive. Why? Because an excellent teacher had drilled into Carmen’s head that an infinitive should not be split! Because of Carmen’s… continue reading