Copyright © 2018 by June Casagrande

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown

Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

www.crownpublishing.com

www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of

Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Casagrande, June, author.

Title: The joy of syntax : a simple guide to all the grammar you know you

should know / June Casagrande.

Description: California : Ten Speed Press, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017053029

Subjects: LCSH: English language—Syntax. | English language—Syntax—

Handbooks, manuals, etc. | English language—Grammar—Handbooks,

manuals, etc. | English language—Grammar, Generative. | BISAC:

LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Grammar & Punctuation.|

REFERENCE / Writing Skills. | LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES /

Reference.

Classification: LCC PE1365 .C27 2018 | DDC 428.2—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053029

ISBN 9780399581069

Ebook ISBN 9780399581076

v5.3.1

prh

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Part I: Syntax

1: So Who’s in Charge Here?2: Phrases and Clauses3: Parts of Speech for Grown-Ups4: Nouns5: Pronouns6: Verbs7: Adjectives8: Adverbs9: Conjunctions10: Prepositions11: Determiners12: The Grammar of Phrases13: The Grammar of Clauses14: Coordination

Part II: Usage and Propriety

15: Agreement

16: Subject versus Object Pronouns17: Flat Adverbs18: Less and Fewer19: Well as an Adverb and an Adjective20: Possessive Plus Gerund (“Fused Participle”)21: The Confusing Roles of the Letter S22: Choosing the Right Preposition23: Dangling Participles and Other Danglers24: Oxford (Serial) Comma25: Language Myths26: The Grammar Oracle on Your Bookshelf27: Sentence Fragments28: One Word, Two Words, or Hyphenated?29: Usage Guide

GLOSSARY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to my agent, Laurie Abkemeier; my editor, Lisa Westmoreland; mydesigner, Christine Innes; and the copy editors, proofreaders, and publicists whotoiled in anonymity to make this book better. You’re all very much appreciated!Also thanks to Ted, for everything, and to Maxine Nunes, Christa Faust, TreacyColbert, and all the members of my women writers’ lunch group for ten yearsof making this solitary occupation a little less solitary.

INTRODUCTION

Hey, word nerd: I know your secret. You’re a natural at language. You’re theperson friends ask to read their resumes, their school papers, their cover letters.You have a sixth sense for grammar, and on top of your innate ability, you’veamassed quite a bit of knowledge along the way. Maybe another languagesavant in the family set you on the path. Maybe you went out of your way tolearn the difference between who and whom, the meaning of dangling participle,or how to choose between lay and lie.

You’re good at this stuff, better than almost anyone you know, but you havea dark secret: There are holes in your knowledge. Big ones. Despite all thatnatural ability and hard-earned learning, you feel that you never got a good,solid foundation in grammar. Sentence mechanics remain a mystery to you.You’d be surprised to learn that tomorrow is an adverb and you’re not clear whyI feel bad is the grammatical choice over I feel badly. Worst of all, you’re not quitesure what to do about it. You can’t go back to high school. You certainly can’tgo back to a better high school than the one you attended. And every resourceyou’ve sought out let you down. The “help” you found was either too painfullydry to compete with whatever was on HBO or it was just more of the samegrammar tidbits you already know.

Well, here’s some joyous news: I wrote this book for you.It’s real grammar, the kind that you’d otherwise need a linguistics degree to

acquire. But it’s designed specifically for word nerds who find that learninggrammar, when it’s done just right, can be a real joy.

Does someone who says ain’t have bad grammar? How aboutsomeone who eschews whom? What about the writers wholeave their participles dangling or their infinitives split? Doessomeone who misuses hyphens have bad grammar? Whatabout someone who’s just a poor speller?

The word grammar has several meanings. Some are verybroad, others very specific. Most of the time, people use theword grammar to mean proper English. In this broad sense,errors of any kind equal bad grammar, and error-free writingequals good grammar. Many extend that idea all the way toquestions of punctuation and even spelling. That’s not wrong,per se. But it’s a bit of a stretch and not very useful for ourpurposes.

Some people use the word grammar to judge informal andcolloquial speech like ain’t. That’s a mistake. Just becausepeople who use a certain word are marginalized doesn’t meanthe speech itself is wrong. If a word is recognized bydictionaries, that makes it valid. Ain’t is. So you can debate allday whether ain’t is appropriate in a college dissertation or ona resume, but that’s not grammar. It’s propriety—questionsabout what is appropriate that are qualitatively no differentfrom questions like whether you should wear a suit to a jobinterview or use the F-word with your grandmother or chewwith your mouth open at a fancy restaurant. Strong feelingsmay abound. But that’s not grammar.

What about stuff like using like in place of such as or over inplace of more than? Let’s extend that further to includequestions like whether you can use bring and take as synonyms,

whether healthy can mean healthful, and whether nauseous canmean nauseated.

Yes, these types of questions fall under the broad umbrellaof grammar. In fact, when people speak about grammar,they’re usually talking about word choices like these. But ifyou want to be more specific, and we do, this is usage. It dealswith how individual words are used and when it’s proper touse them. We’ll talk about usage in part 2 and get a solidhandle on the tools you need to tackle any usage conundrumwith confidence.

But, first and foremost in this book, we’re concerned withgrammar in its meaning of syntax. Sentence mechanics. Theway words line up and change form to make sentences. Whenthey do so in a way consistent with established patterns in thelanguage, we say these sentences are grammatical. When theystep outside the bounds of these patterns, we say they’reungrammatical. Below are a grammatical sentence and anungrammatical one. Can you tell which is which?

With going the am on movies Saturday Jane Ito.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

The first example is ungrammatical. The parts aren’tworking together. They’re in the wrong order. Of course,word order isn’t the only determinant of good grammar.Word forms, especially verb conjugations, matter, too. Butword arrangement is a huge part of grammaticality, as we seewhen we move those words around: I am going to the movieswith Jane on Saturday. Often, there’s more than one way toarrange words grammatically, as you can see by moving on

Saturday to the beginning of our sentence. But the point is thatthe parts, like gears, have to align in ways that make themachine run properly. That machine is the sentence. Our firstexample, then, is a broken pile of rusting parts.

Our second example is grammatical. In fact, it’s probablythe most famous example of grammaticality in a sentence. Itwas used by the groundbreaking linguist Noam Chomsky tomake the point that grammar has little to do with logic ormeaning. A nonsense sentence can be grammatical if thosegears are working together according to the rules of syntax. Inthis book, grammar means syntax: the way words, phrases,and clauses work together, like gears in a machine, to formsentences.

1

So Who’s in Charge Here?

To hear some sticklers talk, you’d think that somewhere, in a classified location,there’s a top-secret grammar law library that houses the voluminous GrammarPenal Code: an official list of all the things you’d be “wrong” to do.

It’s wrong to split an infinitive, some say. It’s wrong to end a sentence with apreposition. It’s wrong to begin a sentence with and. It’s wrong to use take tomean bring. Hang around these people long enough, and you see the list of no-nos is endless.

Their source, conveniently, is never revealed. They know what’s wrong andthey’re not telling you how they know—as if they have a copy of the GrammarPenal Code and you don’t, so you’re forever at their mercy. With every wordyou speak or write, you’re in danger of getting busted for breaking a rule younever knew existed.

Here’s where these nitpickers get their information: someone—a teacher, aparent, a know-it-all friend—told them there’s a rule against saying a certainthing, and they believed it. It’s as if they, too, were fooled into believing thereexists some list of grammar crimes that only their teacher, parent, or friend wasprivy to.

It’s a grammar snob Ponzi scheme.There is no official source of grammar prohibitions. For the English language,

no one has the authority to lay down laws. Rules exist. It is possible to speak or

write ungrammatically. It’s possible to be “wrong.” But right and wrong derivefrom a far more powerful, albeit hard-to-pin-down source: us.

Look at the sentence Him wants to eat dinner.That’s ungrammatical. The pronoun is in the object form instead of the

subject form he. But the rule that says to use a subject pronoun here was notdecided by some governing body. It wasn’t an idea someone came up with andthen demanded English speakers comply. Instead, this grammar rule is derivedfrom how people actually use the language. Grammar, therefore, is at its heart aset of standards based on common practice. If suddenly everyone in the English-speaking world started saying him wants instead of he wants, sometime in thenext century him would be correct, sanctioned by every grammar authorityalive.

So Whose Language Is the Right Language?We’ve just waded into some very treacherous waters.

Language experts distinguish between “standard” English and “nonstandard”or “substandard” or “colloquial” English. One might argue that he goes isstandard English and he go is substandard, even though millions upon millionsuse both regularly. There’s no separating this debate from issues of class, race,geography, and socioeconomic status. The minute someone says x is standardand y is not, they’re making a judgment call about whose English reignssupreme. Just as the winners write the history books, the most powerful groupof English language users write the grammar books.

In this book, we’re concerned primarily with understanding the mechanics ofsentences. We aim to steer clear of debates about what’s proper and what isn’t.But every student of grammar needs to understand that underlying alldiscussions of grammar propriety is a struggle over who gets to call the shots—whose English is the official English.

Three Ways to Be Wrong

Above we saw an example of an ungrammatical sentence: With going the am onmovies Saturday Jane I to. It illustrates how grammaticality is one criterion for a“correct” sentence. But it’s not the only one. Two other criteria come into play:idiom and dictionary definition.

IDIOMSometimes an ungrammatical form can still be correct because it qualifies as“idiomatic.” That’s another way of saying that the usage is so popular, so widelyaccepted, that its acceptability is above repute even if it doesn’t conform to therules of syntax. Perhaps the best example is shown in the following sentence.

I’m a good person, aren’t I?

Everything about this sentence is kosher. It’s 100 percent acceptable. But it’salso ungrammatical. Specifically, the aren’t I part is a problem.

Aren’t I is a question formed through a process known as inversion. Latinlanguages rely heavily on inversion while English uses it to a lesser extent.

To turn a statement into a question through inversion, simply swap theplaces of the subject and verb.

He is. → Is he?

You are. → Are you?

I am. → Am I?

To negate the question, insert not or its contracted form, -n’t.

Is he? → Isn’t he?

You are? → Aren’t you?

But with the first-person pronoun, I, something is weird. The verb that goeswith I is am. To pose the same question with I am, you would get amn’t I.

No one says that. You’d be hard-pressed even to find someone who uses thatin the non-contracted form Am I not? Instead, people opt for aren’t I in suchoverwhelming numbers that it’s considered acceptable even though it defies thegeneral rules of grammar—rules that say the verb has to agree with the subject.And because so many people have sanctioned aren’t I for so many years, it’scorrect.

That’s idiom.As you can guess, questions of what is and isn’t idiomatic aren’t always so

simple. Experts debate, for example, whether I could care less has become sostandard that it’s an acceptable way of saying I couldn’t care less.

Again, these are not the types of matters addressed in this book. We don’tneed to play decider of when, exactly, a usage crosses into respectability. Weneed only understand that idiom, by definition, has the power to renderungrammatical forms acceptable.

DICTIONARY DEFINITIONThis criterion for correctness is pretty simple. If someone accuses you ofmisusing between in a sentence like We passed the guacamole between the three of us,the most widely sanctioned referee for these skirmishes is a good dictionary.Even better, consult two or three, because they don’t always agree.

A dictionary maker, or lexicographer, documents how words are used. Whenenough of us use a word a certain way, it becomes an official form worthy ofbeing documented in the dictionary. Put another way, we vote on what’s rightevery time we speak or write, and lexicographers tally our votes. Dictionariesaren’t official bosses of the language, either, exactly. But their rulings become asort of de facto authority. Dictionaries are the best tallies of how we, the reallanguage bosses, vote to use words.

Between, for example, has a number of definitions, but one in particular cutsto the heart of a common controversy: the idea that you can’t use between forrelationships involving more than two people. In fact, you can. Between,

dictionaries say, can be used in instances like The pie was divided between eightpeople.

A Word About Editing StylesPublishers follow guidebooks called style guides. These reference works areextremely handy for making sure every page of your publication is consistent onmatters like when to spell out numbers, whether to put periods in O.K. or evento use okay, whether to abbreviate Street and Avenue, and whether to write thepossessive of James as James’ or James’s.

These guides also talk a lot about grammar and usage. For example, the twomost widely influential stylebooks in American publishing, the Chicago Manual ofStyle and the Associated Press Stylebook, agree that that and not which is used tointroduce what are called restrictive clauses (for more, see the chapter 5discussion of relative pronouns starting on this page).

The car which crashed into the telephone pole was red.(Incorrect per AP and Chicago.)

The car that crashed into the telephone pole was red.(Correct per AP and Chicago.)

These are style guidelines, not grammar rules. If you’re editing a publicationthat adheres to either style, it would be an error to use which in that sentence.But doing so is no more a grammar error than using numerals instead of wordsto write 100.

A great deal of modern-day grammar confusion stems from people notunderstanding the role of style guides. Their rules are not meant as definitivestatements on what’s right or wrong. They simply work as playbooks to befollowed by anyone who wants to follow them. But the rest of us are not boundby them—a fact some people fail to understand.

2

Phrases and Clauses

Your language arts teacher probably put a good deal of emphasis on subjectsand predicates. A subject is usually a noun, which performs the action of a verb.The predicate, in the typical classroom example, is the stuff that comes after thesubject—the verb and maybe an adverb or other modifying element.

That’s useful. Kind of. If you want to know which adjective in the followingsentence is the predicate adjective, the concept is invaluable.

The red car is fast.

The predicate adjective is the one in the predicate: fast. But to really startbreaking down sentences and understanding how every part works, there’s a farmore useful distinction: phrases and clauses.

PhrasesA phrase isn’t what you think. It means something different in grammar than itmeans in the vernacular. In syntactical analysis, a phrase is a unit of one or morewords doing the job of noun, verb, adjective, and so on, in a sentence.

NOUN PHRASEA noun phrase has a noun or pronoun at its head.

The cat mewled.

The subject of this sentence is the cat. Together, those two words arefunctioning as a single unit, a noun phrase. The cat is a noun phrase because thenoun, not the article the, is the head word of the phrase. The whole phrase isdoing the job of a noun, even though it may have non-noun words in it.

The orange cat mewled.

The subject of this sentence is the orange cat. That’s still a noun phrasebecause its head word is still the noun cat. That’s true even though this nounphrase contains an adjective: orange.

Phrases can contain phrases within them. A noun phrase can contain anadjective phrase that contains an adverb phrase. We focus on whichever labeldescribes the function we’re analyzing.

In other words, if we were talking about the role of the adjective in The orangecat mewled, then we might talk about the adjective phrase orange. When wediscuss the noun phrase the orange cat, the adjective orange is just a piece of theunit we’re focused on.

But in any phrase you want to look at, the head word is the one that definesthe phrase and its job. It’s the one word in the phrase that’s most crucial to thesentence. The less essential words in the phrase, like the and orange in the orangecat, are called dependents, suggesting that they all rely on the head word of thephrase that’s most important to the sentence: in this case, cat.

Now look at this variation on our sentence: Cats mewl. Note how cats isworking in an identical way to the cat in our first example. They’re doing thesame job, that of a noun phrase, even though cats is just one word.

That’s what we mean when we say in grammar that phrases can be oneword. It’s all about function, and a single word like cats functions as a nounphrase the same way that the three-word phrase the orange cat does.

Pronouns work the same way in a noun phrase as regular nouns do. Theirsyntactical function is identical—usually they’re subjects or objects.

So a noun phrase can be headed by a noun or a pronoun.

It mewled.

She mewled.

The car hit them.

VERB PHRASEVerb phrases follow the same logic. In our example sentence, the verb phrase isone word: mewled.

The orange cat mewled.

But verb phrases, too, can be longer and more complicated. In the followingexamples, the verb phrase is the entire underlined portion.

The orange cat was mewling.

The orange cat was mewling loudly.

The orange cat had been mewling very loudly.

ADJECTIVE PHRASEAn adjective phrase is the unit working as an adjective. It, too, can have otherphrases and words within it.

The orange cat was mewling.

The bright orange cat was mewling.

The very bright orange cat was mewling.

The cat was orange.

The cat was bright orange.

If you already have in mind the concept of an adjectival phrase, a word of

warning: an adjective phrase, as we use the term here, is more specific. Theterm adjectival phrase can loosely describe any phrase that describes a noun, evenif it has no adjective in it. For instance, the prepositional phrase with cheese canmodify the noun burger. So it’s adjectival. But in syntactical analysis, when wesay adjective phrases, we mean a unit of a sentence with an adjective as the headword.

Notice how an adjective phrase can be in front of the noun phrase it modifies,where it’s often called an attributive adjective, bestowing attributes on the nounphrase that follows. When the adjective phrase comes after a verb like be or seemor feel, it’s called a predicate adjective. Those verbs, by the way, are calledcopular or linking verbs. We’ll talk more about them in chapter 6, this page.

ADVERB PHRASEAdverb phrases should be self-explanatory by now.

The completely orange cat mewled.

Again, note that our adverb phrase can be understood as part of our adjectivephrase, completely orange, which itself is a piece of a larger noun phrase, thecompletely orange cat. And an adverb phrase can have other phrases within it.

The extremely badly dressed man entered.

They reacted ridiculously overdramatically.

Two things to note about our first example. One: dressed is working as anadjective. It’s a participle form of the verb dress that when used to describe anoun is categorized as a participial modifier (think: a watched pot, a painted fence,a well-loved tale) or, basically, an adjective. We’ll talk more about participialmodifiers in chapter 6, this page.

Two: it’s important to remember that adverbs modify not just verbs (He runsquickly) but also other adverbs (He runs unbelievably quickly).

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASEPrepositional phrases are the oddballs because they have a unique property:they almost always pair a preposition with an object. The object is a nounphrase.

A man of letters

The check is in the mail.

The truth about Jane

Give it to me straight, Doc.

What are you talking about?

Our last example shows that the preposition isn’t always immediately beforeits object. What’s important is the relationship, not the location, thoughsometimes moving the words around can help us see better how a noun phraseis the object of a preposition.

About what are you talking?

Summing up, then, a phrase is a single word or multiple words doing the jobof a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, or a preposition. Phrases of one typecan contain phrases of another type within them. We cluster them that way forpurposes of analysis.

We’ll learn more about how phrases work in the chapters to come.

ClausesA clause is a unit that typically has at least a subject and a verb.

Peter left.

You need at least one clause to form a complete sentence, and often morethan that, especially when the verb is transitive and thus requires an object (Stukissed Elaine; more on transitive verbs and their objects in chapter 6, this page).

Sentences can, of course, have more than one clause.

Peter left and Mary was relieved.

Peter left after he ate breakfast.

When two or more clauses are connected with the coordinating conjunctionand, but, or, or, less commonly, so, yet, for, or nor, they’re called coordinateclauses. They’re of equal grammatical status and could stand alone as sentencesif you broke them up.

Peter left. Mary was relieved.

But when the clauses are connected with a subordinating conjunction likeafter, than, if, when, and many more, there’s a main clause and a subordinate, ordependent, clause. The subordinate clause can’t stand alone as a completesentence. The main clause, or independent clause, can.

Peter left(Independent clause.)

after he ate breakfast(Dependent clause that, because of the subordinating conjunction after,cannot stand alone as a sentence.)

Interestingly, clauses can work as other parts of speech. Look at this exampleand see if you can detect the function of the clause that fell.

The tree that fell crushed his car.

Start by identifying the main clause. It’s the tree crushed, with the noun phrasetree as its subject and crushed its verb. But there’s a second clause in this sentencethat’s neither a coordinate clause nor a subordinate clause: that fell is a clausebecause that is a pronoun in this sentence. Combine it with the verb fell, and youhave a bona fide clause.

So what’s it doing there? It’s referring to something: the tree. The clause that

fell is telling us more about the tree, giving it more specificity. And what do wecall things that modify nouns? Adjectives. The clause, then, is functioningadjectivally. There’s a term for this: a relative clause, which is the proper namefor an adjective clause.

Try another.

That I love you is all you need to know.

What’s the main clause of this sentence? It’s not I love you. We know thatbecause this clause is subordinated by that. The clause that I love you couldn’tstand alone as a sentence with the word that where it is.

So how to find the main clause? The easiest way is to start by pinpointing themain verb. In this case it’s is.

And what’s the subject of that verb? It’s the whole clause that I love you. Thisis called a nominal clause, or a noun clause, because it’s a whole clausefunctioning as a noun phrase. Add the clause that I love you to the verb is, andyou have a larger clause, shown below with subject and verb underlinedseparately.

That I love you is all you need to know.

The whole love-you business is the subject of the sentence. That’s a jobusually performed by a noun (Math is all you need to know). So this subordinateclause is called a noun clause or nominal clause.

In chapter 13 on this page, we’ll look at all the jobs clauses can do insentences—from nominal clauses functioning as subjects, as we saw in our lastexample, to verbless and nonfinite clauses adding supplemental information.For now, the important thing is to note that clauses are basic building blocks ofsentences.

Simple, Compound, and Complex SentencesThe number of clauses in a sentence and the ways the clauses relate to each

other tell us whether the sentence is simple, compound, or complex.

SIMPLE SENTENCESA simple sentence has just one clause, with or without other elements likemodifiers, indirect objects, and adverbials.

Tom lied.

Tom lied about the ledger.

Tom lied to Pete about the ledger with the leather coverand gold lettering.

Those are all simple sentences because they have just one clause: Tom lied.Prepositional phrases like about the ledger, to Pete, and with the leather cover don’tchange that. They’re optional sentence constituents, not vital to the integrity ofthe main clause.

COMPOUND SENTENCESA compound sentence has more than one clause and the clauses are of equalgrammatical status. They’re linked together with a coordinating conjunction,usually and, or, or but, but sometimes also nor, yet, so, or for.

We make dinner and we do the dishes.

Either of those clauses could stand on its own. Another way of putting it:they’re both independent clauses. That’s what we mean by equal grammaticalstatus. That makes them different from the clause relationships in complexsentences.

COMPLEX SENTENCESWhen a sentence contains two or more clauses that are not of equalgrammatical status, it’s called a complex sentence. The clauses are unequal

when one can stand alone as a sentence but the other cannot because it’ssubordinated by a subordinating conjunction like since, when, if, as, or because.

Because you washed, I’ll dry.

See how I’ll dry could form a freestanding sentence but Because you washedcannot? That’s because it’s subordinated by the word because, making it adependent clause. Whenever you have a sentence that mixes one or moredependent (or subordinate) clause with one or more independent clause, that’swhat we mean by a complex sentence.

The Five Basic Sentence StructuresFor sentences with just one clause, there are five basic structures. That’s it.They are as follows:

subject + verb Evan fell.

subject + verb + direct object Louis watched television.

subject + verb + indirect object + direct object Bella sent Ryan a box of chocolates.

subject + verb + subject predicative Karen is nice.

subject + verb + direct object + object predicative We found the taste unpleasant.

The simple subject-plus-verb sentence is pretty clear. It’s a noun phrase plus averb phrase where the verb is intransitive (meaning it doesn’t need an object).Evan fell.

The subject-plus-verb-plus-direct-object structure is simple, too: the verb istransitive, meaning it takes an object. The object is a noun phrase that receivesthe action of the verb, so to speak. So in Louis watched television, the television isthe thing being watched. That’s what we mean by receiving the action of theverb—being watched or painted or delivered or sold or any other form of beingacted upon.

In Bella sent Ryan a box of chocolates, we’ve added what’s called an indirect

object. The easiest way to understand an indirect object is that it’s a sort ofrepurposed prepositional phrase, with the preposition omitted, then the phraseis moved to the spot right before the direct object.

Bella sent a box of chocolates.(Direct object.)

Bella sent a box of chocolates to Ryan.(Direct object followed by prepositional phrase.)

Bella sent Ryan a box of chocolates.(Indirect object drops the to and precedes the direct object.)

Many prepositional phrases that can be converted into indirect objects are tophrases, as we saw in to Ryan above. Prepositional phrases headed with for canalso become indirect objects.

I’m making a friendship bracelet.

I’m making a friendship bracelet for Jen.

I’m making Jen a friendship bracelet.

Verbs that take both a direct object and an indirect object are sometimescalled ditransitive verbs to distinguish them from monotransitive verbs, whichtake only a direct object. So in I’m making a friendship bracelet, the verb making ismonotransitive. In I’m making Jen a friendship bracelet, it’s ditransitive.

Our fourth basic sentence structure takes the form subject plus verb plussubject predicative.

Karen is nice.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think this is an example of the secondstructure: subject, verb, direct object. But it’s not. There’s a unique class ofverbs, which we’ll talk about in chapter 6, this page, that are neither transitivenor intransitive. A word that follows one of these verbs is not receiving theaction of the verb the way objects receive the action of transitive verbs. Instead,

these verbs refer back to the subject of the sentence. The word that follows,then, is a sort of callback to the subject.

These are called copular verbs. They’re also sometimes called linking verbsbecause they link what follows back to the subject. The main copular verb is be.But verbs of seeming, becoming, and the seven senses also qualify. Until we getto the verbs chapter, that’s all you need to know about copular verbs. That willsuffice for understanding our fourth basic sentence structure.

The noun phrase that follows a copular verb, then, isn’t an object. It’ssomething called a subject predicative. The name is helpful for understandingthat it’s really just something that appears in the predicate and refers back to thesubject of the sentence.

Karen is nice.(Subject + copular verb + subject predicative.)

A subject predicative can be an adjective phrase like nice or very cruel. Or itcan be a noun phrase.

Karen is an engineer.

Karen is CEO.

Karen is our shortstop.

Our fifth and final basic sentence structure, subject plus verb plus directobject plus object predicative, relies on a similar concept. Something in thepredicate is a sort of redux of something that came earlier. But this time, thething that’s been added in the predicate is about the object of the verb, not thesubject of the verb.

We found the taste unpleasant.

Notice what the word unpleasant is doing in this sentence. It’s referring not tothe subject, it’s not we who are unpleasant, but the object: the taste. So theobject predicative refers to the object the same way the subject predicative

refers to the subject. The object predicative is also sometimes called an objectcomplement. So don’t let that term throw you if you ever come across it.

Like the subject predicative, the object predicative can be an adjective or anoun.

They made John angry.

They made John manager.

As a quick exercise, compare these two sentences. See if you can pinpointwhy they’re examples of two different sentence types.

They made John foreman.

They made John dinner.

In the first, the object of the verb made is John. The word foreman is modifyingthat object. So this first example sentence is structured subject plus verb plusobject plus object predicative.

In the second example sentence, the object of the verb made is dinner. Thissentence, then, is a way of saying They made dinner for John. So this example isstructured subject plus verb plus indirect object plus object.

Similar as they are, these two sentences have different structures because ofhow the verb is working with the words that follow it.

By the way, a verb that has both an object and an object predicative is called acomplex transitive verb. But hopefully you’ll never need to know that.

One-Word Imperative SentencesCommands, known as imperatives, leave the subject implied. It’s always you. Sothey qualify as sentences even when they consist of just one word.

Eat. = (You) eat.

Stop. = (You) stop.

Leave. = (You) leave.

The subject is there in spirit. That’s just the rule of imperative verb forms.That’s why all these qualify as complete sentences.

Adverbials: Accessories for Your SentencesOn top of the basic structures, we often add optional items called adverbials.

They had a picnic on the beach.

Bert drove his Camaro to the desert.

He eats his meals slowly.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Adverbials are words (usually adverbs), phrases (usually prepositionalphrases), or clauses that can be removed from the sentence without harming thecore structure of the sentence. For example, take to the desert out of Bert drove hisCamaro to the desert, and we still have a solid, well-formed sentence with a clearsubject, verb, and object: Bert drove his Camaro. That’s how we know to the desertis an adverbial.

If you don’t see yet how tomorrow in our above examples qualifies as anadverbial, that’s because we haven’t discussed adverbs yet. Spoiler alert:tomorrow is one. More on that in chapter 8, this page. For now, though, just notethat optional sentence elements known as adverbials can include the kinds ofadverbs you don’t traditionally think of as adverbs.

Don’t confuse adverbials with adjunct adverbs—the “manner adverbs” thatmodify actions. Yes, they’re optional and can be yanked right out. But they’repart of the phrases that make up the clause. They’re not the same as sentenceadverbials, which are optional and distinct from the main clause.

Handsome Bert quickly drove his red Camaro to the searing desert.

In this example, handsome, red, and searing are adjectives. They’re part of thenoun phrases that make up the subject, verb, and object. Quickly is an adverb,but it’s not a sentence adverbial. It’s referring directly to one word: the verbdrove. It’s a modifier that can be analyzed as part of the verb phrase. So none ofthe modifiers in that last example is a sentence adverbial, even though one’s anadverb and all are expendable.

3

Parts of Speech for Grown-Ups

You already know a noun is a person, place, or thing. You already know a verbconveys action or being. You got the whole spiel before high school: adjectivesdescribe things, adverbs describe actions, prepositions show spatialrelationships, conjunctions join, and articles point.

That’s a good foundation, but for us it’s too simplistic. Parts of speech aremore complicated than that. Adverbs, for example, are a much bigger groupthan your teacher told you (example: tomorrow is sometimes an adverb). Nounscan function as adjectives (a hat store). Adjectives can function as nouns (theelderly). Prepositions don’t just deal with physical location (example: about).Verb forms can function as adjectives (a used book, an obstructed view, a cookingclass). And -ing verbs can be nouns, known as gerunds (Walking is good exercise).

What’s more, many words are part of multiple groups. Than can be aconjunction or a preposition. Well can be an adverb, adjective, or noun. Schoolcan be a verb as well as a noun.

To really understand how sentences work, we need to distinguish betweenword classes and word functions. Think of word classes as clubs. Membership inthese clubs is recorded in dictionaries. For example, look up the word paint.You’ll see it’s a noun and a verb. You can buy paint or you can paint yourhouse. It’s not a member of the word class we call adjective. But it can still do anadjective’s job in a paint store.

There’s a special term for this. It’s called an attributive noun. But attributivereally just means it’s working as a modifier. And that really just means anadjective or adverb. So paint, we can say, functions adjectivally in a paint store.

So in I bought a can of paint, its function is that of a noun and it’s also amember of the noun word class. But in I went to the paint store, it’s functioning asan adjective even though it’s not officially a member of that word class. That’sthe idea behind word classes and word functions.

A fascinating example comes by comparing the words tomorrow and Tuesday.They work exactly the same way.

Tomorrow will be a beautiful day.

Tuesday will be a beautiful day.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

I’ll see you Tuesday.

If you look up tomorrow in Merriam-Webster’s, you’ll see that it’s both a nounand an adverb. (We’ll explain how a non-ly word like this can be an adverb alittle later in this book. For now just take it on faith.) But if you look up Tuesdayin Merriam-Webster’s, you find something very strange. It’s listed as a noun, butnot an adverb.

If they work exactly the same way, how can that be?The answer points to the essence of word classes. They’re clubs. Noun, verb,

and so on are labels that lexicographers apply to words when they feel thosewords have earned membership in those clubs. It doesn’t mean those wordscan’t be used as other parts of speech. It just means that they’re not used asthose other parts of speech often enough to convince lexicographers theydeserve to become members.

That’s what we mean by word class or word category.It’s important to understand a bit about word classes because they give us

insight into a far more important unit of grammar—phrases—and how phrases

work as subjects, objects, and other parts of sentences. You need to know aword is a noun to know that it heads up a noun phrase. You need to know aword is a verb to understand its role heading up a verb phrase. And so on. Solet’s take a good look at each of the word classes.

4

Nouns

Once more for the record: a noun is a person, place, or thing.As you know, the “thing” part of that equation can get a little abstract. For

example: is an intangible like cowardice a thing? Yes, if it heads up a nounphrase in a sentence, it can work just like any other noun.

Cake is fattening.(The noun cake is the subject of the verb is.)

Cowardice is shameful.(The noun cowardice is the subject of the verb is.)

Pronouns have very different properties from those of regular nouns, as we’llsee in the next chapter. But in a sentence, they do the same jobs. They head upnoun phrases to function as the subject of a clause, the object of a transitiveverb, the object of a preposition, or the complement of a copular verb.

Perry waited.(The noun Perry is the subject.)

He waited.(The pronoun he is the subject.)

The odds favored Perry.(The noun Perry is the object of the transitive verb.)

The odds favored him.(The pronoun him is the object of the transitive verb.)

Fate smiled on Perry.(The noun Perry is the object of the preposition.)

Fate smiled on him.(The pronoun him is the object of the preposition.)

The culprit was Perry.(The noun Perry is the complement of the copular verb.)

The culprit was he.(The pronoun he is the complement of the copular verb.)

Nouns can sometimes do other jobs. For example, they can functionattributively, attributing qualities to another word the way adjectives do. Theseare called attributive nouns.

a hat store

a staff meeting

a construction site

We have different ways of categorizing and understanding nouns.

Number

Count versus noncount

Gender

Case

Proper versus common

Further, some special jobs create a few subcategories.

Collective nouns

Attributive nouns

The verbing of nouns

NumberWhen a noun or pronoun encompasses just one thing, we call it singular: house.When it refers to more than one thing, we say it’s plural. When it refers to stuffthat, instead of being countable as one or two things, is measured in quantities,we call these noncount or mass nouns. More on those in a minute.

The noun house, then, is singular. Its plural form is houses. The pronoun I,then, is singular. The pronoun we is plural.

In many other languages, the number of a noun or pronoun can affect itsarticle, its adjectives, or even its verb. But in English our adjectives don’t changeto reflect whether they’re modifying a singular or plural thing. Blue houses usesthe same adjective as the blue house. It doesn’t become blues just because thenoun is plural.

Our definite article doesn’t change to reflect number: the dog, the dogs. Ourindefinite articles apply only to singular nouns, anyway: a cat, but not a cats. Ourverbs do reflect the number of the subject: one cat is, two cats are. But in general,the concept of number has a limited application in English compared to its rolein some other languages.

Perhaps the most important thing an English speaker needs to understandabout grammatical number has to do not with inflecting verbs or choosingadjectives but with forming plurals.

For most regular English nouns, forming the plural is exceedingly easy. Youjust add s.

spoon → spoons

Nouns that end with a consonant that makes a sibilant sound (an s, z, or soft jsound) usually take es:

bosses

sashes

buzzes

faxes

Words that end in y usually form the plural by replacing the y with ies.

berries

sherries

flies

Proper nouns are the exception. They don’t change form to make a plural.

We’re having dinner with the Berrys.

My class has two Sherrys.

The McFlys are an odd family.

Words that end in f or fe often form their plurals by dropping those lettersand replacing them with ves.

knife → knives

half → halves

leaf →leaves

self → selves

But there are exceptions.

pouf → poufs

gaffe → gaffes

giraffe → giraffes

chief → chiefs

And some f- or fe-ending words give you two correct options, which you canfind in the dictionary.

dwarf → dwarfs, dwarves

hoof → hooves, hoofs

Those are all more or less regular nouns. That means there’s a formula youcan apply to arrive at the right plural form. But there are plenty of other nounsthat follow no formula. You just have to know the plural form or at least knowto look it up. Here are some common ones.

man → men

goose → geese

criterion → criteria

child → children

tooth → teeth

person → people

mouse → mice

basis → bases

emphasis → emphases

stimulus → stimuli

Clearly, some of these, like criterion, are based on other languages. ManyEnglish words derived from Latin, for example, retain their Latin plural forms:curriculum, curricula. But don’t assume that a Latin-based word forms its pluralaccording to Latin rules. When a word becomes part of the English language,then it’s up to the collective of English speakers to decide whether to carry overits Latin plural. Stadium, for example, would be stadia if we followed Latin rules.

But, for the most part, we don’t. That’s why stadiums is the plural form youshould use.

Count and Noncount NounsThink about the word song as it compares to the word music. You can have onesong or two songs, but you can’t have one or two musics.

This is the difference between count nouns and noncount nouns. Countnouns have both singular and plural forms. Noncount nouns, which aresometimes called mass nouns, don’t have both a singular and a plural form.Another clue is found in the determiners that can come before these nouns.These, few, many, and other determiners that convey quantity can’t introduce anoncount noun. That is, there’s not many musics or several musics.

Noncount nouns are a little more likely to refer to abstract things: courage,intelligence, outrage, decency.

Count nouns are more likely to be quantifiable with expressions like cups of(sugar), pieces of (pie), gallon of (milk).

If you’re really on the ball, you may be thinking: But some noncount nouns,like coffee, milk, wine, and cheese, have plural forms. We sampled a variety of coffees.They serve many fine wines. So how do they still qualify as count nouns? Simple.These plural-yet-noncount nouns exist under one or two special circumstances.They may refer to different varieties, as in They sampled many different wines. Orthey may parse the stuff into units that are clearly countable. I drank three coffees.

In other words, nouns like coffee and wine are noncount most of the time,except when you’re using the name to refer to individual units like servings orvarieties.

GenderGender is a very important concept in a lot of languages. English isn’t one ofthem. In Spanish, for example, a noun like casa (house), has a gender, in this

case feminine, which dictates things like the gender of a determiner that comesbefore it: la casa. The gender of the noun also affects adjectives that modify it.Beautiful, for example, has both a masculine and a feminine form: bonito andbonita, respectively. So casa bonita is correct whereas casa bonito would bewrong.

In English, the concept of gender comes up only when you’re talking aboutpronouns. He is the masculine singular pronoun. She is the feminine singularpronoun. And, of course, they have corresponding forms like the objects himand her and the determiners his and her.

Because English adjectives and articles don’t change to reflect gender, theonly thing you need to know about gender is that it’s a grammatical conceptthat pertains mainly to other languages and that, when it does come up inEnglish, it pertains mainly to a handful of pronouns you already knowcorrespond with the sexes.

CaseIn what I hope comes as a refreshing change of pace, I can tell you that case isimportant.

Case, in grammar, refers to whether a noun is a subject, an object, or apossessor of something. The terms for these vary a bit depending on who’stalking and whether they’re talking about case in modern English or case inother languages or eras. But here’s the terminology you’ll see describingEnglish’s three cases.

subjective/nominative = subject of a clause

objective/accusative = object of a verb or preposition

possessive/genitive = shows possession

People sometimes also talk about dative case, which means an indirect object.But this isn’t very relevant in modern English because pronouns use the same

form for direct objects and indirect objects. That is, him is the same whether it’sthe direct object of a verb (I saw him) or an indirect object (We gave him a roundof applause).

Here are examples of a noun in each of the cases.

Hal asked for the promotion.(Hal is the nominative/subjective case.)

The company promoted Hal.(Hal is the objective/accusative case.)

Hal’s new title is vice president.(Hal’s is the possessive/genitive case.)

A noun like Hal can have any of the three cases depending on its job in asentence. But the concept of case is far more useful in discussions of pronounsbecause pronouns change form more dramatically to reflect case. That is, Haldoesn’t change at all for the nominative and objective cases and changes onlyslightly in the possessive case: Hal’s. But the pronouns he, him, and his havethose different forms to reflect different cases: nominative, objective, andpossessive, respectively.

Case comes up mostly when talking about whether a pronoun should betreated as an object or a subject. For example, Thanks for taking the time to talkwith John and me uses the correct objective case of the pronoun, me, as an objectof the preposition with. We’ll talk more about how to choose the right pronouncase in chapter 5, this page. But for now, you might be interested to know thatwith John and me is the grammatical form, though with John and I is idiomatic—that is, rendered acceptable through long-term popular usage.

Forming PossessivesThe way to form a possessive (genitive) of a noun in English depends onwhether the noun is singular or plural, regular or irregular, and in some caseswhether its singular form ends in an s.

To make a singular noun possessive, add apostrophe plus s.

the dog’s tail

the man’s story

a fool’s errand

a hero’s welcome

the tux’s fabric

To make a plural regular noun possessive, add only an apostrophe after theplural s.

the dogs’ tails

the houses’ designer

the lawyers’ conference

An irregular noun whose plural does not end with an s forms its possessive asif it were a singular noun. Add apostrophe plus s.

the men’s locker room

the children’s play area

the mice’s nest

For a singular noun that ends in s, you have a choice. You can form thepossessive by adding an apostrophe plus an s (the boss’s office), which is theofficial editing style of much of the book-publishing world. Or you can do whata lot of news media do and distinguish between proper nouns and commonnouns, adding an apostrophe only to proper nouns and an apostrophe plus s tocommon nouns.

the boss’s office(Correct in every style.)

James’s office(Correct in most book publishing.)

James’ office(Correct in most news media.)

Editing rules for forming possessives of nouns ending in s add some furthercomplications. But they vary from style to style and none are absolute rules. Forinstance, some styles that require apostrophe plus s say to drop the extra s if theword that follows also begins with s.

the boss’s chair

the boss’ seat

Words that end in x, ch, z, and similar sibilant sounds do not have specialrules for forming possessives in most modern publishing. Treat them as anyother noun ending in s.

the tax’s opponents

the march’s participants

the quiz’s difficulty

For anyone not beholden to a particular editing style, the easiest course itusually to add apostrophe plus s to form the possessive of all singular nouns,regardless of which letter they end with.

SHARED POSSESSIVESSometimes, two or more noun phrases show possession in the sentence: Ed andJoe’s restaurant. Ed’s and Joe’s houses. The rule for adding the possessive marker isthis: if the nouns share possession of the thing, they also share just oneapostrophe-plus-s, which is added to the final noun. So Ed and Joe’s restaurantuses just one possessive marker, added to Joe, indicating that the two both own

the restaurant. But Ed’s and Joe’s houses adds a possessive marker to each noun,indicating that each of them separately owns a house. Ownership is not joint.

OF-PHRASES TO SHOW POSSESSIONThe genitive case is the most common way to show possession, but there isanother, which is illustrated in the following examples.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It could pass through the eye of a needle.

The howl of the wolf could be heard.

For all practical purposes, the of-phrases in the above examples mean,respectively, the iceberg’s tip, the needle’s eye, and the wolf’s howl.

John’s wallet is also, technically, the wallet of John. So just as apostrophe-plus-s makes a noun possessive, the of-phrase construction can, too, in manycases. But the term genitive excludes the of-phrase construction. Instead, thatterm is reserved for the form the noun takes when you add the possessivemarker.

The of-phrase construction is nonstandard in most situations. The wallet ofJohn doesn’t sound as natural as John’s wallet, and for that reason, the of-phrase isthe poorer choice in many cases. It’s most popular when the writer or speakerwants to put emphasis on the possessor instead of the thing possessed, since thelast word in a sentence or clause can have the biggest impact. The tip of theiceberg is an example. The alternative form, the iceberg’s tip, would put theemphasis on tip, which is usually not the effect that users of this term are goingfor.

DOUBLE GENITIVEWhen you refer to a friend of Jesse, the of-phrase alone meets all therequirements to show possession. The friend belongs to Jesse. No question.

So how do you explain this form?

a friend of Jesse’s

Expressions like this double up on the possession by using both theapostrophe-plus-s and the of-phrase construction. For that reason, they’re calleddouble genitives. Also for that reason, some people consider them an error.

True, a friend of Jesse’s contains a redundancy and a sort of mathematicalimprecision. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It’s idiomatically acceptable. Andto see just how unrealistic it would be to prohibit the double genitive, considerthe following term:

a friend of me

People usually say a friend of mine. That’s technically a double genitivebecause mine is possessive. A friend of mine, then, contains the same alleged erroras a friend of Jesse’s. They both combine an of-phrase with a genitive nounphrase. So to take a friend of mine out of double genitive form, you’d have toreplace mine with me, giving you a friend of me. Clearly, that’s not realistic. So thedouble genitive, as it’s called, can’t be labeled an error.

QUASI POSSESSIVESSome terms use the possessive form even though it’s a big stretch to say there’sany possession going on.

two weeks’ pay

your money’s worth

for goodness’ sake

These quasi possessives, as they’re called, are better understood as figures ofspeech than as logical constructions. No one ever means to talk about how thesake belongs to the goodness or how the pay belongs to the weeks. They’re justexpressions that, through long-established usage, are treated as possessive.

(Chicago editing style, which normally calls for an s after the apostrophe in apossessive like goodness, makes an exception when the following word is sake.)

POSSESSIVE VERSUS ATTRIBUTIVE FORMSTerms like farmers market, teachers union, kids menu, and homeowners policy oftendrop the apostrophe. Is that wrong?

Not really.The idea behind these apostrophe-less terms is that the words farmers,

teachers, kids, and so on, are not intended as possessors but as modifiers.Adjectives. That is, they’re attributive—at least in the interpretation of anyonewho decides to omit the apostrophe. By doing so, you treat the first word as amodifier of the second. In essence, it’s an adjective.

That’s not to say that you can’t treat them as possessives, too. If you meanthat the market belongs to the farmers, you should write farmers’ market. If youmean that the union belongs to the teachers, you should write teachers’ union.

Often, the implied word for comes into play. If it’s a policy for homeowners,the apostrophe is commonly omitted: homeowners policy. If it’s a massage forcouples, you’re likely to see it written couples massage. Conversely, if thesentence could be understood with an of-phrase construction, the possessivemarker is often used: the couples’ retreat could be expressed as the retreat of thecouples. The homeowners’ questions focused on financing.

But myriad exceptions make this guideline less than perfect. Kids menu is anexample. There’s no question that menu is for and not of kids. Yet it’scommonly written both with and without an apostrophe.

Common Nouns and Proper NounsLike common nouns, proper nouns function as the heads of noun phrases.They’re often names of people and places.

They visited sunny Atlanta.

(Atlanta is a proper noun serving as the object of the verb visit.)

David works every day.(David is a proper noun serving as the subject of the verb works.)

Proper nouns have two properties that distinguish them from commonnouns. First, proper nouns are customarily capitalized. Second, as we sawabove, while irregular common nouns form their plurals in irregular ways,proper nouns are unchanging in their plural form.

The recipe calls for fresh berries.(Common noun berry forms its plural by replacing y with ies.)

We’re visiting the home of the Berrys.(Last name Berry forms its plural by adding s.)

We talked to the children.(Common noun child has the irregular plural children.)

We talked to the Childs.(Last name Child forms its plural by adding s.)

Proper nouns that end with z, ch, x, sh, and similar sounds form their pluralsby adding es, the same way many common nouns do.

Those two are klutzes.(Common noun klutz forms its plural by adding es.)

The Chavezes are coming for dinner.(Proper noun Chavez forms its plural by adding es.)

Witnesses report seeing three or four flashes of light.(Common noun flash forms its plural by adding es.)

Johnny and June were the Cashes.(Proper noun Cash forms its plural by adding es.)

The rule about capitalizing most proper nouns extends to nicknames.

the King of Swing

the Garden State

Mom

Note that in a mom and my mom, mom is a common noun begun with alowercase letter. But when used as a direct address, it is treated as a propernoun: Mom. The same is true for Dad, Sis, Grandpa, Boss, and similar terms whenused as a moniker of the individual person rather than as a generic term.

Collective NounsSome nouns are understood to refer to more than one person or thing eventhough the noun itself is singular in form.

family

council

staff

herd

jury

team

There’s no set rule for whether these nouns take plural or singular verbs.American English tends to favor singular verbs with collective nouns in manycases.

The whole family is going to be there.

The council votes tonight.

The jury is deliberating.

But sometimes a plural verb is more natural.

The staff want to go home.

Other times it depends more on meaning: when individuals within thecollective are acting independently of each other, a plural verb may seem morenatural.

The family are all fighting among themselves.

For nouns like team, majority, crew, jury, and audience, choose the verb formthat seems most natural. The majority are voting for the incumbent. The team is inthe locker room.

Attributive NounsAs we’ve seen, words that are categorized as one part of speech can often fillother roles. Attributive nouns modify other nouns, even though theythemselves are categorized not as adjectives but as nouns. A shoe store is anexample. Shoe is not an adjective. It’s a noun. Yet in a shoe store, it’s functioningas an adjective because it’s modifying the noun store. More technically, wewould say it’s functioning attributively. Here are some more examples:

agenda item

case studies

house party

government official

In each of these examples, the first word is a noun. If you recall from chapter3, this page, membership in a word category like noun or adjective has mainlyto do with whether dictionaries believe a word has earned admission into theclub, so to speak. When enough people use a word as an adjective,lexicographers record it as one, providing the word with as official a designationas you’ll find anywhere.

But in each example above, the first word is not classified as an adjective.They’re all nouns functioning as adjectives. This is grammatical and standard—

one of the perks of a flexible language like English.

The Verbing of NounsSome verbs clearly derive from nouns. To club someone is an action formedfrom a reference to a noun: the club itself. Examples of this verbing of nouns aretoo numerous to list. To paint something. To house something. To hammersomething. The list is almost endless.

These new verbs come into existence through usage. Someone says beer me,other people follow suit, and if the trend continues, eventually the noun beer hasa shot at getting into dictionaries as a verb.

Transitions like these always involve a period in which the usage istechnically incorrect. Only time can tell whether any given noun will gain fullacceptance as a verb. Like many things in language, there are risks in usingterms that haven’t gained full acceptance: some listeners will think you’rewrong. But it’s often worth the risk. For example, I couldn’t have discussed thistopic without bending the rules because, since the word verb is itself a noun, theterm the verbing of nouns wouldn’t be possible without bending the rules.

5

Pronouns

When you’re analyzing a sentence, breaking down the syntax of how the partswork together, the difference between nouns and pronouns is prettyunimportant. Both function as the head of a noun phrase, which itself can be asubject or an object.

Mary (noun phrase subject) is sleeping.

She (noun phrase subject) is sleeping.

Yet pronouns differ from nouns in some very interesting and important ways.For example, unlike nouns, pronouns don’t take determiners, including thearticles the, a, and an, and demonstratives such as those, that, and these. There isno the I or those we. The pronouns I and we can’t be modified that way.

A more important difference between nouns and pronouns—one that causesmore confusion than perhaps any other feature in the English language—is theway pronouns have different forms when they’re working as subject, object, orpossessor (that is, when they’re in the nominative, objective, or genitive case).Regular nouns remain unchanged whether they’re subjects or objects. And inthe genitive, they usually just add the possessive apostrophe and s.

John was hired by the company.

The company hired John.

John’s new job is going well.

He was hired by the company.

The company hired him.

His new job is going well.

Notice the word John doesn’t change form when it moves from nominative(subject) case to the objective case. But a pronoun standing in for John does. It’she as a subject, him as an object, and his as a possessive determiner. This is whyit can be useful to treat nouns and pronouns as separate word classes.

Pronouns come in quite a few different categories:

Personal Pronouns I, you, he, she, etc., along with other cases and forms like me, my, and mine

Relative Pronouns that, which, who/whom, whoever/whomever

Reflexive Pronouns myself, yourself, himself, etc.

Indefinite Pronouns anyone, somebody, one, all, any, etc.

Interrogative Pronouns who, which, what, where, how

Demonstrative Pronouns this, that, these, etc.

Reciprocal Pronouns each other, one another

Conditional Pronouns whatever, whichever, wherever, whoever, whomever

A lot of pronouns also have forms that function not as nouns but asdeterminers, meaning that, like adjectives, they refer to nouns.

This is great.(This is functioning as a noun phrase, which is the subject of the verb.)

This meal is great.(This is functioning as a determiner, introducing the noun meal.)

This is his.

(His is functioning as a noun phrase, a complement of the verb.)

This is his bike.(His is functioning as a determiner, modifying the noun bike.)

Some pronouns don’t change at all when they’re used as determiners, as wesaw with his in the last example. But others have specific forms for the job.

That is her bike.

That is hers.

Our meal is great.

Ours is great.

Take my car.

Take mine.

Notice how, when the pronoun is functioning as a noun phrase, it has adifferent form than it does when it’s doing the job of a determiner: her, our, andmy versus hers, ours, and mine.

Personal PronounsPersonal pronouns are the ones that come to mind when most people think ofpronouns.

I

you

he

she

we

they

it

Those are the subject forms, of course. Here they are with theircorresponding object forms, which are also personal pronouns.

I → me

you → you

he → him

she → her

we → us

they → them

it → it

Some of these pronouns reflect gender: he, she. Others don’t: we, they. All ofthem but you reflect number: I is singular; we is plural. He is singular; they isplural.

Pronouns are unique in that they vary a lot more than regular nouns to showgender and number. Regular nouns usually change by just one letter to reflectnumber—the added plural s that turns singular cat into plural cats—whereas thesingular first person pronoun I is completely different from the plural firstperson pronoun we. Also, regular English nouns don’t really have a gender.That is, even though a woman is feminine, the word woman is not consideredfeminine or masculine. Only pronouns like he and she are said to have a gender.

In addition to subject and object forms, personal pronouns also havepossessive, reflexive, and possessive determiner forms. Here’s a chart showingthem all.

Subject Object Possessive Determiner Possessive Reflexive

I me my mine myself

you you your yours yourself, yourselves

he him his his himself

she her her hers herself

it it its its itself

we us our ours ourselves

they them their theirs themselves

Possessive determiners may have more in common with adjectives than withpronouns. They can’t function as noun phrases the way possessive pronounscan. Instead, they introduce nouns.

That is mine.(Personal pronoun mine is functioning as a noun phrase.)

That is my umbrella.(Possessive determiner introduces the noun umbrella.)

Hers is the fastest.(Personal pronoun hers is functioning as a noun phrase.)

Her car is the fastest.(Possessive determiner her introduces the noun car.)

So though possessive determiners are similar to, or, in the case of you and his,identical to their personal pronoun counterparts, they’re distinguished by theirfunctions in a sentence.

Nominative Personal Pronouns (Subject Pronouns)Using the subject pronouns I, you, he, she, we, it, and they is prettystraightforward. They function as subjects—noun phrases that perform theaction in a verb.

I am on my way.

He is really nice.

We are booked for Tuesday.

They have nice things.

A subject pronoun also functions as the complement of a copular verb informal contexts. In these situations, it’s called the predicate nominative. We’lllook at those in a minute.

Objective Personal Pronouns (Object Pronouns)Object pronouns function as the objects of transitive verbs or of prepositions.

Jim saw her.(Pronoun her is the object of the transitive verb to see.)

Jim talked with her.(Pronoun her is the object of the preposition with.)

Object pronouns can work as either direct or indirect objects.

Jim saw her.(Pronoun her is the direct object of the verb to see.)

Jim gave her the keys.(Direct object of the verb to give is the keys, and the indirect object is her.)

As we saw in chapter 2, this page, indirect objects are essentially prepositionalphrases with the preposition dropped and the noun phrase moved to a spotimmediately after the verb.

Jim gave the keys to her.(Direct object of the verb is the keys, and to her is expressed as a prepositionalphrase.)

Jim gave her the keys.(Direct object of the verb is the keys, and her becomes an indirect object byomitting to and moving to the place right after the verb.)

This ability is not limited to pronouns. Regular nouns work the same way,

with the ability to function as indirect objects. But because regular nouns don’tchange in any way in their jobs as subject and object, their use is simpler.

Jim gave the keys to Stella.

Jim gave Stella the keys.

The choice between object and subject pronouns causes a lot of confusion incontexts like between you and me and Thanks for driving John and me. We’ll discussthose issues at length in part 2, “Usage and Propriety,” including why subjectpronouns are sometimes acceptable in such cases. But from a purely syntacticalstandpoint, between you and me requires the object pronoun me because between isa preposition. Similarly, in Thanks for driving John and me, the object pronoun meis correct because it’s the object of the transitive verb driving.

Sentences like This is she seem to defy the rules about object pronounsbecause they contain a subject pronoun like she in the predicate instead of anobject pronoun like her.

This is called the predicate nominative, meaning that the nominative—that is,subject—is referred to in the predicate of the sentence. In other words, this andshe refer to the same person, and one’s the subject and the other is in thepredicate.

The reason hinges on the verb. Verbs of being, seeming, and appearing arecalled copular or linking verbs. More on them in chapter 6, this page. But forpurposes of our pronoun discussion, note that be, seem, appear, feel, taste, andsimilar verbs of being and the senses refer back to the subject in a way that mostother verbs don’t. The pronoun in the predicate restates the subject, which iswhy a subject form like she is more grammatical than an object form like her.

Special Jobs of the Pronoun ItThink about what the pronoun it is doing in this sentence:

It is raining.

If pronouns stand in for nouns, what noun does it represent here? How aboutin these sentences?

It is the thought that counts.

It is too bad that you never met her.

In these examples, there’s no noun functioning as an antecedent of it. Thereisn’t even an implied noun that could be its antecedent. So clearly, it has somespecial jobs that go above and beyond its fellow personal pronouns.

These special jobs have names: “prop it” (also called “empty it”), “cleft it,”and “anticipatory it.”

The sentence It is raining exemplifies prop it, which uses the pronoun it assubject even though it’s practically meaningless. Here, the verb phrase is rainingneeds a subject. But it’s not customary to use a substantive subject here. Wedon’t say the sky is raining or the weather is raining or the clouds are raining.The verb phrase is raining is all the information we need. But that verb phrasecan’t stand alone. It needs a subject. So we put in the word it more to make thesentence grammatically complete than to represent anything meaningful.

Exemplified in the sentence It is the thought that counts, cleft it is used mainlyfor emphasis. Cleft sentences demote the main clause of the sentence to lowerstatus and use it plus a copular verb like is as the main clause. Then a relativepronoun that or who is inserted before the verb.

Take the sentence The thought counts. Put It is in front and insert that beforethe verb:

The thought counts.

It is the thought that counts.

Rearranged this way, the sentence shines a spotlight on the noun phrase thethought, drawing more attention to it. That’s the basic idea of cleft it. Here’sanother example of a regular sentence converted to a cleft sentence with the

pronoun it.

He stole my wallet.(Simple structure with he stole as the main clause.)

It was he who stole my wallet.(Cleft structure with it was as the main clause.)

Anticipatory it, illustrated in the sentence It is too bad that you never met her, isvery similar to cleft it, but the structure’s a little different. Like cleft it,anticipatory it usually combines it plus a form of the verb be as the main clause.But the structure that follows isn’t noun phrase plus relative pronoun plus verbphrase. Instead, what follows it is is usually descriptive information followed bythe clause that’s being described.

That you never met her is too bad.

It is too bad that you never met her.

The subject of our first example is the whole subordinate clause that you nevermet her. It’s followed by the verb is, which is followed by the adjective phrase toobad. But using that clauses as subjects isn’t a very popular choice. Instead,speakers tend to balance out the sentence by starting with anticipatory it,followed by what had been the predicate (is too bad), which is then followed bythe subordinate clause that used to be the subject (that you never met her).

Sentences built with anticipatory it allow us to leave the relative pronoun thatimplied.

It is too bad (that) you never met her.

If you were to convert that out of anticipatory it structure, the subject wouldneed its that back (that you never met her is too bad), but the anticipatory it clauserenders the relative pronoun optional.

Existential There

The word there is customarily an adverb, answering the question Where? in asentence like Put it there. But it is also sometimes a pronoun.

There are people waiting for you.

This means the same thing as People are waiting for you. But the grammar andthe intonation are different. Instead of just starting with people as a subject,existential there lets us state outright that there are people. It’s a whole clausededicated to pointing out that the people exist. Hence the name “existentialthere.”

Once we’ve stated outright that the people exist, the grammatical dynamicsof existential there are similar to those of cleft and anticipatory it. What wouldhave been the grammatical subject, people, gets pushed back to a spot after theverb.

People are waiting for you.

There are people waiting for you.

The noun that had been the subject, people, is no longer the subject of theverb. That job now belongs to existential there. The noun that had been thesubject, people, is now called the notional subject. It’s still the thing we’re talkingabout, but it’s no longer the grammatical subject of the sentence.

Reflexive PronounsPronouns that end with self or selves are reflective pronouns. Here’s thecomplete list: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves, itself, andoneself. As you can see, these reflexive pronouns correspond to personalpronouns: Myself refers to the same person as the pronoun I. Himself goes withhe. And so on.

Reflexive pronouns have two jobs: they refer back to the subject of a clauseor they add emphasis. That second one is simpler, so we’ll start there.

I, myself, know it to be true.

You, yourself, have seen the fallout.

The firing was a reflection on Darryl himself.

We’re doing the remodeling ourselves.

In each of these examples, the reflexive pronoun could be chopped out withnothing lost. These words add only emphasis. As far as understanding reflexives’roles in underscoring a point in this way, there’s nothing more to know.

The job of reflecting back on the subject is also pretty easy to understand.

Tyler can dress himself.

No one knows me better than I know myself.

Nick sees himself in the mirror.

Lily gave herself a raise.

The subject of each sentence is also the object of either the verb or apreposition. In the first example, dress is a transitive verb, and the person beingdressed, Tyler, is the same person doing the dressing. In the second example, I,the knower, is the same person as myself, the one known. The subjects are doingthings to themselves. That’s a standard use of reflexive pronouns.

Contrary to what some language observers say, it’s not necessarily an error touse a reflexive pronoun in place of a personal pronoun—that is, to say Talk toJohn or myself instead of Talk to John or me. But it’s a calculated risk to do so.We’ll look at that more closely in part 2 of this book.

Indefinite PronounsIndefinite pronouns stand in for unspecified people or things. Like all pronouns,they function as noun phrases in a sentence. They include the following terms:

anybody

anyone

everybody

everyone

everything

somebody

someone

something

anything

all

another

each

few

many

none

one

several

enough

Some indefinite pronouns can also work as determiners, meaning theyprecede nouns and add information about things like proximity, quantity, anddefiniteness. We’ll discuss those determiners in chapter 11, this page. But forquick reference, this means that all, any, few, both, and other pronouns canfunction either as noun phrases or as qualifiers of adjectives (determiners).

Few live to see three centuries.(Few is functioning as a noun phrase.)

Few people live to see three centuries.(Few is a determiner of the noun people.)

He’s seen it all.(All is a pronoun functioning as a noun phrase.)

All students get a grade of pass/fail.(All is a determiner of the noun students.)

Both are good.(Both is functioning as a pronoun.)

Both flavors are good.(Both is functioning as a determiner.)

Note how the noun-versus-determiner comes into play with of-phrases:

All baggage is in the compartment.

All of the baggage is in the compartment.

Some guys were asking about you.

Some of the guys were asking about you.

These examples are all correct. They differ only in structure and emphasis.These differences are possible because all, some, and other indefinite pronounscan be determiners, too. So in all of the baggage and some of the guys, the pronounsare working as noun phrases that are modified by prepositional phrases. But inall baggage and some guys, those same two words are not pronouns butdeterminers of nouns. The choice is up to you.

The rest of this chapter deals with only the pronoun forms.

Overview of Indefinite PronounsIndefinite pronouns have different properties. Some are quantifiers, meaningthey address the number or quantity of things discussed.

You’ll find some in the fridge.(Some indicates approximate quantity.)

You won’t find any in the fridge.(Any indicates quantity, in this case zero.)

Many are called, few answer.(Many and few indicate approximate quantity.)

Some indefinite pronouns refer exclusively to people. These are the pronounsending in -body or -one.

Anyone can apply.

Is anybody planning to bring plates and cups?

They saw someone behind the tree.

Other indefinite pronouns cannot refer to people. These primarily end with -thing.

Anything is possible.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure.

They saw something behind the tree.

Most can refer to both. These include some, any, one, many, most, few, all,another, and each.

Among the cups, you’ll find some are red and some blue.(Some refers to cups.)

Among the guests, you’ll find some are members andsome bought tickets.(Some refers to people.)

When choosing a new car, one with good mileage is best.(One refers to a car.)

When making a new friend, one with a kind heart is best.(One refers to a friend.)

None of these books is what you’re looking for.(None refers to books.)

None of these people has what you’re looking for.(None refers to people.)

Pronouns like none, anything, and anybody are called non-assertives—pronouns that indicate either that there are none of the thing being discussed orthat there may be none.

None is happy with the outcome.(Not a single person is represented by the pronoun none.)

Anything you want we can get.(The pronoun anything does not affirm any specific thing exists in thereference.)

In contrast, indefinite pronouns some, somebody, someone, and something arecalled assertives because they indicate that at least one or some of the thingbeing referenced is represented by the pronoun.

I’ll have some of that pizza.(Affirms that there is some pizza available.)

Something moved.(Affirms that a specific thing moved.)

Whether an indefinite pronoun is singular or plural varies from situation tosituation. Many indefinite pronouns are by default considered singular and thustake a singular verb.

Everybody makes mistakes.(The verb makes is conjugated for a singular subject.)

Someone is following you.(Verb phrase is following is conjugated for a singular subject.)

Anything is negotiable.(The verb is is conjugated for a singular subject.)

Others are presumed plural.

Most realize the importance of international alliances.(The verb realize is conjugated for a plural subject.)

Many have tried.(The verb have is conjugated for a plural subject.)

Few succeed.(The verb succeed is conjugated for a plural subject.)

Other indefinite pronouns can take a singular or plural verb depending on theantecedent or presumed antecedent.

Of all the music we’re hearing, some is better than therest.(The verb is is conjugated in the singular to agree with the subject music.)

Of all the songs on the album, some are better than therest.(The verb are is conjugated in the plural to agree with the subject songs.)

The indefinite pronouns that customarily take singular verbs create a lot ofconfusion in more complicated sentences like Everyone keeps their car locked.Notice how everyone takes a singular verb but is later represented in the sentenceby they, which is traditionally considered plural. For more on singular their, seechapter 15, this page. But for now note that they and its corresponding formstheir and them are acceptable, if informal, for referring to singular subjects.

Generic PronounsSometimes the pronouns you, we, they, and one are used in a generic sense torefer to unspecified people.

Gloria fell. That’s what happens when you don’t watch where you’re going.

In this example, you isn’t meant to refer to the listener, as it would in most

cases. Instead, it’s used to mean something like a person or someone in situationswhere those terms would be wordy or awkward.

The indefinite pronoun they can be used even more loosely to refer to peoplein general or a subset of people in general.

They say it’s good to drink eight glasses of water a day.

We can also be so vague as to refer to people in general:

We can’t always get what we want.

In formal situations, the word one can work as a third person singularpronoun:

One must watch where one walks at all times.

The pronoun one has another, slightly different job. Notice how it’s workingin the following examples:

I need a new sweater—one I can wear to work and todinner.

A lot of people in my family have widow’s peaks: Davehas one and Jackie has one, too.

The one labeled “Don’t open till Christmas” is in mytrunk.

That’s a good one.

In all these cases, one doesn’t mean the number one, but it clearly isn’t theformal third person pronoun, either. Instead, this one, called substitute one,stands in for a noun phrase that’s already understood by both the speaker andthe listener.

Relative PronounsThe relative pronouns are that, which, and who/whom, and some analysts put

where and when in this category as well, though more often they’re classed asadverbs.

Relative pronouns have a pretty unique job in a sentence. See if you canunderstand what they’re doing in the following examples:

The car that I was driving is red.

His reason, which was specious at best, was not known toeveryone in the room.

The man, who I know is unreliable, hasn’t been back.

The woman, whom I saw in the alley, was wearing a hat.

If you noticed that the relative pronouns are introducing whole clauses,you’re catching on. Those are called relative clauses. Now, tougher question:can you see what those clauses are doing?

Relative clauses postmodify nouns. That means exactly what it sounds like:they come after nouns and modify them, adding some kind of description orspecificity. And because describing nouns is what adjectives are famous for, youcan say that relative pronouns function adjectivally.

In the first example, The car that I was driving was red, the relative clause that Iwas driving modifies the noun car. It narrows down, or restricts, the noun itself.That is, by itself the car could refer to any of a large number of cars. But byadding the relative clause that I was driving, we’ve restricted the range ofpossibilities considerably. In this, since the speaker can drive only one car at atime, we’ve narrowed down the noun phrase the car to just one possible vehicle.

In the second example, His reason, which was specious at best, was not known toeveryone in the room, the clause introduced by the relative pronoun which ismodifying the noun reason.

We can break relative clauses up into two groups: restrictive andnonrestrictive. Restrictive relative clauses add specificity to the nouns theymodify. That is, if you take them out, you lose some information about what

thing is being talked about. Nonrestrictive relative clauses can be lifted right outof the sentence without losing either specificity of the noun or structuralintegrity of the main clause.

The menu, which is extensive, has pictures of the food.

If you take the relative clause out of this sentence, the stuff you lose issupplemental information. The menu has pictures of the food contains no lessinformation about which menu we’re talking about, and it stands alone just fineas a grammatical sentence.

The menu that we perused has pictures of the food.

But in the above example, you can’t just take out the relative clause withoutlosing something important. Take out that we perused and you get The menu haspictures of the food. Though that’s still structurally sound, the listener now hasless information about which specific menu you’re talking about. Without therelative clause, you’re speaking as though the listener already knows whichmenu is the menu. But when the relative clause is there, you’re signaling to thereader: “You’re not expected to already be familiar with the menu. I’m tellingyou right now that we were perusing one at the time.”

In American English, the relative pronoun that usually introduces restrictiverelative clauses, the relative pronoun which usually introduces nonrestrictiveclauses, and who and whom have no tendencies in either direction. What’s more,nonrestrictive clauses are usually set off with commas.

Style guides like AP and Chicago specifically tell followers to avoid using whichfor restrictive clauses, as in The table which we built had three legs. Within either ofthose styles, the which should be that. But that’s a style rule, not a grammar rule.Native speakers’ judgment serves just fine to determine when that is better thanwhich.

Another interesting property of relative pronouns is that they themselves canfunction as the subject of the clause, or they can introduce another noun phrasethat does the job.

The family that plays together stays together.(In the relative clause, the pronoun that is the subject of the verb plays.)

The family that we met was very nice.(In the relative clause, the verb has its own subject, we, and the relativepronoun just introduces that clause.)

In many cases, you can drop the relative pronoun from a restrictive relativeclause. This is called the zero relative.

The coffee that we sampled was excellent.

The coffee we sampled was excellent.

The man whom I saw in the store wore a hat.

The man I saw in the store wore a hat.

Who and whom customarily refer to people, with that and which usuallyreferring to everything but humans.

the woman who bumped into me

the car that bumped into me

But while editing standards say to avoid using that for people, dictionarydefinitions of that are broad enough that it can mean a human subject.

the woman that bumped into me(Acceptable but not favored in publishing.)

the woman who bumped into me(Correct in all contexts.)

Avoid that for people if you’re concerned it will grate on your reader.

Nominal RelativesThe nominal relative pronouns are what, whatever, whatsoever, which, whichever,

whichsoever, who, whoever, whosoever, whom, whomever, and whomsoever. Their jobis to introduce whole clauses that themselves function as noun phrases and arethus called nominal.

Whatever works best is what you should do.

Identify the main verb in the example above. It’s is. Now ask yourself, what’sthe subject of that verb? It’s the whole clause whatever works best. That wholeclause is working like a noun, functioning as the subject of a verb. That’s what anominal relative clause does. A few more examples follow:

I’ll buy whichever has the best warranty.(Nominal relative whichever introduces a clause that’s the object of the verbbuy.)

I don’t know what happened.(Nominal relative what introduces a clause that’s the object of the verb know.)

We couldn’t see who was yelling.(Nominal relative who introduces a clause that’s the object of the verb see.)

Like some other pronouns, nominal relatives are determiners when, insteadof acting as the subject of a verb in the clause, they introduce a noun that acts asthe subject. In I’ll buy whichever has the best product reviews, the nominal relativewhichever is functioning as the subject of the verb has. So it’s a pronoun. But inI’ll buy whichever snowboard has the best product reviews, suddenly whichever is adeterminer of the noun snowboard.

Conditional PronounsThe conditional pronouns whatever, whichever, whoever, and whomever usuallyhead up clauses. Their job is to offer a range of choices.

He’ll do whatever you say.

But they can also stand alone as noun phrases.

I’m up for whatever.

Conditional whoever is a subject pronoun like who. Whomever is an objectpronoun corresponding to whom.

Whoever is last to leave should turn off the lights.

Give the promotion to whomever you like.

Errors with whom in general and whomever in particular are rampant. Seechapter 16, this page, for a full explanation of how to avoid those errors.

Demonstrative PronounsThe demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these, and those. They are pronounsin that they stand in for a noun phrase.

I like the brownies with the chocolate frosting. = I like those.

In this example, we see the demonstrative pronoun can stand in for thebrownies with the chocolate frosting. Demonstrative pronouns’ unique property isthat they’re designed to point toward the specific thing you’re talking about, toindicate which one or ones you mean.

In I like those, the pronoun specifically cues the listener that the speaker isdistinguishing the types of brownies liked from other types. Compare that to Ilike them. This personal pronoun doesn’t send the same cue that the speaker isdistinguishing one type of brownie from another.

Like a lot of other pronouns we’ve seen, demonstrative pronouns havedoppelgangers that are determiners. Demonstrative determiners come beforenouns and function like adjectives. But demonstrative pronouns function asnoun phrases.

I like this salad dressing.(Demonstrative determiner this works with noun phrase salad dressing.)

I like this.(Demonstrative pronoun this functions as object of the verb.)

Reciprocal PronounsThere are just two reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another. They let youshow that two or more people did the same thing and experienced the samebenefits or consequences of the action. They’re an efficient alternative to statingeach action individually.

Robert and James were yelling at each other. = Robertwas yelling at James and James was yelling at Robert.

Morgan and Ellie told one another all their secrets. =Morgan told Ellie her secrets and Ellie told Morgan hersecrets.

6

Verbs

Verbs convey actions or states of being. And that’s all anybody has to say aboutthat. Nothing more to see here, folks. Go forth into the world with theconfidence that nobody knows verbs better than you know verbs.

That goes swimmingly and you proceed through life a self-anointed master ofverbs right up to the minute you stumble across any of the terms copular,participle, mood, base form, transitive, irregular, modality, lexical, perfect, finite, orprogressive participle.

The bad news is that verbs are complicated. The good news is that thesecomplexities are actually quite fascinating. The very fact that I feel bad and I feelbadly have different meanings hinged on the type of verb is pretty intriguing tothe typical word nerd. So let’s take a thorough look at verbs.

There are a number ways to understand verbs and categorize verbs.

Tense

Aspect

Regular and irregular

Transitive, intransitive, and copular

Auxiliary, modal auxiliary, and lexical

Operators including dummy operators

Mood

Voice

Phrasal verbs

Gerunds

Participial modifiers

These are different ways of looking at verbs, not distinct categories. That is, atransitive verb can be irregular and inflected in the past tense for the thirdperson plural, overlapping these different analytical categories.

Most verb analysis has to do with the fact that verbs change a little accordingto the job they’re doing. So let’s look at verb form-types before we jump intotense, aspect, mood, and so on.

Verb FormsWhen verbs change form according to the job they’re doing, we call thatinflection. Regular verbs follow a formula for their inflections. Irregular verbsdeviate from this formula. But in either case, verbs have what we call form-types, which means a base form, an -s form, an -ing participle (also called aprogressive participle), a past form (which for regular verbs ends in -ed), and apast participle (which for regular verbs also ends in -ed).

Regular Irregular

Base Form walk eat

-s form walks eats

-ing (progressive) participle walking eating

Past form (-ed form) walked ate

Past participle (also -ed form) walked eaten

The base form is just what it sounds like. It’s also the infinitive form. If you

think of the infinitive as containing the particle to, as in to go, that’s usuallypractical but not completely accurate. According to most linguistics experts, theparticle to introduces the infinitive, or uninflected, form of the verb but isn’t partof it.

The -s form is the third-person singular, as in Bob walks, The dog sleeps, or Heknows. There are a few variations on this, most notably that verbs that end in yreplace it with an ie before adding the s: carries, buries, ferries.

The -ing participle, also called the progressive participle, is used in progressiveverb tenses like Bob was walking and Bob had been walking.

The simple past forms of regular verbs have -ed endings: Bob walked. The cakewas baked. So does the past participle: Bob has walked. The cake has been baked.

The simple past forms of irregular verbs and the past participles, too, can takeany number of different forms. Sometimes irregular past tense and pastparticiple forms differ from each other, as we see with ate and eaten. Othertimes, they’re identical, as we see with the past forms of think, both of which arethought: Yesterday I thought about it. In the past I have thought about it.

If you’re not too comfortable with the term past participle, just think of it asthe one that goes with some form of have: I have walked. She has brought. He hadknown. They have given.

TenseTense refers to the “when” of an action as expressed by the verb. Linguisticanalysis usually emphasizes just two tenses: present and past. But for practicalpurposes, tenses represent the various verb conjugations. Here they are:

Simple present (Henry works.)

Simple past (Henry worked.)

Present perfect (Henry has worked.)

Past perfect (Henry had worked.)

Present progressive (Henry is working.)

Past progressive (Henry was working.)

Future (Henry will work.)

Future perfect (Henry will have worked.)

Modal perfect (Henry would have worked.)

A verb that expresses tense is said to be finite. A verb that does not isnonfinite.

I did my chores.(Did is finite because it expresses tense.)

I have many things to do.(Do is nonfinite because it doesn’t express tense.)

AspectAspect refers to how an action extends over time. There are two aspects: perfectand progressive. They’re both formed with auxiliary verbs: have for the perfectaspect and be for the progressive.

Think of the progressive aspect as action ongoing over a period of time, evenif that period of time is already ended or hasn’t yet begun.

Darrell is working.

Evelyn was singing.

Frankie will be studying art history.

Those -ing forms are called progressive participles. That term applies anytimeyou use an -ing form of a verb with a form of be to express ongoing action.

The perfect aspect emphasizes action completed by a certain point in time,even if that means it will be completed at a point in the future.

Greg has eaten.

Greg had eaten.

Greg will have eaten.

That first one uses a present tense form of have, so it’s called the presentperfect. The second uses the past tense of have, so it’s called the past perfect.The third refers to an action that will have been completed in the future. It’scalled the future perfect.

The term present perfect can be a little confusing. Greg has eaten is calledpresent perfect even though it refers to something that, clearly, has alreadyhappened. But if you keep the emphasis on the fact that the auxiliary verb is inthe present tense, you can keep it straight.

Irregular Versus Regular VerbsRegular verbs follow a simple formula in their conjugations. Irregular verbsdeviate from that formula. The most irregular verb in English is be.

Walk (Regular) Be (Highly Irregular)

First Person Singular I walk I am

Second Person Singular you walk you are

Third Person Singular he walks he is

First Person Plural we walk we are

Third Person Plural they walk they are

Simple Past he walked he was

Past Participle he was walking he had been

Be is an oddball. It’s the only verb that has wildly different forms in thepresent tense, like am, are, and is. Other irregular verbs can have wildly varyingpast tense forms, but their present tenses are either identical to those of regularverbs or follow a very similar pattern.

Drive, do, and have are irregular. Their past tenses don’t mirror those ofregular verbs. In the present tense, you conjugate drive the same way youconjugate a regular verb. Do and have are a bit more irregular yet still resemblethe pattern set by regular verbs: all but the third person singular uses the baseform, while the third person singular verb conjugation employs the letter s.

PRESENT-TENSE CONJUGATION OF THREE IRREGULARVERBS

Drive Do Have

First Person Singular I drive I do I have

Second Person Singular you drive you do you have

Third Person Singular (-s Form) he drives he does he has

First Person Plural we drive we do we have

Third Person Plural they drive they do they have

PAST-TENSE CONJUGATION OF THREE IRREGULAR VERBS

Simple Past drove did had

Past Participle driven done had

The past forms for irregular drive, do, and have don’t add ed on the end theway regular verbs do.

For some irregular verbs, the simple past tense and the past participle are thesame.

I bring

I brought

I have brought

For others, they’re different.

I know

I knew

I have known

This is why they’re called irregular: there’s seemingly no rhyme or reason tohow their past tense forms will deviate from the pattern seen in regular verbs.

Some verbs let you choose from multiple correct forms.

I dream

I dreamed / I dreamt(Both correct.)

I have dreamed / I have dreamt(Both correct.)

Dictionaries list past tense and past participle forms after the main entry. Thisis where you’ll see that both dreamed and dreamt are listed. (Often, dictionarieslist the most common form first. That’s not always the case, but if you need away to choose which dictionary-approved form is best, you can follow thepopular guideline that says, for consistency’s sake, always use the first formlisted in the dictionary.)

Transitive, Intransitive, and Copular (Linking) VerbsA transitive verb takes a direct object.

Leslie kissed Jack.

Leslie is the doer of this action. The action is kissing. The recipient of thataction—the thing the action is being done to—is Jack. That makes him theobject.

Any verb that takes an object in this way is called transitive.An intransitive verb does not take a direct object.

Emma yawned.

She’s not yawning something. She’s just yawning. The thought and even thesentence is complete in just two words. Nothing else needed.

Many verbs have both transitive and intransitive forms.

William sang.

William sang “Feelings.”

This is highly intuitive. When someone asks what you do for exercise, youcan say simply I walk. When they ask what you do immediately after work, youcan say, I walk the dog. When you’re using a form that doesn’t require an object,you’re using the intransitive verb walk. When you talk of walking something,you’re using the transitive form.

Most dictionaries have separate entries for these transitive and intransitiveforms, with those notions usually looking something like this: v. tr. and v. i.—orsomething to that effect. This comes in handy when someone tells you that,while a person can “graduate from college,” they can’t “graduate college.”Because they’re saying that college can’t be the direct object of graduate, asimple check of the dictionary guided by an understanding of transitive andintransitive verbs should end that argument fast. (Spoiler alert: you can graduatecollege. Also: the college can graduate you. We know that because majordictionaries expressly state that graduate is both a transitive verb and anintransitive verb and they give examples showing how it can be used.)

A copular verb, also called a linking verb, is neither transitive nor intransitive.The most common copular verb is be, but the group includes many other verbsthat deal with being, becoming, appearing, and the five senses.

Copular verbs link the subject of the clause to a noun phrase or adjectivephrase in the predicate. As a result, the predicate refers back to the subject.

Broccoli is a vegetable.

Notice that the noun phrase a vegetable is not on the receiving end of anaction the way objects of transitive verbs receive action. Broccoli contains fiber

has a very different relationship between the subject and the predicate thanBroccoli is a vegetable. Containing is an action and the recipient of that action is thething being contained: fiber. But in Broccoli is a vegetable, the second noun phraserefers back to the first.

The noun phrase that follows a copular verb is called a subject predicative.The name is helpful for understanding that it’s really just a reference to thesubject of the sentence that appears in the predicate. You can also say that thesubject predicative is the complement of the copular verb.

A complement of a copular verb can be a noun phrase or an adjective phrase.

Larry is the coach.(Noun phrase.)

Larry is successful.(Adjective phrase.)

You can see it makes sense that be is the most common copular verb. To sayone thing is another is the most basic way for a predicate to refer back to thesubject. But all verbs that deal with being, becoming, seeming, or the five sensescan function as copular verbs.

Larry became the coach.

Brianna seems upset.

Don acts crazy.

This coffee tastes terrible.

Something smells awful.

I feel bad.

That last one is worth a few words. Members of the copular verb club thatare also physical senses aren’t as intuitive as the rest. After all, tasting andsmelling and feeling are actions. The best way to explain when and why thesecan qualify as copular verbs is illustrated in comparing these examples:

This coffee tastes bad.

This coffee tastes badly.

Adverbs like badly describe actions. Yet in This coffee tastes badly an adverbseems wrong. That’s because it is wrong. We’re not describing an action, whichwould call for an adverb; we’re instead looking back toward the subject, a noun.Describing nouns is a job for adjectives, not adverbs. That’s why I feel bad is thecorrect way to express regret or shame. The alternative I feel badly suggestsreduced sensation in the fingertips or something along those lines. It’s not theaction of feeling that we’re modifying when we express regret. It’s a reflectionback on the subject. And though this is less intuitive than I am bad or He seemsbad, it’s an example of a copular verb nonetheless.

Some verbs can be either copular or not. The difference lies solely in thespeaker’s intended meaning. Darcy acts good means Darcy gives off theimpression of being well behaved. The predicate is about Darcy, making this acopular verb. Darcy acts well means she’s a skilled thespian. The adverb well isdescribing the action of acting. So this use of act is not a copular verb.

Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliary Verbs (Modality)Auxiliary verbs are helpers. The verbs they help are called lexical verbs, which isjust the term we use to mean verbs that aren’t auxiliaries. The main auxiliaryverbs, have and be, team with other verbs to express when an action took place.

Bruce has left.

They also express whether the action is ongoing.

Bruce is exercising.

In some cases they convey information about things like ability…

He can do it.

…or permission…

You may speak.

…or obligation.

You must speak.

We use the word modality to describe those added properties of permission,ability, obligation, and so on. The auxiliary verbs that convey modality arecalled modal auxiliaries. Here’s a more complete list of their powers: modalauxiliaries express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity, orability.

The modal verbs are can, could, may, might, will, shall, would, should, and must.Other terms sometimes carry modal meanings, like dare, need, ought to, have

to, have got to, to be going to, and to be able to. These are sometimes called semi-modals or modal phrases.

Compare the ways that different auxiliaries affect a clause like you cook:

You have cooked.(Auxiliary have helps express when the action occurred.)

You are cooking.(Auxiliary be helps express that the action is ongoing.)

You should cook.(Modal auxiliary should adds information about obligation.)

You must cook.(Modal auxiliary must adds information about necessity.)

You can cook.(Modal auxiliary can adds information about ability.)

Modals can sometimes stand alone. But in most cases that’s just shorthandthat leaves the main verb implied.

Can he cook?

He can. = He can cook.

Modals have some very unusual properties. For example, modal auxiliaryverbs cannot pair with the particle to to form an infinitive. Think about to cook,to go, and to be. Now compare that with to must, to should, and to might. Theseforms simply don’t exist. True, there’s a to have to, to need to, and to ought to, butthat just shows why ought, need to, and have to aren’t card-carrying members ofthe modal auxiliary club.

Modal auxiliaries don’t have any of the form-types we discussed at thebeginning of this chapter. Modals don’t have an -s form: for example, whereas aregular verb would be conjugated I like, he likes, and so on, modals like can don’tadd the s in the third person singular: I can, he can.

Modals don’t have an -ing form, either. So where lexical verbs have forms likebuying, running, and believing, there is no musting, shalling, or woulding. (Don’tconfuse terms like willing and canning with progressive participles of modalauxiliaries. These are different verbs. Will can be a transitive verb in uses like towill something to happen. Can is a transitive verb when it means to put somethingin a can. So willing and canning are really transitive verbs unrelated to themodals.)

Modals don’t have an -ed past tense form, either. There’s no musted, forexample. Some modals can form something like a past tense. For example, couldat times approximates a past form of can.

Today he can go.

Yesterday he could go.

Finally, some modals have unique properties when you start negating themor contracting them.

Ray will be happy to see you.

Ray won’t be happy to see you.(Will not contracts to won’t.)

Gina can take the call.

Gina cannot take the call.(A closed form with the suffix -not is unique to can.)

Operators and Dummy OperatorsThe easiest way to understand operators is to think of them as the verbs thatmove around when you want to form a question or make the verb negative.

Kate was here.

Was Kate here?(Operator was moves to form a question.)

It is raining.

It is not raining.(Negation applied to operator is.)

Operators are also used to add emphasis…

Do come in.(Operator do adds emphasis.)

…and to truncate sentences.

You go to the gym on Sundays?

I do.(Operator do stands in for the omitted predicate.)

Operators are often the auxiliary verbs have and be.

You have seen the movie.

Have you seen the movie?

You are here.

Are you here?

Modal auxiliaries can act as operators anytime they’re inverted to formquestions or when they receive negation.

You must do that.

Must you do that?

You must not do that.

Danielle should swim.

Should Danielle swim?

Danielle should not swim.

He might know.

Might he know?

He might not know.

The mechanics of these sentences are pretty clear. But for the record, here’sthe process for using auxiliary verbs as operators.

To negate a sentence, put not after the auxiliary verb, making it the operator.

We have seen the ocean.

We have not seen the ocean.(Receiving the negation, have becomes the operator.)

When the verb phrase has more than one auxiliary, put not after the first one,making it an operator.

Gary could have danced all night.

Gary could not have danced all night.

(Receiving the negation, could becomes the operator.)

To make a question by process of inversion, swap the places of the subjectand first auxiliary verb, making it an operator.

We have seen the ocean.

Have we seen the ocean?(Have changes position to form a question, making it an operator.)

Gary could have danced all night.

Could Gary have danced all night?(Could changes position to form a question, making it an operator.)

But notice how when there’s no auxiliary verb, neither the standard inversionprocess nor the standard negation process works. You can’t just swap the placesof the subject and the first word of the verb phrase to form a question.

Gary danced.

Danced Gary?(Incorrect.)

Evelyn bikes.

Bikes Evelyn?(Incorrect.)

Similarly, when there’s no auxiliary, you can’t negate a sentence simply byinserting not after the verb.

Gary danced.

Gary danced not.(Incorrect.)

Evelyn lies.

Evelyn lies not.(Incorrect.)

This is where do comes in. Do has a special job in English: It’s called a dummyoperator. You insert it specifically so you’ll have an operator that allows you toform a question or add negation.

You work.

Do you work?

Because we couldn’t invert you work to make the question work you? weinserted do as our operator, letting us form the question Do you work?

Now here’s the negation process with dummy operator do:

You work.

You do not work.

Again, we couldn’t have just inserted not into our original sentence. Thatwould have given us You work not—an archaic form almost unheard of inmodern English. So by inserting dummy operator do, we had a logical place toput not.

It should go without saying that the dummy operator can also be conjugatedto does for the third person singular or to did for the past tense.

Evelyn lies.

Evelyn does not lie.(Third person singular dummy operator does receives negation.)

Does Evelyn lie?(Third person singular dummy operator does can be inverted to form aquestion.)

Evelyn lied.

Evelyn did not lie.(Past tense did becomes the dummy operator receiving negation.)

Did Evelyn lie?(Past tense did becomes the dummy operator inverted to form a question.)

She does.(Dummy operator does stands in for missing words in truncated sentence.)

Oh, she does lie.(Dummy operator does adds emphasis.)

Like regular operators, dummy operators can also be used as a sort ofshorthand for a truncated noun phrase, Do you take this man to be your lawfullywedded husband? I do. They can also be used for emphasis: I do enjoy dancing.

MoodHave you ever said something like I wish he were here or I wouldn’t do that if I wereyou? If so, why did you use the word were?

Any native English speaker knows that were doesn’t normally go with he.There is no He were here yesterday. Ditto that for It’s crucial you be on time. Thereis no you be. The conjugated form of be that goes with you is are: you are.

But when you throw in a wish or a statement that something is crucial,suddenly the verb conjugation changes. That’s the essence of subjunctive mood.

The subjunctive is one of three moods in English, the others being indicativeand imperative. Those two are simple and straightforward.

Indicative mood is merely a statement.

He is there.

She ate the bread.

We are well informed.

Any simple declarative statement is in the indicative mood—a term that’sessentially useless except when used to distinguish statements from the two

other moods: subjunctive and imperative.Imperative mood means a command.

Be there.

Eat the bread.

Get informed.

The interesting thing about the imperative mood is that it leaves the subjectimplied. That subject is always presumed to be you.

Be there. = You be there.

Eat the bread. = You eat the bread.

Get informed. = You get informed.

This is why imperatives are the only types of clauses that can constitute acomplete sentence despite being just one word long.

Eat!

Stay!

Run!

These meet the minimum criteria for a sentence: that it contain both asubject and a verb. That’s because the subject, you, is implied.

Imperative mood is easy for any native speaker. You don’t need to be told ituses the base form of the verb instead of the conjugated form. That is, eventhough the subject you would take are in its conjugated form, You are there, thatit’s not the form you use to issue commands. When you order someone toshow up, you tell him, Be there, not Are there.

The subjunctive mood is pretty intuitive, too. You probably use it all the timein sentences like I wish he were here without understanding why or even how. Itjust comes naturally.

The subjunctive applies mainly in contrary-to-fact situations as well ascommands, demands, statements of necessity, suggestions, requests, proposals,and suppositions. Here are some examples:

I wish he were here.

If he were here

It’s imperative that you be strong.

I insisted he walk faster.

In none of these example does the verb take the same form it would in thesimple indicative. That is, without those qualifying conditions, you’d say, Hewas here, You are strong, and He walks faster. But in our examples above, weinstead used were, be, and walk to make the mood subjunctive.

To understand the process of forming subjunctives, break it into twosituations: present tense and past tense.

In the present tense, the subjunctive can apply to any verb. It’s formed byreplacing the conjugated form with the base form of the verb. The base form isidentical to the infinitive (when you note that the infinitive does not technicallyinclude the particle to).

So be is a base form. You’d use it to replace is, am, or are when employing thesubjunctive mood.

He is here.

It’s crucial that he be here.

You are nice.

It’s crucial that you be nice.

I am ready.

It’s crucial that I be ready.

As illustrated in those examples, the most irregular verb in English, be, is themost visibly different in the subjunctive form. Because it changes so much fromsubject to subject (I am, you are, he is), the be stands out more in the subjunctive(I be, you be, he be).

Regular verbs, remember, change only slightly when you conjugate them.The third person singular he, she, and it take the -s form (he walks, she walks, itwalks). But all other subjects use a form that’s identical to the base form (I walk,you walk, we walk, they walk). Only the third person singular does that. With thatin mind, look at these statements in the subjunctive:

You walk. → It’s crucial that you walk.

She walks. → It’s crucial that she walk.

He walks. → It’s crucial that he walk.

We walk. → It’s crucial that we walk.

I walk. → It’s crucial that I walk.

Notice how all the forms but the third person don’t change walk at all in thesubjunctive. They’re still subjunctive because that statement of necessity it’scrucial makes them so. The verb just doesn’t change form.

So to form the subjunctive in the present tense, just swap out any conjugatedverb for the base form.

He walks. → It’s crucial that he walk.

He is. → It’s crucial that he be.

Past tense subjunctive is even easier. It applies to just one verb, be, and theformula is very simple. To form the subjunctive, just change any instance of wasto were.

I was. → I wish I were.

He was. → if he were

We were. → It was critical that we were.

One contrary-to-fact situation in which this comes up a lot is if statements.

if I were you

if your father were here

if she were a better athlete

Note that the contrary-to-fact meaning is crucial in determining whether touse the subjunctive.

if Mary were alive(The speaker knows Mary is not alive.)

if Mary was alive at the time(Mary may have been alive.)

Our latter example is not a contrary-to-fact situation. It’s possible Mary wasalive at the time. The speaker doesn’t know. Instead, he’s weighing two veryreal possibilities. That’s why the indicative was is used instead of the subjunctivewere.

VoiceFrom time to time, you hear people talk about passive verbs. Interesting fact:there’s no such thing. Not in a strict grammatical sense, anyway.

True, Carmen runs has a more active quality than Carmen is. There’s nodenying that some verbs are less action-oriented than others. But passive andactive voice in grammar have nothing to do with kinetics. Instead, voice has todo with the structure of the sentence.

Here’s the best way to understand passive voice: in passive structure, theobject of an action is made the grammatical subject of the sentence. Compare

these examples:

Bill baked a cake.(Active voice.)

The cake was baked by Bill.(Passive voice.)

In Bill baked a cake, the subject is Bill, the verb is the transitive verb baked, andthe direct object of that verb is a cake. Bill is the person doing the baking. That’sactive voice.

In The cake was baked by Bill, the doer and receiver of the action do not changeeven though their roles in the sentence have switched. The cake is now thegrammatical subject of the sentence. The main clause is The cake was. But thecake isn’t baking Bill. He remains the doer of the action even though he’s nolonger the grammatical subject of the sentence. That’s passive voice.

The mechanics of forming the passive are simple. It’s formed with the verb becombined with what’s called a passive participle. The passive participle isidentical to the past participle.

To put an active sentence like The moon creates the tides into passive voice,move the object of the action (the tides) to the head of the clause, insert a formof be (was is probably most common in passive voice), then combine thatauxiliary with the past participle of the verb (created).

The moon creates the tides.(Active.)

The tides are created by the moon.(Passive.)

A few more examples:

Steve watched the soccer game.(Active.)

The soccer game was watched by Steve.

(Passive.)

Napoleon conquered Spain.(Active.)

Spain was conquered by Napoleon.(Passive.)

The voters reelected Mayor Jones.(Active.)

Mayor Jones was reelected by the voters.(Passive.)

You’ve probably noticed that a certain word keeps cropping up in the passiveforms: by. This preposition allows us to state the doer of the action when thatdoer is no longer the subject of the sentence. But by is not an integral part ofpassive voice. It’s merely a tool that allows you to mention who performed theaction of the verb. Sometimes that’s crucial to the meaning. Sometimes it’s not.It’s up to you to decide whether the doer of the action is worth mentioning.

The bank was robbed by Alan.

The bank was robbed.

The soccer game was watched by Steve.

The soccer game was watched.

Spain was conquered by Napoleon.

Spain was conquered.

Mayor Jones was reelected by the voters.

Mayor Jones was reelected.

A lot of people think that passive voice is necessarily bad or, at least, inferior

to active voice. In some cases that’s true. Passive can deflate the action of thesentence, making writing less lively. Robert punched Ernest has a greaterimmediacy and directness than Ernest was punched by Robert.

But passive voice is ideal in situations where the doer of the action is lessimportant than the object of the action. In Louis was found unconscious, passivevoice lets us keep the focus on Louis instead of shining a spotlight on theparamedic or jogger or family member who found him. Katie is beloved by all isclearly superior to All belove Katie.

Phrasal VerbsAvoid the mistake of getting verb phrases mixed up with phrasal verbs. A verbphrase, as we saw earlier, is any verb, with or without auxiliaries, modifiers, ordeterminers, functioning as a verb in a sentence. A verb phrase can be a singleword, like runs in the sentence Joey runs. Or a verb phrase can include auxiliariesor adverbs. Joey has run. Joey runs fast.

A phrasal verb is something altogether different. Compare the verbs in thesesentences:

Helen called the bakery.

Helen called off the wedding.

We gave at the office.

We gave up.

I broke my pencil.

I broke up with Robert.

I broke into my own house.

Winnie makes pottery.

Winnie makes up stories.

We ate.

We ate out.

In each of these cases we see a verb whose meaning is totally changed byadding a preposition, an adverb, or both. Break does not mean the same thing asbreak up with. Call does not mean the same thing as call off. Eat does not meanthe same thing as eat out.

Whenever a verb teams up this way with one or more prepositions oradverbs, it’s called a phrasal verb. Three-word forms like get away with, put upwith, face up to, and live up to are sometimes called phrasal-prepositional verbs—areference to the preposition at the end.

And, contrary to a myth, it’s not an error to insert another word like a nounin the middle of phrasal verb. Sometimes that’s the natural wording.

We put him up for the night.(Pronoun him is inserted in the middle of the phrasal verb put up.)

The writers made him up.(Pronoun him is inserted in the middle of the phrasal verb made up.)

Compare those to the alternatives, and you’ll see why the myth doesn’t holdwater. To say, We put up him for the night or The writers made up him is unnaturaland unnecessary.

Gerunds (Verbs as Nouns)As we’ve mentioned, words normally considered one part of speech sometimesfunction as other parts of speech. Gerunds are a good example. Take the -ingform of any verb, use it as a noun, and you have a gerund.

Walking is good exercise.

Chewing gum will get you in trouble.

The kids don’t like coloring.

True, in other contexts these words would be verbs: I am walking. You arechewing gum. He is coloring. But when we take those same -ing participles andturn them into noun phrases, either as the subject of a clause or as the object ofa verb or a preposition, they’re gerunds.

Participial Modifiers (Verbs as Adjectives)Those same -ing verbs that become gerunds when you use them as nounsbecome essentially adjectives when you use them as modifiers. So do pastparticiples.

a painted fence

a singing telegram

accrued interest

editing techniques

a known fact

a paring knife

a pointed question

writing class

his stated purpose

the following example

melted butter

In each of these examples, we see a participle form of a verb acting as anadjective to modify a noun. A painted fence starts with the concept of painting,which is normally an action, but before a noun, the past participle paintedfunctions adjectivally.

A writing class starts with the idea of writing, another action, but it’smodifying a noun, just as an adjective does.

These are called participial modifiers. And they get most complicated andinteresting in sentences like I never see him reading.

Here we see a strong emphasis on the action of reading. But the syntacticalstructure of the sentence makes clear that reading is actually a modifier (it’spostmodifying the pronoun him). The subject is I. The verb is see. The object ofthe verb is him. So the following word, reading, is effectively modifying thepronoun before it—working as a participial modifier.

ContractionThe verbs be, have, will, and would, the adverb not, the pronoun us, and a fewother words are commonly contracted by omitting one or more letters andreplacing them with an apostrophe.

Bob is here. = Bob’s here.

I am here. = I’m here.

They are here. = They’re here.

Kelly has been working a lot. = Kelly’s been working a lot.

They have seen it all. = They’ve seen it all.

Let us all enjoy this fine meal. = Let’s all enjoy this finemeal.

That is not funny. = That isn’t funny.

That is not funny. = That’s not funny.

The watch does not have a second hand. = That watchdoesn’t have a second hand.

The contraction will not also changes its spelling a bit in the contracted form:won’t.

Contractions are considered informal. But formal writing has fallen out ofvogue in all but a few situations. Feel free to use contractions wherever you feel

a casual or conversational tone is appropriate.

7

Adjectives

Let’s get the stuff you already know out of the way fast. Adjectives describenouns.

a pretty necklace

a crazy person

a great idea

When adjectives come before the noun, as in the examples above, they’recalled attributive adjectives. When they’re linked to the subject by a linking(copular) verb, they’re called predicate adjectives—a name made self-explanatory by their location.

The necklace is pretty.

That person seems crazy.

This idea is great.

A lot of adjectives are also classed as other parts of speech when they performother functions.

a fast car(Fast is an adjective because it’s describing the noun car.)

He runs fast.(Fast is an adverb because it’s describing an action.)

This doesn’t mean that you can class any adjective as an adverb anytime it’sfunctioning adverbially. Remember that word classes are like clubs whoseadmission is sanctified by lexicographers when they write dictionaries.Dictionaries list fast as an adverb as well as an adjective. So to use talk fast is touse the word in a way that’s consistent with the dictionary’s word classdesignations. Compare that to talk pretty. Dictionaries don’t sanction thisadverbial use of pretty. (Yes, pretty is listed as an adverb, but only in the sense ofquite or fairly, as in They got engaged pretty quickly. The form of pretty that meanspleasant to look at hasn’t earned admission into the adverb club according tomost dictionaries. Not even the popular expression sitting pretty has earned thisadjective a spot in the adverb club.)

Comparatives and SuperlativesSome adjectives have -er and -est forms. Some don’t.

The -er words—taller, faster, slower, tastier, lighter, and on and on—are calledcomparatives. The -est words—tallest, fastest, slowest, tastiest, lightest, and on andon—are called superlatives. The plain-old adjectives from which comparativesand superlatives spring are sometimes called absolute adjectives, but usuallyonly in contexts where you’re talking about the comparative and superlativeforms.

Adjectives that don’t have -er inflections can be made comparative with theword more.

He’s more interesting.

It’s more difficult.

They’re more practical.

Those same adjectives that don’t have -er inflections don’t have -est

inflections, either. The superlative of these adjectives is formed with most.

He’s most interesting.

It’s most difficult.

They’re most practical.

Adjectives that end in y often replace that letter with an i in their comparativeand superlative forms.

happy happier happiest

busy busier busiest

pretty prettier prettiest

A handful of comparatives and superlatives are irregular:

good better best

bad worse worst

little less least

much more most

far further/farther furthest/farthest

Like regular comparative and superlatives, these can be found next to themain entry for each word in the dictionary. If there’s no comparative andsuperlative form listed in the dictionary, that’s your cue that you use more ormost instead of the suffixes.

Nominal AdjectivesSometimes we use adjectives as nouns.

the elderly

the poor

the meek

the brave

the unsuspecting

It’s pretty clear what’s going on here. The adjective is so clearly and directlyrepresentative of the people and things it describes that, for purposes of thesentence, they’re one and the same. So elderly people, which uses elderly as anadjective to modify the noun people, can do the job all by itself.

These programs are designed for the elderly.

We must do more for the poor.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

This is a sight suitable only for the brave.

We call these nominal adjectives because they’re functioning nominally,meaning as nouns. Not every adjective is a good fit for the job of nominaladjective. For example, it would be weird to call alert people the alert or petitepeople the petite. But whenever the choice will be clear and natural to thereader, an adjective can be used nominally this way.

8

Adverbs

You’ve been lied to about adverbs.Sorry. I know that’s not fun to hear. But if a teacher told you that adverbs

modify verbs and left it at that, she or he fell down on the job. If you were toldthat adverbs end in ly, your teacher loses some points there, too. On the otherhand, if you were taught that adverbs sometimes end in ly and that they alsomodify adjectives and other adverbs, that’s a little better. But it’s still notenough for you to fully understand adverbs.

Here are just a few of the adverbs that your teachers probably neverexplained:

therefore

pretty

too

tomorrow

outside

indeed

there

very

clockwise

early

west

forward

crosswise

everywhere

never

If you find some of these hard to believe, check a dictionary. You’ll see thatall these are classed as adverbs, even though most have other jobs, too. Early,for example, is an adjective when it modifies a noun (an early meeting), but it’s anadverb when it’s used in a manner like He woke up early. However is classed as aconjunction when it links clauses, but it’s right there in the dictionary as anadverb in a context like Do the job however you like. West is often a noun, as in theWest, or an adjective, as in the west wall. But often it’s an adverb: go west.

So these words and many more like them are at times adverbs. Yet they’re afar cry from the adverbs like slowly, happily, and nicely that we all learned aboutin school.

So what, exactly, is an adverb?Here’s a simplistic definition: an adverb is a word that answers the question

“When?” “Where?” or “In what manner?” or that modifies a whole clause. For amore thorough definition, add “To what degree?” and “How frequently?”

Let’s look at each of these criteria for adverbs. Start with the followingexamples:

I’ll see you tomorrow.(Adverb tomorrow answers the question “When?”)

Zach is outside.(Adverb outside answers the question “Where?”)

The plan was executed beautifully.

(Adverb beautifully answers the question “In what manner?”)

This plate is very hot.(Adverb very answers the question “To what degree?”)

Unfortunately, we’re out of ice cream.(Adverb unfortunately modifies the whole clause.)

Furthermore, we concluded that no action wasnecessary.(Adverb furthermore modifies the whole clause.)

As you can see, adverbs do a lot more than tell you whether Billy ran quicklyor whether Susie sings beautifully. Those types of adverbs—the ones thatdescribe actions and often end in ly—are called manner adverbs. The types wesee in the last two examples are called sentence adverbs because they modifythe sentence (or, more precisely, a clause). Within the category of sentenceadverbs we have what are called conjunctive adverbs, which include furthermoreand therefore. They’re so-named because they join clauses while addinginformation like the logical connection between the ideas.

Most of the time, when you’re looking at a word and can’t figure out whatpart of speech it is, it’s probably an adverb. You can find out for sure with aquick check of a dictionary. Just remember to read all the entries for the wordbecause many words qualify as multiple parts of speech.

Adverbs Versus AdverbialsAdverb is a word class and adverbial is a function. Adverbs are usuallyadverbials in a sentence. But other parts of speech can be adverbials, too. Anexample we saw earlier compared Tuesday and tomorrow. They functionidentically in a sentence.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

I’ll see you Tuesday.

Yet most dictionaries don’t class Tuesday as an adverb the way they dotomorrow. This is purely a result of lexicographers’ assessment that Tuesday,based on how it’s used, isn’t quite as qualified for admission into the adverbclub, even though tomorrow is.

So in the example above, Tuesday is a noun. But it’s functioning as anadverbial by answering the question “When?”

Even more common than nouns functioning as adverbials are prepositionalphrases functioning as adverbials.

Leave your bike outside.

Leave your bike in the yard.

Notice how in these examples outside and in the yard function in an identicalmanner. They both answer the question “Where?” But while outside is amember of the word class known as adverb, the whole phrase in the yard can’tbe part of a word class because it’s a whole prepositional phrase. Yet because it’sanswering the question “Where?” it’s also an adverbial.

Adverb Functions: Postmodifiers, Premodifiers, andAdverbialsThe iconic adverbs we learned about in school often come after the verb. So wesay they are postmodifiers of the verb.

Grandma walks slowly.(Adverb slowly postmodifies the verb walks.)

Jeremy laughs loudly.(Adverb loudly postmodifies the verb laughs.)

Brett angers easily.(Adverb easily postmodifies the verb angers.)

A premodifier is also self-explanatory: it’s a word that comes before another

word and modifies it. Adverbs can function as premodifiers of adjectives orother adverbs.

That was a really great movie.(Adverb really premodifies adjective great.)

She sings very beautifully.(Adverb very premodifies adverb beautifully.)

Many of the adverbs that work as premodifiers of adjectives and adverbsanswer the question “To what degree?” They include too, very, unbelievably,slightly, exceptionally, totally, and many similar words.

But adverbs don’t always come right before or after a word they modifyprecisely because they don’t always modify individual words. Adverbials addinformation about when, where, and degree to the whole clause. They informthe whole clause with spatial, temporal, or degree information.

Put it here.(Adverb here is answering the question “Where?”)

Do it now.(Adverb now is answering the question “When?”)

But don’t forget that adverbs aren’t the only things that can serve asadverbials. As we’ve seen, prepositional phrases (Put it in the drawer) and evennouns (Do it Tuesday) can do the same.

Adjuncts, Conjuncts, DisjunctsWe can break up adverbials into three groups: adjuncts, conjuncts, anddisjuncts.

Adjuncts are integral to the sentence. You can’t just lift them out. They’repart of the core clause. For example, in Put it here the adverb here can’t be takenout of the sentence. You’d end up with Put it, which loses substantial meaning.You need the adverbial here for the sentence to make sense and to be

structurally sound.Conjuncts, on the other hand, are optional modifiers of whole clauses or

sentences. They create logical connections between thoughts: however, therefore,consequently, and nevertheless are a few examples of conjuncts. Conjuncts can beadverbs like additionally or they can be phrases or clauses, such as in addition to.

Conjuncts can link clauses within a single sentence, often with the help of asemicolon, or they can link the idea of one sentence with that of the priorsentence.

Maddie wants a car; however, she doesn’t want to savefor one.

Maddie wants a car. However, she doesn’t want to savefor one.

Disjuncts, like conjuncts, are essentially sentence adverbs, but they don’tlogically link the clauses together the way conjuncts do. Instead, they provideoverview information such as commentary to the whole clause or sentence.

Honestly, I don’t know why you bother.

Frankly, it’s none of your business.

Truly, he is insane.

Again, these jobs can be done by either adverbs or other units, especiallyprepositional phrases, functioning as adverbials.

To be honest, I don’t know why you bother.

To be frank, it’s none of your business.

To be truthful, he is insane.

Adjectives, Not Adverbs, with Copular Verbs

It’s a common error to use adverbs after copular verbs, most often seen in thesentence I feel badly. Unless you’re speaking idiomatically, that should be I feelbad. People make this mistake because they’re thinking of the basic rule thatsays that adverbs modify verbs. But that rule doesn’t apply when you’re dealingwith copular verbs, which express being, seeming, appearing, becoming, or thefive senses.

These verbs, instead of expressing action, point back to the subject. Becausethe subject is a noun phrase, it’s modified with an adjective and not an adverb.

I am happy.(Not I am happily.)

She seems nice.(Not She seems nicely.)

Dinner smells good.(Not Dinner smells well.)

I feel bad.(Not I feel badly.)

Granted, feel isn’t intuitive like the other examples. You have to take it onfaith that when you mean you feel guilty or sympathetic, you’re using thecopular form. Obviously, it’s possible to modify the action of feeling, too, andthat would call for an adverb. But that’s not usually what people mean.

Other Situations Calling for Adjectives after VerbsAnother common adverb error involves forms like They sliced the meat thinly orThey dug too deeply. The former should be They sliced the meat thin and the latter,you could argue, would be better as They dug too deep.

In situations like these, the choice of an adverb or adjective has more to dowith meaning than with syntactical structure. If you can find a way to go aboutslicing in a thin manner, then you can indeed do this activity thinly. But simplelogic suggests that you’re modifying the meat, not the action.

To dig deep is more ambiguous. The thing that’s deep is, presumably, a literalor metaphorical hole being dug. But you could perceive that the act of digging iswhat’s being modified, in which case dig deeply is also acceptable.

9

Conjunctions

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses. The most common variety,coordinating conjunctions, are a closed set:

for

and

nor

but

or

yet

so

An acronym commonly used to remember the coordinating conjunctions isFANBOYS. Coordinating conjunctions connect units of equal grammaticalstatus. That means you can usually change the order of the items without anysignificant loss of meaning. This sets coordinating conjunctions apart fromsubordinating conjunctions, which elevate one item to a higher grammaticalstatus than another and which we’ll look at below.

Here are a few examples of coordinating conjunctions at work:

Anna, Justin, and Wesley will be here in the morning.(Coordinating conjunction and joins three noun phrases.)

Run or jog around the block.(Coordinating conjunction or joins two verb phrases.)

Government of the people, by the people, and for thepeople shall not perish from this earth.(Coordinating conjunction and joins three prepositional phrases.)

Rick likes to eat, but what he really loves is sleep.(Coordinating conjunction but joins two whole clauses.)

Some coordinating conjunctions are also members of other word classes. For,for example, is more often a preposition than a conjunction. So can be anadverb, adjective, or pronoun. And so on. But if you keep in mind conjunctions’job as joiners, it’s easy to keep straight when one of these words is a conjunctionversus any other part of speech.

This soup is so good.(So is an adverb modifying the adjective good.)

My car wouldn’t start, so I walked.(So is a conjunction joining clauses.)

The rain hasn’t started yet.(Yet is an adverb expressing temporal information.)

It’s raining, yet the dog still wants to go out.(Yet is a conjunction joining clauses.)

This gift is for Anya.(For is a preposition.)

I will answer the call of duty, for I have just one life to giveto my country.(For is a conjunction joining clauses.)

Coordinating conjunctions often work with commas. Between whole clauses,a comma usually comes before the coordinating conjunction, though exceptionscan be made when the clauses are short, clear, and closely related.

It’s true that the school has distinguished alumnae, andthat’s a good reason to enroll there.(Comma precedes coordinating conjunction and.)

The school has distinguished alumnae and that’simportant to me.(No comma necessary before and to show separation between clauses.)

Note that a comma is not used when the units joined by the conjunction arenot whole clauses.

He’s run a half marathon, but he’s never run a fullmarathon.(Conjunction but joins whole clauses and is preceded by a comma.)

He’s run a half marathon but never a full marathon.(Conjunction but is not preceded by comma because the joined units aren’twhole clauses.)

There’s no hot water, nor is there any electricity.(Conjunction nor joins whole clauses and is preceded by comma.)

There’s neither hot water nor electricity.(Conjunction nor is not preceded by comma because joined units aren’t wholeclauses.)

In lists of three or more items, the commas separating the items are thoughtto represent coordinating conjunctions. In the following example, note howafter the word red a comma precludes the need for the word and.

The flag is red and white and blue. = The flag is red, white, and blue.

The comma after white in the above example is called a serial or Oxfordcomma. It’s optional. For a discussion on serial commas, see chapter 24, thispage.

When nouns, clauses, and other units are connected with coordinatingconjunctions, the items are said to be coordinate. For example, in Elizabeth and Iare going skating, the subject Elizabeth and I is a coordinate noun phrase.

Coordinate noun phrases can do the same jobs as individual nouns, includingthat of object: You should come skating with Elizabeth and me.

Coordinate noun phrases used as subjects and objects are also calledcompound subjects and compound objects, respectively.

When the conjunction and creates a coordinate noun phrase, the verb isplural to agree with the plural items in the subject.

A cat and a dog are available for adoption.(Plural verb are corresponds to the plural subject of one cat plus one dog.)

But the coordinating conjunction or suggests that only one of the items in anoun phrase is performing the action in the verb. So a singular verb is usuallyused.

One cat or dog is allowed on the lease.(Singular verb is shows that only one cat or one dog will perform the action ofthe verb.)

When a compound subject formed with or contains both singular and pluralelements, the one closest to the verb usually dictates verb agreement.

A manager or shift supervisors are on duty at all times.(Plural verb are agrees with plural supervisors, which is closest to the verb.)

Shift supervisors or a manager is on duty at all times.(Singular verb is agrees with singular manager, which is closest to the verb.)

This is more a custom than a rule. You can use your own judgment in thesesituations.

Subordinating ConjunctionsUnlike coordinating conjunctions, which make up a small group, subordinatingconjunctions make up a large group. Members include the following words andphrases:

because

until

than

although

while

after

if

when

since

unless

why

before

whether

once

where

even if

in order that

rather than

Subordinating conjunctions link whole clauses in a way that indicates arelationship between them—often involving time, place, possibility, or cause-and-effect relationship. But in the process, subordinating conjunctions dosomething rather extraordinary: they render one of the clauses dependent onthe other. One of the clauses, then, is said to be subordinate. It can’t stand aloneas a sentence.

The workers arrive on time. The foreman was late.

These two clauses can each stand alone as complete sentences. That meansthey’re independent clauses. If we join them with a coordinating conjunction,their status as independent clauses doesn’t change.

The workers arrived on time and the foreman was late.

The clauses are of equal grammatical status. They can swap places: Theforeman was late and the workers arrived on time. Or they can be broken up intotwo separate but complete sentences. Clauses joined this way with acoordinating conjunction are called coordinate clauses.

A subordinating conjunction changes this relationship.

Although the workers arrived on time, the foreman was late.

The first clause is now dependent on, or subordinate to, the second. Unlikethe second clause, the first can no longer stand alone as a complete sentence.The conjunction would render it a sentence fragment: Although the workersarrived on time. The second clause is needed to make this a complete sentence.

Sentences that contain at least one independent clause and at least onesubordinate clause are called complex sentences. That sets them apart fromsentences in which all the clauses are independent. These are called compoundsentences. A one-clause sentence, incidentally, is called a simple sentence.

Correlative ConjunctionsSome conjunctions work only in pairs. These are called correlativeconjunctions.

both…and

either…or

neither…nor

not…but

not only…but also

whether…or

Each part of the conjunction introduces a clause, phrase, or word, and as aresult the parts achieve a sort of balance. The parts introduced by each half ofthe correlative conjunction are usually similar in length and grammaticalstructure. Here are some examples:

We watched not only Jaws but also Star Wars.

The speech was neither too long nor too short.

Whether you love him or hate him, you must admit thesenator gets the job done.

10

Prepositions

The same teachers who misled you about adverbs probably shortchanged youon your prepositions lesson, too. Schoolkids are told that prepositions showwhere one thing is located relative to another: above, over, between, on, in, andunder are examples trotted out. Conveniently left out of the discussion are theprepositions about, of, to, with, and others that have nothing to do with physicallocation.

Those teachers can be forgiven for shielding young minds from harsh reality:there is no clear, simple, and satisfying definition of prepositions.

The most complete definition of prepositions amounts to circular logic:prepositions are the headwords in prepositional phrases. In most cases, thosephrases also include an object—a noun phrase partnered with the preposition.Examples will help:

The icing is on the cake.

They gave the promotion to Claire.

He served with honor.

They are from South Carolina.

You’re in trouble.

It’s somewhere over the rainbow.

Glenn is on the phone.

They were talking about me.

This is just between us.

In each of the examples above, the preposition has a noun phrase as its object.These are in the objective case. That means that when they’re pronouns, theytake object forms like him, us, me, and her instead of nominative forms like he,we, I, and she.

This means that, technically, between you and me is correct and between you andI is a grammatical error. Though it’s important to note that between you and I isidiomatic.

Similarly, a common error is to use a subject pronoun like I in coordinatenoun phrases that call for an object pronoun like me. Talk to John or I, forexample, would be better as Talk to John or me. For a look at case in coordinatenoun phrases, see chapter 16, this page.

Another important thing to note about prepositions can be seen in thefollowing examples:

He was bored by the lesson. = He was bored with thelesson. = He was bored of the lesson.

Rob has an affinity for Jess. = Rob has an affinity withJess.

Jones differs from Wilson on this matter. = Jones differswith Wilson on this matter.

Its architecture is dissimilar from the surroundingstructures. = Its architecture is dissimilar with thesurrounding structures.

I’m embarrassed by my uncle. = I’m embarrassed of myuncle.

If it’s not clear which of the prepositions above are right, that’s because

there’s often no right answer. Terms that pair a noun, adjective, or verb with apreposition to achieve a special meaning don’t follow any rule more specificthan the one that sounds best probably is best. These expressions are allidiomatic. So their correctness—or their subtle shades of meaning orappropriateness from context to context—is based on little more thanpopularity.

11

Determiners

Determiners introduce noun phrases, conveying information like quantity (anymoney) and definiteness (these shoes).

As we’ve already seen, many words can be pronouns or determinersdepending on what they’re doing in the sentence. For example, when the wordsome, any, or more introduces a noun, it’s a determiner. When it heads up a nounphrase, it’s a pronoun.

I want some cake.

I want some.

He doesn’t have any children.

He doesn’t have any.

There’s no more milk.

There’s no more.

When the term can function as the head of a noun phrase—serving as thesubject of a clause, the object of a transitive verb, or the object of a preposition—it’s a pronoun. But when it precedes a noun and adds information to it, it’s adeterminer.

Determiners are a large set, including everything from these and those to any,our, and some. Articles are often discussed as a type of determiner. They makeup a very small set, consisting of just a, an, and the. Let’s look at articles first,then move on to determiners as a whole.

Definite and Indefinite ArticlesThe is the definite article. It’s used to refer to a specific thing or things.

the house

the cats

The definite article suggests that the reader or listener has some idea whichspecific thing or things you’re referring to. Contrast that with the indefinitearticle a, which signals clearly to the listener that there’s no such expectation. Ahouse means a house about which the listener needs no prior information. Thehouse, on the other hand, sends a signal that the listener should either alreadyknow which house you’re talking about or that he should be able to infer fromyour sentence that you’re indicating a specific house.

Definite articles cause serious headaches for English language learners. Doyou go to hospital or do you go to the hospital? Do you go to market or do you go tothe market? Do you go to school, or do you go to the school? In general, do you likepasta, or do you like the pasta?

Unfortunately, the use of definite articles in situations like these follows nologic. The correct answer can even vary from American English to BritishEnglish. They must be learned through exposure to the language. But there aretips that English learners find helpful. Noncount nouns like salad and couragedon’t take articles in most situations. (We’ll eat salad. He lacks courage.) Cities,states, and countries don’t take articles. Nor do languages. We visited Paris but wedon’t speak French.) Also, sports customarily aren’t preceded by a definite article.(He likes football. He plays baseball.)

The indefinite articles are a and an. They’re used to refer to nonspecificthings. They don’t require your listener to be familiar with the thing you’retalking about.

a cat

a house

Unlike definite articles, indefinite articles can’t introduce plurals. That is, youcan have a house but you can’t have a houses. The nearest alternative is somehouses, but some is a determiner, not an article.

The indefinite article an means the same thing as a. The only difference isthat an precedes a vowel sound.

an aardvark

an author

an elder

The choice of an is based on sound, not spelling. Words that begin withvowels don’t always begin with vowel sounds.

a university

a unique problem

The word university is pronounced as though it begins with a hard y: yoo-niversity. That’s why it takes a as an indefinite article. Same for unique. Comparethem to an ultimatum, which begins with a vowel sound: uhl-timatum. That’swhy it takes an.

Just as not every word that begins with a vowel begins with a vowel sound,not every term that begins with a consonant begins with a consonant sound.This most often comes up when dealing with initialisms.

an FBI agent

If we were talking about a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, we woulduse the article a to precede the consonant sound that begins Federal. But peopleusually speak this abbreviation as three distinct letters: eff bee eye. When spoken,that first letter, F, is pronounced beginning with a vowel sound: eff. So thearticle an instead of a precedes it.

When it’s not 100 percent clear how a term is pronounced, the choice ofindefinite article can get confusing. Consider, for example, Xmas and AAA.

Is Xmas pronounced eks-mas, meaning that initial vowel sound should bepreceded by an in an Xmas card? Or is it a way of textually representing a wordthat’s pronounced Christmas, meaning the initial consonant sound should bepreceded by a in a Xmas card?

And how about AAA? This widely known abbreviation for the AmericanAutomobile Association is often spoken not as ay, ay, ay but as triple A. So wouldyou write about a AAA-rated hotel or an AAA-rated hotel?

The answer: there is no answer. It’s up to the writer to decide the intendedpronunciation. Many of the most well-edited and highly respected publicationsin the country treat AAA as though it begins with the letter t. But not all do.

Xmas, too, is subject to your interpretation.In either case, use the indefinite article that corresponds to your intended

pronunciation and comports with your best judgment.

Types of DeterminersThe large class of words we call determiners can be broken up into subsets.There’s some disagreement on how to categorize them, but for the most partdeterminers can be considered within these categories:

Possessive Determiners my, your, her, our, its

Demonstrative Determiners this, that, these, those

Interrogative Determiners what, whose

Relative Determiners which, whose

Nominal Relative Determiners which, whichever, what, whatever

Quantifying Determiners any, some, many, all, plus phrases like a lot and a little

Conditional Determiners whichever, whatever, whatsoever

Exclamative Determiner what

These words are determiners only when they introduce noun phrases. Whenthey do the job of noun phrases, they’re pronouns.

Which shirt will you buy?(Determiner which introduces noun phrase shirt.)

Which will you buy?(Pronoun which functions as the subject of the clause.)

Possessive determiners have the same job as possessive pronouns. They bothcome before a noun and indicate possession, either literal or abstract, of thenoun.

Sherry’s hat

her hat

The main difference is that you don’t add an apostrophe or s. The concept ofpossession is already built in. This causes some confusion with the possessivedeterminer its. It’s a common error to insert an apostrophe into the possessivedeterminer.

The dog wagged it’s tail.(Incorrect.)

The reasons for this mistake are pretty clear. Regular nouns form theirpossessives by adding apostrophe plus s, making it seem quite natural to do thesame when it is made possessive. On top of that, it’s looks right because we seeit so often as a contraction of it and is. But this is always an error. The it’s withan apostrophe is exclusively a contraction of it is or it has, while the possessive

its never takes an apostrophe.Most possessive determiners are a little different from their possessive

pronoun counterparts. The pronoun form sometimes adds an s or, in the case ofmy, changes completely to mine.

Her place. → The place is hers.

Our place. → The place is ours.

Your place. → The place is yours.

Their place. → The place is theirs.

My place. → The place is mine.

Possessive determiners his and its have the same form as their possessivepronoun counterparts.

His place. → The place is his.

Its place. → The place is its.

Possessive Determiner Possessive Pronoun

my mine

your yours

his his

her hers

our ours

their theirs

its its

The demonstrative determiners are this, that, these, and those. They specifywhich things are being talked about. In this chair, the chair indicated by thespeaker is distinguished from every other chair in the world, making it the onlychair that he could possibly be talking about. These chairs does the same thing in

the plural.The demonstrative determiners this and these indicate a closer proximity than

the determiners that and those. That proximity can be physical or conceptual. Ifthere are two chairs in the room, this chair is clearly understood to mean theone nearest the speaker, while that chair indicates the one farthest away. Theseand those do the same thing for plural items.

Interrogative determiners come before nouns to allow the speaker or writerto pose questions. This small class has just three members—which, what, andwhose—and they have the rather interesting job of representing a missing pieceof information that the speaker is asking the listener to supply. For example, ifthe speaker knows that the listener just saw a movie but doesn’t knowspecifically which one, he would ask, Which movie did you see? The listener isexpected to fill in the missing information represented by which: I saw the horrormovie.

The interrogative determiner what is very similar to which. If there’s anydifference, it’s that what has a broader, more abstract connotation than thepinpoint-precise which.

Whose does the same basic job as which and what, except it customarilyapplies to people: Whose cup is that? But whose sometimes refers to things likecompanies, while what and which can refer to people.

Whose parking spaces are those? The grocery store’s orthe coffee shop’s?

Which doctor did you see?

What doctor did you see?

The relative determiners are which and whose, and though these two wordsare also interrogative determiners, the difference is that interrogatives posequestions while relative determiners form clauses that themselves describenouns. In that way, they’re similar to relative pronouns.

The man whose wallet I found

Notice that the clause introduced by whose helps specify which man is beingtalked about. So the whole clause functions as an adjective modifying man.

Which can be the object of a preposition.

The car in which I was riding.

This is another example of a relative clause because it modifies the noun car.Just as we saw with interrogative determiners, the relative determiner whose isusually understood to refer to people, but it can also refer to inanimate objects.

The cup, whose handle was broken, has been thrownaway.

The company, whose CEO was fired, saw better profits inthe third quarter.

The quantifying determiners any, some, many, all, and much, and quantifyingphrases like a lot and a little modify a noun with information about how much ofit there is.

Do you have any cash?

There were some birds flying by.

We don’t have much time.

The conditional determiners whichever, whatever, and whatsoever introducenoun phrases that represent a range of choices.

We’ll watch whichever movie you prefer.

We’ll tow whosever car is parked illegally.

The exclamative determiner what goes before a noun phrase to make it or awhole clause into an exclamation.

What a show-off!

What big teeth you have, Grandmother.

12

The Grammar of Phrases

In chapter 2, we looked at the definition of phrases. In this chapter, we’ll seehow they function in sentences.

Phrases, as we’ve seen, are units that function as a particular part of speech:noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or preposition. A phrase can be just one word,like the verb phrase ran in I ran. Or they can contain other phrases, like theadverb phrase quickly within the verb phrase ran in I ran quickly. Here’s a look ateach type of phrase.

Noun PhrasesAs we’ve seen, noun phrases are usually headed up by nouns or pronouns.

Hungry mountain lions prowl the area.

They got their flu shots.

But noun phrases can also have as their head word a nominal adjective likeelderly, a gerund like walking, or a number like eight.

The elderly will benefit.

Walking is a mode of transportation.

Eight is enough.

He left.

Noun phrases can do different jobs in a sentence. Most often, we think ofthem as subjects, objects of transitive verbs, and objects of prepositions.

Sandwiches are on the way.(Noun phrase sandwiches is subject of the clause.)

We will serve sandwiches.(Noun phrase sandwiches is the object of the verb.)

The menu consists mainly of sandwiches.(Noun phrase sandwiches is the object of the preposition.)

But noun phrases can do a few other jobs, too. They can be indirect objects.

We sent Mae a postcard.(Mae is the indirect object; a postcard is the direct object.)

A noun phrase can be a subject predicative, which, as we saw in chapter 2,this page, is a phrase that appears in the predicate but, because it follows alinking verb, refers back to the subject.

Cliff is the manager.(Noun phrase the manager is the subject predicative.)

A noun phrase can also be an object predicative—a phrase that appears in thepredicate of the sentence where it modifies or completes an object.

Desiree considers Wesley a lunatic.(A lunatic is a noun phrase completing the idea about Wesley, who is theobject of the transitive verb considers.)

Noun phrases can be the premodifiers of other nouns. We call theseattributive nouns because they work like adjectives to assign attributes to

another noun.

a paint store

an exercise regimen

an insurance broker

A noun phrase can also be a vocative, which is essentially a direct address: aword you call someone, be it their name or something else.

I like you, Susie.

Thanks, Boss.

Are you listening, my friend?

You did great, sweetheart.

Finally, noun phrases can function as appositives, which are noun phrasesthat restate another noun phrase, though usually while supplying additionalinformation about it.

The cat, a tabby, ran through the yard.

The subject of this clause is the cat. The tabby restates the subject. It’s afreestanding noun phrase that refers to the same thing as the subject, adding abit more information. Any noun phrase functioning this way is an appositive or,put another way, functioning in apposition. Appositives are usually set off withcommas, though em dashes can do so as well.

Her husband, Tim, rides the subway.

Shelley—the best dancer I’ve ever seen—commandedthe floor.

His first book, The Beast Within, sold only one thousandcopies.

The chair—a beautifully refurbished Eames original—was knocked over.

The subject and the appositive can usually swap roles. The key attribute thatmakes it appositive is that it’s not the subject of the verb. It’s a reference to thatsubject.

Tim, her husband, rides the subway.

In this example, Tim is the subject because of the structure: subject plus verbequals a clause. The commas around Tim indicate that this is parentheticalinformation not integral to the basic structure of the sentence. Swapping placesof the appositive and the subject changes their roles as well.

Her husband, Tim, rides the subway.

Sometimes the question of which noun phrase is the subject rides on a singlecomma.

The nation’s favorite highway, Route 66, traverses eightstates.(The first noun phrase is the subject of the clause because commas set offRoute 66 as appositive.)

The nation’s favorite highway, Route 66 traverses eightstates.(Route 66 is the subject of the clause because the lone comma sets off thefirst noun phrase as appositive.)

Similarly, a noun phrase may be appositive or attributive (adjectival)depending on the writer’s meaning and expressed by the commas.

The book Moby-Dick influenced a generation.(Moby-Dick is the subject and the book is functioning attributively.)

The book, Moby-Dick, influenced a generation.(The book is the subject and Moby-Dick is appositive.)

Note how, in the second example, the definite article the suggests that thereader has already been introduced to the idea that a book is being discussed.But in the first example, the question of which book is being discussed is fulfilledby the phrase structure.

Noun phrases can take modifiers and determiners.

Red shirts are fashionable.

The adjective phrase red can be looked at as part of the noun phrase red shirtswhen we want to talk about what that whole unit is doing in the sentence. Forexample, if we’re talking about the subject of the above sentence, we’d probablywant to include red in our analysis because it helps us see what the whole unit isdoing there: serving as a subject of the clause.

The main word in a noun phrase—the one doing the job of a noun—is calledthe head noun. Other elements, adjectives or other modifying terms, are calleddependents. They could be deleted without damaging the syntax of thesentence. The head noun cannot.

Terms that come before the noun to modify it are called premodifiers, forexample red in red shirts. Terms that come after the noun to modify it are calledpostmodifiers and often come in the form of participial modifying phrases andprepositional phrases.

shirts from Italy(Prepositional phrase from Italy postmodifies the noun.)

shirts manufactured in Italy(Participial phrase manufactured in Italy postmodifies the noun.)

shirts bearing a team logo(Participial phrase bearing a team logo postmodifies the noun.)

Premodifiers, postmodifiers, or both can be considered part of the nounphrase for purposes of analysis. In both the examples below, the entireunderlined portion constitutes a noun phrase, even though it clearly containsother phrases.

Red shirts from Italy are popular.

Red shirts manufactured in Italy are popular.

Modifying phrases of all types can be restrictive or nonrestrictive.When people talk about restrictive modification, it’s usually in the context of

talking about whole clauses—specifically relative clauses, whose restrictive andnonrestrictive properties we saw in chapter 5, this page. But all types ofmodifiers can be discussed in terms of restrictive and nonrestrictive effects.

Players who show bad sportsmanship will be cut.

Red lipstick is dramatic.

Vegetables from the farmers market are very fresh.

Restrictive modifiers limit the scope of things referred to by the noun. Thatis, they restrict it. Try taking out the underlined modifying phrases from theabove three examples and you’ll see what I mean.

Players will be cut is far less specific than Players who show bad sportsmanship willbe cut. The latter example refers to a narrower group of players. So the relativeclause who show bad sportsmanship is restrictive.

In Red lipstick is dramatic, the adjective phrase eliminates pink, plum, andevery other color from the lipsticks being discussed. So it’s restrictive.

In Vegetables from the farmers market are very fresh, it’s clear that the onlyvegetables being discussed are those from the farmers market. So theprepositional phrase from the farmers market is a restrictive modifier.

Restrictive relative clauses can omit that, a construction called the zerorelative.

The movie that I saw was good.

The movie I saw was good.

Nonrestrictive modifiers should be self-explanatory. Whereas restrictive

modifiers narrow down the scope of the noun they modify, nonrestrictivemodifiers don’t. They add supplemental information that doesn’t pare down thescope of the noun being talked about.

Nonrestrictive modifiers are often relative clauses built on the relativepronouns which or who/whom and separated from the noun phrase withcommas, dashes, or parentheses.

The players (who showed bad sportsmanship) got alecture from the coach.

The players, whom the coach scolded, had shown badsportsmanship.

The movie, which I saw twice, has a happy ending.

The underlined clauses are all nonrestrictive because they don’t restrict ornarrow down the range of the subject being discussed. They can be removedfrom the sentence without loss of specificity of the subject.

Noun phrases can also contain determiners.

These red shirts are fashionable.

All these red shirts are fashionable.

The vegetables from the farmers market are very fresh.

A noun phrase can contain coordinate nouns—two or more nouns connectedwith an express or implied coordinating conjunction, usually and.

Sticks and stones will break my bones.(The noun phrase sticks and the noun phrase stones joined with and form asingle coordinate noun phrase.)

The bags come in paper or plastic.(Paper and plastic are joined with coordinating conjunction or to form a singlecoordinate noun phrase, which functions as the object of the preposition in.)

His greatest virtue is not honesty but openness.

(Honesty and openness are joined by coordinating conjunction but form asingle noun phrase operating as the complement of the copular verb is.)

A coordinate noun phrase can contain more than two items, as well—asmany nouns as you can fit without making the sentence unintelligible.

In a coordinate noun phrase, none of the coordinate items is considered thehead noun. They’re weighted equally, as demonstrated by the fact that they canswap places without changing the meaning.

The burrito has beans, cheese, and rice.

The burrito has cheese, beans, and rice.

When and is the coordinator in the noun phrase, the phrase usually takes aplural verb.

Tracy and Alex are coming.

But if the coordinate noun phrase is intended as a single unit, it can take asingular verb.

Peanut butter and jelly is the best sandwich ever.

When or is the coordinator, the phrase usually takes a singular verb.

Tracy or Alex is coming.

In coordinate noun phrases, coordinating conjunctions can be omittedbetween all the items except the last two. The rest are usually separated bycommas, which sort of represent the and or other conjunction.

Brian and Whitney and Allison and Craig will be there. =Brian, Whitney, Allison, and Craig will be there.

Parsley or tarragon or basil can substitute. = Parsley,tarragon, or basil can substitute.

Verb PhrasesWe can break verb phrases up into two groups: finite and nonfinite. Think ofthe finite ones as verbs conjugated to work with a subject.

Troy studies.(Finite verb studies is inflected in number and person for the subject.)

Nonfinite verbs are not inflected to work with the subject and form a clause.Instead, they take other forms—often participles, gerunds, and infinitives—thatmodify the main clause or serve other functions in the sentence. Here are twoexamples of nonfinite verb phrases at work:

Studying, Troy learned about ancient Rome.(Participle studying is not inflected for the subject, and instead of forming themain clause, it modifies the main clause, or functions adverbially.)

To study, Troy needs complete silence.(Infinitive to study is not inflected for the subject, and instead of forming amain clause, it functions adverbially.)

Like noun phrases, verb phrases can be just one word or more than one. Themain verb is the head word. Other words in the phrase can be auxiliaries, modalauxiliaries, or modifiers like adverb phrases.

Kimberly changed careers.

Kimberly has changed careers.

Kimberly might change careers.

There’s a bit of disagreement about whether adverb phrases can beconsidered part of the verb phrase. But it’s often useful to see them as part of asingle unit. In the following two examples, the adverbs come in the middle ofthe verb phrase. Allowing adverb phrases to be discussed as part of verb phraseslets us see these groupings more clearly.

Kimberly has recently changed careers.

Kimberly has only recently changed careers.

Another thing to know about verb phrases: they are where negation usuallytakes place.

As we saw in our verbs chapter, negation usually applies to the verb be, anauxiliary verb, or the dummy operator do.

I am not here.(Negation applied to verb be.)

He has not confessed.(Negation applied to auxiliary have.)

He did not confess.(Negation applied to dummy operator do.)

Verb phrases agree in number and person with their subjects. In the simplepresent tense, all subjects but the third person singular use the base form of theverb. The third person singular uses the -s form: I go, you go, he goes, she goes, wego, they go. In the perfect tenses (present perfect and past perfect) and theprogressive aspect, the auxiliary verbs agree with the subject but the participlesare unchanging for every subject: I have gone, he has gone, she has gone, we havegone, they have gone; I am going, he is going, she is going, we are going, they are going.

Adjective PhrasesThe two main jobs of adjective phrases are to premodify a noun and to serve asa subject predicative. Premodification just means that it comes before the nounit modifies.

Pretty lies will get you nowhere.(Pretty modifies the noun lies.)

A subject predicative, as we saw in chapter 2, this page, is a reflection back on

the subject that takes place in the predicate. It follows a copular verb like be,seem, appear, feel, and smell. Karen is nice. Gary seems upset. This coffee smells good.

Adjective phrases can be coordinate or noncoordinate. Coordinate adjectivephrases modify the noun in similar ways, with no cumulative or hierarchicalproperties (a boring, cheesy, terrible movie). Noncoordinate adjectives havedifferent relationships to the noun: some are more integral to the noun’smeaning than others (an ugly neon green tie). Coordinate adjectives make sensewith and between them; noncoordinate adjectives do not. Coordinate adjectivescan swap places without any significant loss of meaning. Noncoordinateadjectives cannot. We’ll look at coordination of modifiers more closely inchapter 14, this page.

Adverb PhrasesAdverb phrases, as we’ve seen, answer the questions “In what manner?”“When?” and “Where?” Or they can modify a whole sentence.

He went outside.

We left early.

Therefore, the case is closed.

He stormed out spewing obscenities.

An adverb phrase can be a single adverb or an adverb plus one or more otherwords.

She eats slowly.

She eats very slowly.

Like all adverbials, adverb phrases can be adjuncts, conjuncts, or disjuncts,with adjuncts being integrated into the sentence, conjuncts adding connective

thoughts, and disjuncts providing commentary on the whole clause or sentence.

I only have eyes for you.(Adjunct adverb only is crucial to the meaning of the sentence.)

Additionally, there was a pool.(Conjunct adverb additionally joins the sentence with a thought that camebefore it.)

Truly, you’re the greatest.(Disjunct adverb truly offers the speaker’s commentary on the whole clause.)

Many phrases that function adverbially have as their head word a prepositionor some other part of speech.

Klaus dances like a crazy person.

The underlined phrase describes the action of dancing. So it’s doing the job ofan adverb. But it’s a prepositional phrase with the head word like. Phrases likethis are also sometimes referred to as adverb phrases, though adverbial phrase orjust adverbial might be more accurate.

Prepositional PhrasesEarlier we said that prepositions take objects and that those objects are usuallynoun phrases. There’s a more precise way to put that.

Prepositions take complements—items that complete them—and thosecomplements are usually noun phrases but can also be -ing participial clauses,wh- (who, what, when, where, which) and how clauses, adverbs, and adjectives.

I have to go talk with my professor.(Noun phrase is complement of with.)

He’s tired of being the only grown-up in the room.(Being clause is complement of of.)

It’s a matter of which color you prefer.(Which clause is the complement of of.)

They did their work in private.(Adjective private is the complement of in.)

From where did you get that painting?(Adverb where is the complement of from.)

Sometimes a preposition is not immediately followed by its complement,either because the complement came earlier in the sentence or because it’somitted. This is called a stranded preposition. And despite the negative-sounding name, this is not an error.

Stranded prepositions sometimes happen because a sentence with a phrasalverb is put in the passive.

They can’t deal with her. = She’s someone they just can’tdeal with.

Give the ball to Liz. = Liz is the person you should give theball to.

Other times, the complement of the preposition is dropped because it wasalready made clear earlier in the sentence, such as in a different clause:

Tracy is someone I can really relate to.(The implied complement of the preposition to is the same as the subject ofthe sentence: I relate to Tracy.)

This comes up a lot in questions that start with wh and how. The prepositionoften naturally comes at the end.

How long did you wait for?

What are you getting at?

Which airport did you connect through?

Who are you waiting for?

Where are you from?

In formal use, some writers and speakers like to recast those types ofsentences to avoid the stranded preposition.

Through which airport did you connect?

For whom are you waiting?

In many cases, turning a sentence inside out to unstrand the preposition isdownright unwise.

What are you getting at? → At what are you getting?(Not standard usage.)

Where are you from? → From where are you?(Not standard usage.)

Often, the people who attempt to contort sentences in this way are victim ofthe common myth that a stranded preposition is an error. It’s not. A prepositionat the end of a sentence or clause is grammatical and proper: Which shirt are yougoing to wear that tie with?

Interesting side note: Legend has it that Winston Churchill, annoyed by aneditor who contorted one of his sentences to unstrand a preposition, once said:“That’s the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.” Legend, itseems, has it wrong. In recent years, researchers trying to verify this claim foundno proof Churchill said this or anything like it. Instead, they theorize, it was anunknown writer for The Strand Magazine who said this and it was associatedwith Churchill because he, too, wrote for The Strand.

Prepositional phrases have several different jobs. A prepositional phrase canmodify a noun or adjective. It can be a subject predicative in a sentence. It canbe an object predicative. Or it can function as an adverbial or as a complementof a verb. Here are examples of each:

A friend in need is a friend indeed.(Prepositional phrase in need modifies noun friend.)

She’s happy at the cabin.(Prepositional phrase at the cabin modifies the adjective happy.)

The house is on fire.(Prepositional phrase on fire is a subject predicative, that is, a complement ofthe copular verb.)

The job lifted him out of poverty.(Prepositional phrase out of poverty is an object predicative, that is, itmodifies the object him.)

He said his good-byes with great sorrow.(Prepositional phrase with great sorrow is an adverbial modifying the verbsaid.)

Prepositional phrases can be modified with intensifiers.

You are so like your father it’s scary.(Intensifier so modifies prepositional phrase like your father.)

We’re way beyond negotiations.(Intensifier way modifies prepositional phrase beyond negotiations.)

Joe ranks well above Pete.(Intensifier well modifies prepositional phrase above Pete.)

13

The Grammar of Clauses

Independent clauses are pretty straightforward: They contain a subject and aconjugated verb that, together, form the core of a sentence. An independentclause can stand alone. It can be coordinated with one or more other clauses,which are joined by coordinating conjunctions. Or it can work with subordinateclauses, which are dependent on the main clause because they themselves can’tstand alone as a sentence.

Subordinate clauses are a lot more interesting. Also called dependent clauses,they vary in form and function.

Form-wise, subordinate clauses fall into three categories. They can be finite,nonfinite, or verbless. More on that in a minute.

Function-wise, they can work as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or comparatives.We call those nominal clauses, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, andcomparative clauses. Adverbial clauses are especially notable for their widerange of uses in the language.

When you see how these units interplay in a sentence, you get a completeunderstanding of how syntax works. So let’s look at these in turn.

Finite, Nonfinite, and Verbless ClausesFinite clauses are the kinds of clauses that probably come first to mind. They

contain a subject and a conjugated verb. They’re the ones that can function asthe main clause of a sentence or even stand alone as a complete sentence. Theycan be coordinated with other independent clauses or work with subordinateclauses. But a finite clause can itself be a subordinate clause. The “finite” partjust describes how the verb works.

Birds fly.(Subject plus conjugated verb make this a finite clause.)

This is what it sounds like when birds fly.(Finite clause is now subordinate, or dependent, because it can’t stand aloneas a sentence.)

Nonfinite clauses use a nonfinite verb, which is a verb that does not showtense. In other words, it’s not conjugated to work with a subject. Infinitives and-ing and -ed forms are the classic examples.

To make a soufflé, start with the best-quality ingredients.(To make is an infinitive.)

Starting with the best-quality ingredients, it’s easy tomake a soufflé.(Starting is an -ing form.)

Baked for just the right amount of time, the soufflé willcome out perfect.(Baked is an -ed form.)

In the above examples, the underlined sections are nonfinite clauses becausetheir verbs aren’t conjugated (inflected) to work with a subject. They’resubordinate clauses because they supplement the main clause of the sentence.Sometimes you’ll see -ing and -ed clauses referred to as participial phrases, a typeof verb phrase. That’s also correct and can be especially pertinent when the -ingor -ed word is the only one in the phrase or clause: Laughing, the girls ran throughthe front door. Whether you define these -ing units as phrases or clauses dependsonly on how you want to break down the sentence to analyze it.

Unlike nonfinite clauses, which have uninflected verbs, verbless clauses leavethe whole verb or part of it implied.

If necessary, we’ll revisit the issue.

In the above example, the underlined verbless clause can be construed tomean “if it is necessary.” Like a great many verbless clauses, it omits the verb is.And, also like many verbless clauses, it leaves the subject implied.

Other times, the verbless clause is missing only part of the verb. Thefollowing example contains the auxiliary verb are, as in they are provoked. (Thesubject, too, is left implied.)

When provoked, wild animals can become moreaggressive.

Though disqualified from the finals, she continued totrain.

Sung by the right tenor, the piece is magnificent.

These examples qualify as verbless because, in each case, an auxiliary verb isleft out.

Noun Clauses, Adjective Clauses, Adverbial Clauses,and Comparative ClausesNow let’s turn to the jobs these finite, nonfinite, and verbless clauses can do in asentence. They can work as nouns, making them what are called nominalclauses. They can work as adjectives, which we saw in chapter 5 are calledrelative clauses. They can work as adverbials, supplementing the main clausewith information like time, place, and reason. Some types of clauses also createcomparisons with the main clause.

NOMINAL CLAUSES (NOUN CLAUSES)

Any time you see a whole clause acting as a noun, it’s a nominal clause. Theseclauses are usually subordinated with a word like how, that, what, whatever,when, where, whether, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, or why.

Here’s an example:

Whichever you choose is fine with me.

The words you choose qualify as a clause. But notice that they aresubordinated with the pronoun whichever and, more importantly, they functionas the subject of the sentence’s main verb, is. So this whole clause is functioningas the subject of is. The clause itself is the subject of the sentence. That makes itnominal, meaning it acts as a noun.

Like noun phrases, noun clauses can be subjects, objects of transitive verbs,objects of prepositions, or perform any other job a noun can do. Here are a fewmore examples:

How well you do on the test will determine whether youare admitted.(Nominal clause is the subject of the verb phrase will determine.)

Pay her whatever it takes.(Nominal clause is the object of the verb pay.)

He is whoever you want him to be.(Nominal clause is the predicate nominative, that is, the complement of thecopular verb.)

He took aim at whichever targets seemed easiest.(Nominal clause is the object of the preposition at.)

In all these cases, the nominal clause is integral to the main clause of thesentence. To be complete, sentences need subjects, their transitive verbs needobjects, and their copular verbs need complements. Just because that subject,object, or complement is itself a clause doesn’t change the needs of the mainclause.

RELATIVE CLAUSES (ADJECTIVE CLAUSES)We covered relative clauses pretty thoroughly under pronouns in chapter 5, thispage. But to complete our look at clauses, here’s a quick reminder.

A relative clause modifies a noun that immediately precedes it. And becausemodifying a noun is an adjective’s job, you can say these relative clauses areadjective clauses.

Relative clauses are introduced with one of the relative pronouns—that,which, who, or whom, though sometimes the pronoun can be left implied.

There’s a loose brick that is about to fall out.

The man who called said he would call back.

The shoes, which are real suede, are on sale.

In a relative clause, the relative pronoun can either introduce a noun that’sthe subject of the verb in the clause, or it can be the subject of that verb.

There’s a loose brick, which is about to fall out.(Which is the subject of the verb is.)

There’s a loose brick, which he will repair.(Which introduces a clause with the pronoun he, which is the subject of theverb will repair.)

Sometimes the relative pronoun can be left implied.

Jake is the man whom she loves.

Jake is the man she loves.

Where are the snacks that I brought?

Where are the snacks I brought?

Sometimes relative clauses modify not nouns but whole thoughts orsentences that came before.

Larry couldn’t remember what he was going to say, which is surprisingconsidering how many times he had rehearsed it.

Notice how the which clause doesn’t point at any particular noun. Instead, itrefers to a whole idea set up in the prior clause: the fact that Larry forgot. Theseare called sentential relative clauses.

Sentential relative clauses can even stand on their own as sentences, eventhough technically their structure makes them subordinate clauses.

Larry couldn’t remember what he was going to say. Which is surprisingconsidering how many times he had rehearsed it.

Technically, the sentence that begins with which is a subordinate clause. Butit’s common for these to stand alone, as well.

ADVERBIAL CLAUSESThe concept of adverbial clauses is easier when you remember that the termadverbial has sort of a split personality. As we saw in chapter 8, this page, anadverbial can be an adverb doing a typical adverb job like describing a verb. Oran adverbial can be a sentence element answering a question like “When?” or“Where?” or adding extra information to the sentence.

Adverbial clauses, then, are just whole clauses—typically subordinate clauses—that do one of those jobs. Here’s a complete list of things adverbial clausescan express: place, time, condition, circumstance, concession, reason, cause,purpose, result, manner, proportion, similarity, and comment.

Place and time are self-explanatory. They’re the “when” and “where” welearned about in our discussion of adverbs and adverbial phrases.

When the time comes, you’ll rise to the occasion.(Adverbial clause expresses time.)

I will go where my heart leads me.(Adverbial clause expresses place.)

Clauses that express circumstance tell you the situation under which the factsof the main clause apply. Like time-element clauses, clauses that express acircumstance can also use the conjunction when, as well as where, whenever,wherever, if, as, and others.

When necessary, she studies long into the night.

As you will see, these policies are unsustainable.(Adverbial clause expresses circumstance.)

Clauses that express a condition onto the main clause are often subordinatedwith the conjunction if.

If there’s a later train, you should take it.(Adverbial clause establishes condition.)

Clauses that express concession bridge a seeming incongruity between themain clause and the adverbial clause. That is, the information in the main clausedoesn’t jibe with the information in the adverbial clause, so you concede thatfact with a conjunction like although, though, or while.

I park in the garage although it costs more than I want topay.(Adverbial clause expresses concession.)

Though overrated, the restaurant is still quite good.(Adverbial clause expresses concession.)

They took the money knowing full well it wasn’t theirs totake.

He kept talking while keeping an eye on the door.

Reason clauses often use because, since, therefore, or other conjunctions thatshow that one thing causes the thing happening in the main clause.

I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there.

Purpose clauses express the purpose of the main clause.

Turn off that music so I can get some sleep.

Result clauses do the opposite: they express something that results from themain clause.

There were no other cars on the road, so he ran the red light.

Manner clauses often use as to show the manner in which the action in themain clause occurs.

He walks around as if he owns the place.

Clauses that show proportion often use a comparative adjective in both themain clause and the adverbial clause. Comparative adjectives are the ones thatusually end in -er.

The sooner you start, the better the results will be.

Clauses that show similarity often fit into sentences structured just as [x], [y].

Just as you have no idea where you put the hammer, I have no idea where Iput the screwdriver.

Comment clauses, as the name suggests, provide some type of commentaryon the main clause, often dealing with factuality or possibility.

To be honest, that’s not your best look.

Generally speaking, there’s no reason to visit Springfield.

As you can see, adverbial clauses have an extremely wide range of uses. Toget a handle on all of them, it helps to keep in mind that whenever you’re notsure what a clause is doing in a sentence, there’s a good chance it’s an adverbialclause.

COMPARATIVE CLAUSES

Comparative clauses are considered a separate set. They’re easy to understand.They often use than or as [blank] as, often with a comparative adjective phraselike smarter or more thoughtful.

Money creates more problems than it solves.

I can’t believe you put up with him as long as you did.

Comparative clauses are often elliptical, meaning they leave some wordsimplied: He knows Shakespeare better than you is a shortened way of saying betterthan you know Shakespeare.

14

Coordination

In chapter 9, we saw how noun phrases can be coordinate, meaning two ormore are connected with coordinating conjunctions, even if those coordinatorsare replaced with commas.

Apples and flour are the main ingredients.(Nouns apples and flour are joined with coordinating conjunction and.)

Apples, flour, and sugar are the main ingredients.(Nouns apples, flour, and sugar replace the first and with a comma.)

We also saw how clauses can be coordinate.

I want a soda and I’m going to get one.

I want a soda so I’ll go get one.

I want a soda but all I have is tea.

But nouns and clauses aren’t the only things that can be coordinate. In fact,pretty much any elements connected with and, but, or so are by definitioncoordinate.

Verb phrases can be coordinate. This often means that a single noun phrase issubject of multiple verbs. In other words, that subject is the doer of multipleactions in the sentence. Those verb phrases share the subject.

We made the bed and swept the floor.(We is the subject of coordinate verb phrases made and swept.)

Chuck walks or jogs every morning.(Chuck is the subject of coordinate verb phrases walks and jogs.)

Even parts of verbs—verb participles—can be coordinate.

Leslie was talking, walking, and laughing all at the sametime.(The progressive participles talking, walking, and laughing all share theauxiliary verb was.)

Evan has begged and pleaded for assistance.(The past participles begged and pleaded share the auxiliary verb has.)

Adjective phrases can be coordinate. Note that when the adjective phrasespremodify a noun, a coordinating conjunction before the final adjective phraseis optional.

A tall, lanky, and mysterious man came to see you.(The optional and is included before the final list item.)

A tall, lanky, mysterious man came to see you.(The three adjectives are coordinate with an implied and between each.)

Adverb phrases, too, can be coordinate. Just as with adjectives, thecoordinating conjunction can be omitted before the final coordinate item.

He really, truly, persistently tries his best.(The three adverbs contain the implied coordinating conjunction and.)

He’s either critically or seriously injured.(The two adverbs are coordinated with the conjunction or.)

Prepositional phrases and prepositions can be coordinate.

Government of the people, by the people, and for thepeople

(Three prepositional phrases are coordinate.)

Government of, by, and for the people(The coordinate prepositions share both a subject and an object.)

Even larger sentence elements, like whole predicates, can be coordinate.

Eric has had a good career and is ready to retire.(Eric serves as subject of two complete predicates, with different verbs andcomplements.)

Walt knew what was coming or didn’t care enough to stopit.(Walt serves as subject of two complete predicates with different verbs andcomplements.)

Understanding coordination is key to avoiding three common errors: subject-verb disagreement, faulty parallel construction, and poor comma choicebetween adjectives. We’ll look at these issues in part 2, “Usage and Propriety.”But because these problems all stem from the same concept, it’s worth lookingat coordination as a broad language concept.

First, coordination’s role in subject-verb agreement problems: when it comesto verb agreement, and and or create different dynamics. Subjects coordinatedwith and take plural verbs. Singular subjects coordinated with or take singularverbs because the conjunction suggests that only one of the coordinate nounphrases is performing the action of the verb.

Pam and Ralph are coming to see you.

Pam or Ralph is coming to see you.

But complicated coordination of subjects makes it easy to lose track ofwhether the verb should be singular or plural.

Pam, Ralph, or Barry and Jane is coming to see you.

Pam, Ralph, or Barry and Jane are coming to see you.

The above example coordinates three items with or. Because the first item issingular, we set up a situation that customarily calls for a singular verb. Butbecause the final coordinate item is a coordinate item—one that itself is a plural—it’s harder to know whether the verb should be singular or plural. In thesecases, your ear is a good guide. Because the plural verb are sounds more naturalthan is, it is therefore acceptable.

When you’re trying to figure out the verb form that goes with a complexcoordinate subject, start with the rule that and subjects are inherently pluralwhile singular nouns coordinated with or take a singular verb. But when furthercomplications make these rules impractical, it’s a clue that they may not apply.

Faulty parallel construction is another issue connected to coordination. As wesaw, different-sized pieces of sentences can be coordinate: phrases, single words,or whole predicates. Parallel construction requires that the coordinate itemsattach to the stem of the sentence in the same way. But with so many options, itcan be easy to lose track.

Ted has been walking, thinking, and has reflected a lot onwhat you did.(Incorrect.)

The above example is faulty because the three coordinate elements should allattach the same way to the stem. The coordinate items share the words has beenand should attach to them.

Ted has been walking.(Correct.)

Ted has been thinking.(Correct.)

Ted has been has reflected.(Incorrect.)

The final coordinate item, has reflected, doesn’t work after has been. So what

we have here is an example of how faulty parallel problems can arise fromcarelessly executed coordination. To correct a faulty parallel, make sure all thepieces attach in the same way to the stem.

Ted has been walking, thinking, and reflecting a lot on what you did.

Our third and final issue relating to coordination is illustrated by comparingthese two example sentences:

He wore a tacky, gaudy, ugly shirt.

He wore a bright red floral shirt.

Notice the commas. In both examples, they’re used correctly.Why is it right to put commas between the adjectives in the first example but

not in the second? Because punctuation rules say that commas go betweencoordinate adjectives and they don’t go between noncoordinate adjectives.

Coordinate adjectives, by definition, are adjectives joined with impliedcoordinating conjunctions. So you can think of the commas as representing theword and.

There are two handy litmus tests to tell whether your adjectives arecoordinate: (1) Try putting and between them. (2) Try moving them around.

He wore a tacky and gaudy and ugly shirt.

The ands here make sense. The shirt was all three of those things. That’s whyyou can also move the adjectives around without any loss of clarity.

He wore a gaudy, ugly, tacky shirt.

He wore an ugly, tacky, gaudy shirt.

You can see that those adjectives are coordinate. They all modify the nounindependently of each other.

Now try those two tests on our second example. First, the ands:

He wore a bright and red and floral shirt.

The shirt is not bright. It’s bright red. Those two adjectives don’t modify thenoun independently.

Now try litmus test number two, swapping the order of the adjectives:

He wore a red, floral, bright shirt.

Clearly, this doesn’t work as well. Bright red floral has almost a cumulativeeffect that can’t be rearranged without losing something. It’s as though floral ismost integral to shirt because it tells you what kind of shirt it is, while redmodifies the whole concept of a floral shirt and bright modifies red.

As we’ve seen, coordination is more a syntactical function than a usageguideline. But the issues of subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, andcoordinate adjectives prove it’s a good idea to have a basic grasp of the concept.

Should a job applicant wear a suit to an interview?Without more information, you can’t know. If the job’s in a

bank, sure. If it’s for a computer programming position at afamously casual Silicon Valley tech firm, probably not. If it’sfor a stunt man in an action movie, definitely not.

In other words, proper attire for a job applicant depends onmany variables.

Language is like that. Should a rock star shout, “Whom doyou love, Cleveland?” to an arena full of metalheads? Shouldyou take care to say, “There are a lot of reasons” instead of“There’s a lot of reasons” in casual conversation with a friend?Should the dean of a prestigious liberal arts college welcomeincoming freshmen with a speech that begins, “I ain’t seen nobetter crop of students nowheres”?

There’s no such thing as proper English. Propriety dependson circumstance, and circumstances vary widely. Just as youcan make your own decisions about what to wear on a jobinterview, you can make your own decisions about when tospeak and write formally and what that means.

Yet, like that plastic-wrapped suit in back of the closet, theconcept of proper English isn’t useless. We’ve all been insituations where we’ve worried we might be judged for ourgrammar. And if people we’re trying to win over have ideasabout what’s proper, then it makes sense that we would striveto meet their expectations.

In academia, business, and other realms, it pays to knowwhat’s considered proper English. Then you have the choice ofconforming to those standards—or not.

This section looks at some of the usage and propriety issuesthat raise the most concern for people who want to speak orwrite “well” in certain circumstances. Most of the time, thatmeans word choice. The chapters in this section deal withsome common issues that create grammar errors anduncertainty. The final chapter is an alphabetized quick-reference usage guide focusing on commonly confused words.

15

Agreement

Verbs are supposed to agree in number with their subjects. Pronouns aresupposed to agree in number and gender with their antecedents. Most of thetime, this is easy. English has very few verb conjugations and very few rulesabout gender compared with other languages. So choosing between My parentsare coming and My parents is coming is a complete no-brainer. (And for anyonenot sure, the first one is right.)

Yet agreement problems are among the most common errors in thelanguage. They occur when one part of speech isn’t inflected to match up withanother. Usually that means a verb doesn’t agree with its subject. Lesscommonly, it means a pronoun doesn’t match its antecedent or an objectdoesn’t match its subject. Certain words and structures add to the problem byconfusing us or causing us to lose track of what we intended to say. Here’s alook at some areas that cause a lot of agreement problems.

Subject-Verb AgreementSimple sentences with simple subjects seldom contain subject-verb agreementproblems.

Trey knows calculus.(The verb knows is in the third person singular to match Trey.)

Still, subject-verb agreement problems happen all the time. Here’s a real onefrom a New York Times blog: “Walking, running, weight lifting, and working outon resistance machines is unquestionably effective and safe for most adults.”The verb is in this sentence is an error. The verb should be are because thesubject is plural, containing four coordinate noun phrases: walking, running,weight-lifting, and working out.

A lot of issues conspire to mess up our subject-verb agreement. They includefalse attraction, the disputed nature of the pronoun they, nouns singular inmeaning but plural in form, and other words and structures that frequentlythrow off our subject-verb agreement. Here are the biggest culprits.

FALSE ATTRACTIONIn general, the longer and the more complicated the sentence, the easier it is toforget whether your subject needs a singular or plural verb.

Many dogs, like my friend Lisa’s hyperactive Rottweiler,runs in circles.(The singular verb runs should be the plural run.)

In the above example, the subject of the verb is dogs. But that’s all too easy toforget in light of the intervening information. The only solution is to proceedwith caution and remember which noun governs the verb.

When there are a lot of interceding words between the subject and verb, it’seasy to forget which word is the real subject. A problem called false attractioncan occur. This just means that the speaker conjugated the verb to go with anoun close to it instead of the noun that was actually the subject.

The collective conscience of the lawmakers themselves, as evidenced intheir many actions and many words, are in question.

The above example is an error. Are in question should be is in question becausethe subject is conscience. But the plural nouns after the subject made it sound asthough the plural verb are would be correct.

Always, the solution for subject-verb agreement problems lies in keepingtrack of which noun is meant to be the subject.

SINGULAR VERSUS PLURAL THEYThe pronoun they and its counterparts them and their are traditionally consideredto be plural—third person plural, to be exact. But in fact, they can function assingular. Consider the following examples:

Anyone who wants cake should make sure they arriveearly.

Everyone in the building has their own cubicle.

Somebody should have taken the nasty weather withthem.

In each of these examples, the subject is singular. To confirm that, try each ina simpler sentence: Anyone is able to do it. Everyone has an opinion. Somebody wantsa treat. Notice how well these indefinite pronouns work with singular verbs.Now try a few of these pronouns with plural verbs: Anyone park in the lot.Everyone in the building have their own cubicle. Somebody know the secret.

Clearly, these pronouns function as singulars. So how is it possible that theseclearly singular nouns can be the antecedents of the supposedly plural pronounsthey, them, and their? Simple. Those pronouns aren’t technically plural. Theycan, according to many dictionaries and linguistics experts, function as singularpronouns.

Singular they, them, and their fill a need in the language. English has nodesignated third person singular personal pronoun that isn’t gender specific. Heand she are third person singular, but you’re assigning a sex to someone whenyou use one of these.

When you want to make reference to a singular person whose sex you don’tknow, you have several options.

You can default to the male pronoun in every instance, but that’s considered

archaic by most modern writers. Everyone in the building has his own cubicle.You can guess at which sex is dominant in the group referenced by the

pronoun. Everyone in the Lamaze class should make sure she brings home the printout.You can use he or she, him or her, or his or her in every instance: Everyone in the

building has his or her own cubicle. This is often an ideal choice. But it getscumbersome very fast in situations that require multiple references to thesubject: Everyone in the building should make sure he or she takes his or her belongingswith him or her whenever he or she finishes his or her shift.

With all the problems inherent in these options, you can see how singularthey continues to gain steam. And lest you think this is an eroding of thelanguage, this is how language evolves. People adapt words to new uses, fillinga need. Over time, those uses become correct. Things just get a little awkwardin the interim.

As for people who don’t identify as either sex and, as a result, prefer to bereferred to with they: The same rules above that allow they to refer to a singularperson of unknown sex allow it to refer to a singular person of unspecified sex.

Agreement of Indefinite Pronouns with Verbs andOther PronounsIndefinite pronouns, including anybody, anyone, everybody, someone, all, few, each,none, and several, cause a lot of agreement problems. We got a glimpse of thisabove in the section on singular they because the subjects in sentences withsingular they are often indefinite pronouns.

Everyone should keep their car locked.

Anybody caught out after 11 p.m. knows their movieprivileges will be revoked.

Someone who loves me said they will come to mydefense.

In each of these examples, the indefinite pronoun in the subject is treated as agrammatical singular when it comes to conjugating the verb: everyone is (notare); anybody knows (not know); someone loves (not love). But the they, them, or theirthat comes later in the sentence doesn’t quite match because these pronouns aretraditionally considered plural. The solution to this problem, of course, is that inthese situations, they and its cousins are in fact singular.

It’s worth stopping to notice here how everyone and everybody are customarilysingular—everybody is—even though they clearly mean to talk about more thanone person.

Singular they isn’t the only agreement problem created by indefinitepronouns. The more common issue is seen in the fact that many pronouns canrepresent either a singular or a plural noun depending on their antecedent (orimplied antecedent). These include some, any, many, and none.

Of all the music we’re hearing, some is better than therest.

Of all the songs on the album, some are better than therest.

The milk spilled and some is dripping off the table.

The jelly bean bag tore open and some are spilling off thetable.

Notice how the indefinite pronoun some takes a singular verb when it refersto the noncount noun music, but it takes a plural verb when referring to pluralcount noun songs. Both are correct. The number of the pronoun is determinedby the antecedent or implied antecedent.

The indefinite pronoun none is especially controversial. Some people insistthat it’s singular because it means not one. But in fact, none can take a singular orplural verb depending on whether the speaker or writer intends it to represent asingular or plural.

Of all my family members, none are as generous as Carol.(Correct because the writer intends none as plural.)

Of all my family members, none is as generous as Carol.(Correct because the writer intends none as singular.)

Not all indefinite pronouns have the power to refer to either a singular orplural. One, for example, is an indefinite pronoun. And no one would pair thatwith a plural verb. But for any, many, some, much, all, none, and similar indefinitepronouns, the number of the verb is governed primarily by the intent of thespeaker.

Agreement of Verbs with Noun Phrases Modified byPrepositional PhrasesConsider these two sentences:

A flock of seagulls is overhead.

A flock of seagulls are fighting among themselves oversome French fries.

In both these examples, we have a noun phrase, a flock of seagulls, thatcontains a prepositional phrase, of seagulls, that contains another noun phrase,seagulls. In other words, this sentence contains two nouns in its subject. One ofthem is singular, flock. One of them is plural, seagulls. So which one governs theverb?

The head noun of the phrase, flock, is clearly dominant. Just being head nounmakes that so. A default assumption, then, is that the head noun is the subject ofthe clause and therefore determines the number of the verb.

Often, that’s true. But not always. There’s no rule that says the object of apreposition can’t be subject of a verb in these scenarios. And sometimes that’sclearly best.

A flock of seagulls is fighting among itself.

This example shows that sometimes the default assumption doesn’t work. Inthis case, it’s obvious the writer intended to emphasize the plural seagulls insteadof the singular flock.

A group of kids are hanging around outside.

A group of kids is hanging around outside.

If it were true that the head noun of the noun phrase governs the verb, then itwould seem that is would be necessary in the above example. But the plural aresounds better.

To navigate these situations, it helps to first try treating the head noun of thenoun phrase as the subject of the verb. But when that sounds odd, it’sacceptable to conjugate the verb to match the object of the preposition.

Agreement with Nouns Plural in Number but Singularin MeaningMany nouns are plural in form but singular in meaning.

politics

acoustics

news

billiards

measles

physics

trousers

gymnastics

clothes

Choosing the right verb form to go with one of these nouns is effortless—

until you think about it and realize you don’t know why it’s The news is good orGymnastics are difficult.

In fact, many of these terms sound best with a singular verb in some contextsbut a plural verb in others.

Politics is a tough profession.

His politics are a little scary.

There is no rule for knowing whether these plural-in-form but singular-in-meaning nouns take a plural or singular verb. Instead, it’s more about soundand, to a lesser extent, meaning.

It sounds wrong to say, His politics is a little scary. That’s why the plural verbare is the better choice here.

Conversely, Politics are a tough profession doesn’t sound quite so bad. But wecan see the writer of this sentence is thinking about politics as a singular becauseits predicate nominative is a tough profession, which is singular. So here we knowthat politics is being referred to as a single thing: a profession.

Dictionaries will help in some situations. They sometimes contain discussionson whether a noun is singular, plural, or both. But when the dictionary doesn’tgive you any hints, there’s no better guide than your own sense of what seems“right.”

There’s to Introduce a PluralThere’s is a contraction of there and is. And is, obviously, is a singular verb. Yetit’s common to hear sentences like There’s a lot of people waiting outside andThere’s not many things we can do. Grammatically speaking, these are subject-verbagreement errors. The notional subjects people and things are plural and,therefore, should take plural verbs.

There are a lot of people waiting outside.

There aren’t many things we can do.

However, there’s before a plural is idiomatically acceptable even if it’s a littleinformal. This is especially true with interceding terms like a lot. In other words,There’s a lot of people sounds better than There’s many people because a lot has asingular flavor while many connotes a plural.

Opt for there are before a plural any time informal usage might beinappropriate.

Subject-Complement AgreementDid all the audience members raise their hands or did they raise their hand? Thefirst suggests that each member in the audience may have raised two hands. Thesecond suggests that an auditorium full of people somehow collectively held upjust one hand.

Here are a few more examples of the same problem:

All the players turned their head/heads.

Car buyers should be sure that the insurancepolicy/policies they buy has a low deductible/lowdeductibles.

Not many high schoolers own a car/cars.

So what’s the right answer? There isn’t one. These structures just can’t makeclear how an object of a verb is divvied up among individuals represented in thesubject. If you must make it clear, you have to recast the sentence: Each memberof the audience raised his hand. Every person in the stadium turned his or her head. Thehigh schooler who owns her own car is in the minority.

But usually, that’s not the best idea. People in these situations tend to opt forthe singular object: everyone raised their hand (instead of hands). The meaning isusually clear.

Effect of as well as, along with, and Similar JoiningTerms on Verb AgreementThe term as well as means something very similar to and, but it can have a verydifferent effect in a sentence.

We’re serving punch, cookies, and cake.(And coordinates the noun phrases.)

We’re serving punch, cookies, as well as cake.(As well as does not join the items the way and does.)

We’re serving punch, cookies, and cake, as well as icecream.(Noun phrase introduced by as well as can work to supplement the list alreadycoordinated with and.)

In lists of noun phrases, as well as simply doesn’t have the same coordinatingproperties that and does. The same is true of prepositional phrases, verb phrases,and adjective phrases.

a government of the people, by the people, and for thepeople, as well as with the people

Andrea acts, writes, and produces, as well as directs,many projects.

The act was brave, selfless, and noble, as well as kind-hearted.

In all these cases, if the coordinator and were removed, the sentence wouldbe ungrammatical because as well as simply can’t do the job on its own.

Yet as well as can sometimes work as a coordinator of noun phrases whenthey’re subjects of a verb.

The way he talks to people, as well as the way he carrieshimself, projects arrogance.

The way he talks to people as well as the way he carrieshimself project arrogance.

Note that in the first example, the verb is conjugated for the singular subjectthe way he talks to people. Yet in the second example, the verb project isconjugated for a plural subject, treating the noun phrases the way he talks and theway he carries himself as coordinate subjects.

Such are the unusual properties of as well as. Other expressions, notably alongwith, work in similar ways. In most cases, they can’t coordinate items the wayand can. But in rarer instances, they can.

Singular verbs are more common in these cases. So consider that your defaultoption when faced with as well as–joined subjects. And remember that commasgo a long way toward indicating whether the as well as item is coordinate orparenthetical.

Effect of Every on Coordinate Noun PhrasesEvery Tom, Dick, and Harry likes pizza. Something interesting is happening in thissentence. The coordinator and usually makes a verb plural: Tom, Dick, and Harrylike pizza. But insert the word every, and suddenly the number of the verbchanges: it becomes likes, which corresponds to a singular subject. So thesubject of this sentence now functions as a singular even though it containsthree people.

This is because every is considered singular in form even though it clearlyrefers to a plural. In shorter sentences, this doesn’t cause problems. But inlonger sentences, it can be easy to lose track of the number of the subject. Sojust remember that every can render coordinate subjects effectively singular.

Relative Pronoun Antecedent AgreementThink about which verb should go with each of these examples:

It is I who wants/want.

It is we who goes/go.

It is they who believes/believe.

By default, we usually treat who as singular, with the verb conjugatedaccordingly.

Who is there?

Who walks in L.A.?

Who knows?

But when who clearly refers to a plural, it can be plural.

Who are these people?

People who ski love Mammoth Mountain.

Of all your friends, the ones who stand by you deserve themost gratitude.

This seldom causes problems. But there’s one construction that makesagreement with the relative pronoun who a lot tougher: It is [blank] who [blank].

It is I who is/am getting a pay raise.

It is we who is/are taking care of it.

It is Byron and Claudia who is/are the most cautious.

The choice is tough because the word who seems to beg for a third personsingular verb is, while the other pronoun in each example suggests some otherform: am (first person singular), are (first person plural), or are (third personplural), respectively. Without the who, these are all no-brainers: I am. We are.They are.

So which wins?

In a departure from the usually ambiguous answers, this one is easy. Thepronoun who echoes its antecedent. When it means I, it’s first person singular.When it means they, it’s third person plural. And so on. So just ignore who andconjugate the verb to agree with the noun or personal pronoun.

It is I who am getting a pay raise.

It is we who are taking care of it.

It is Byron and Claudia who are the most cautious.

And this applies to all verbs, not just be.

It is I who know the way.

It is we who see.

It is Byron and Claudia who lie.

True, these sound awkward. No doubt, that’s why people tend to avoidthem. But when you’re committed to a sentence with this structure, justremember the verb matches not who but its antecedent.

16

Subject Versus Object Pronouns

There are two situations that trip people up in choosing between subject andobject pronouns. They are coordinate noun phrases like John and I (especiallyafter between, as in between you and me) and anything to do with whom andespecially whomever. We’ll look at those separately.

Subject Versus Object Pronouns in Coordinate NounPhrasesWhen posed with a choice between John and I and John and me, people think I isthe safe choice. After all, lots of kids get scolded for using me in sentences likeBobby and me are eating lunch, but almost no one gets in trouble for using I. Wewalk away with the impression that I, by default, is more proper, more polite,and more educated. But depending on the sentence, I can be ungrammatical.

Thanks for taking the time to meet with Walter and I.(Incorrect.)

Before we go any further, it’s important to note that idiom allows thisstructure. It also allows Bobby and me went to the movies. If people choose to talkthis way, their choice is validated by centuries of usage and legions of experts.So we proceed from here on the assumption that you want to know not just

what you can get away with but instead how the rules of syntax apply and whatconstitutes “proper” English. So with the caveat that it would be a mistake tocondemn others for ignoring the following rules, here are the rules.

John and I is nominative. That is, it’s a subject form. John and me is objective,meaning it’s an object.

John and I are watching TV.(Correct because the coordinate noun phrase is performing the action of theverb.)

Come see John and me.(Correct because the coordinate noun phrase is the object of the transitiveverb see.)

Come watch TV with John and me.(Correct because the coordinate noun phrase is the object of the prepositionwith.)

An easy way to get these right is to simply drop John and (or whatever othersubjects make up the coordinate noun phrase). Pare it down to just thepronoun, and the answer becomes intuitive. So to know which pronoun followsThanks for taking time to meet with John and… try it with the pronoun alone.

Thanks for taking the time to meet with I.(Incorrect because the preposition with doesn’t take a subject pronoun.)

Thanks for taking the time to meet with me.(Correct because the preposition is paired with the object form me.)

These rules—and the confusion around them—aren’t limited to first personsingular pronouns I and me. Third person pronouns he and him and she and hercan be more confounding. And first person plural pronouns we and us arearguably even harder.

The office manager is throwing a birthday party for heand I.(Incorrect because the preposition for takes objective forms him and me.)

The office manager is throwing a birthday party for himand me.(Correct because him and me are objects of the preposition for.)

The office manager is throwing a birthday party for Zach,Janie, and she.(Incorrect because the preposition for calls for the object pronoun her insteadof the subject pronoun she.)

The office manager is throwing a birthday party for Zach,Janie, and her.(Correct because her is the object pronoun form functioning as the object ofthe preposition for.)

Us and Roger are throwing a birthday party for Zach.(Incorrect because us is an object pronoun doing the job of a subject pronounwe.)

We and Roger are throwing a birthday party for Zach.(Uses correct case, though in nonstandard order.)

Roger and we are throwing a birthday party for Zach.(Uses correct case, though in an unpopular construction.)

A few words about those last two examples. They’re both correct. But theyboth sound awful. That’s not because of the grammar. We is a subject pronoun,so in a coordinate noun phrase functioning as a subject, this is the correct formto use. But it sounds odd because this is, quite simply, a very unpopular way toword a sentence like this. People just don’t use coordinate noun phrases with weor us very often, partly because the other person can usually fall under theumbrella of we. That is, in Roger and we did X, there’s no reason you can’t justinclude Roger in the pronoun and say, We did X, meaning Roger was part of it.

In the rare cases when the need arises to separate an individual like Rogerfrom a plural pronoun like we, people often just recast the sentence.

With Roger’s help, we are throwing a birthday party forZach.

Along with Roger, we are throwing a birthday party for

Zach.

All of us including Roger are throwing a birthday party forZach.(Note that the object form us is correct in this sentence because it’s the objectof the preposition.)

But when that’s not an option, the basic rules apply: we is a subject; us is anobject, with or without Roger.

You may be wondering whether a first person pronoun like we comes first orlast in a coordinate noun phrase. That is, would you say Roger and we arethrowing a party or We and Roger? Would you say, The party is for Roger and us orus and Roger?

The answer: there is no right answer. Not from a grammar standpoint,anyway. Grammar has no rules on the order of nouns in a coordinate nounphrase. Yes, you may have heard that it’s polite to put the first person pronounlast. That’s why it’s so odd to say something like I and Stan instead of Stan and I.But this convention is founded exclusively in etiquette, not grammar.

Between You and MeThe grammar of between you and me is no different from what we saw above inour discussion about coordinate noun phrases like John and me and John and I.The only difference is that there’s never a time when I is preferable afterbetween. That’s because between is always a preposition and prepositions alwaystake object forms as their complements. So, according to the rules of syntax,there’s never a reason to use between you and I. For a comparison that drives thispoint home, consider between us as compared to between we. The latter neverworks because the latter uses the nominative case pronoun we where theobjective case pronoun us is called for.

Again, idiomatic use does allow certain ungrammatical forms, and betweenyou and I is one of them. But if you’re choosing between you and I because youbelieve between you and me is wrong, you have it wrong.

Common Mistakes with Whom and WhomeverGood news first: you never have to use whom. It’s reserved for “formal” writingand speech. Usage guides never bother to specify which situations are formaland which aren’t. That means it’s up to you to decide when whom isappropriate. If you think it’s appropriate never, then that’s as legitimate asanyone else’s assessment.

Now here’s the bad news: if you decide to use whom, you may be settingyourself up to make mistakes. Most people who think they know how to usewhom in fact only know how to use it in simple contexts. But when theirsentences get a little more complicated, they start making mistakes. Here’s anexample based on a tweet by a bestselling author:

I just saw a man whom I’d always thought was intelligent and kind.

That’s an error. That whom should be who. Here’s another adapted from a LosAngeles Times article:

John Doe, whom police said is a transient known to frequent Santa Monica,was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.

Here, too, the whom should be who. In both cases, the writer made themistake of thinking that the pronoun was the object of the verb of the mainclause: saw in the first example and said in the second. Both the writersunderstood that who is a subject pronoun and whom is an object pronoun. Butthey didn’t understand that, in each of these sentences, the objects of the verbssaw and said are not single pronouns but whole clauses.

…whom I thought was…contains two clauses: I thoughtand whom was

…whom police said is…contains two clauses: police saidand whom is

In the first example, the object of thought is not the single word whom. It’s a

whole clause: whom was, which is wrong. That verb was needs a subject. Andbecause whom can’t be a subject, it should be who: who I thought was.

In the second example, the object of said isn’t whom. It should be the wholeclause who is because the verb is needs a subject.

To get a better picture of the role the pronoun is playing, try plugging inanother subject pronoun and another object pronoun: he and him.

I thought he was. (Correct.) → I thought him was.(Incorrect.)

Police said he is. (Correct.) → Police said him is.(Incorrect.)

This makes it clear that an object pronoun like him or whom is the wrongchoice. And it illustrates how the verbs was and is need subjects, which shouldbe in subject form. In each case, the object of the verb is a whole clause, not theone-word whom.

This problem is even more common with whomever and whoever. Thesepronouns are almost always at the crossroads of two clauses. Thus, people oftenassume that the object of the main clause should be whomever instead of thecorrect whoever plus verb.

I will hire whomever does best on the test.(Incorrect because the verb does needs a subject.)

I will hire whoever does best on the test.(Correct.)

In this sentence, the whole clause whoever does best on the test is the object ofthe verb hire. That clause needs a subject, so the subject form (nominative case)whoever is correct and the object form (objective case) whomever is incorrect.

Now consider these examples, both of which are right:

I will choose whoever likes me.

I will choose whomever I like.

In the first example, whoever is correct because it’s the subject of the verblikes. Together, whoever and likes form a clause that itself is the object of the verbchoose.

But in the second example, whomever is the object not of choose but of like. Inother words, it’s the object of the second clause. So the object form whomever iscorrect because the subject of the verb like is I.

So when you see a finite (conjugated) verb like was, is, runs, thinks, and so onin the object clause, you know it needs a subject. In a case like I will choosewhomever I like, it already has a subject: I. So it’s clear that whomever is the objectof a verb. In a case like I will choose whoever likes me, the verb likes would nothave a subject were it not for whoever.

For an easy guideline, remember that when whom or whomever is in positionto be both an object and a subject, the subject form wins. Why? Because the realobject isn’t a single word. It’s a whole clause.

17

Flat Adverbs

Some of the most controversial structures in the language come in forms likethe following:

Drive slow.

Act nice.

Talk pretty.

Think quick.

Sticklers say that adverbs, not adjectives, should modify each of those verbs.But as we’ve seen, a word needn’t be an adverb to function as an adverbial. Sothere’s no rule against using an adjective this way.

When you modify a verb with a word customarily considered an adjective,these words are called flat adverbs. Flat refers to the fact that the -ly tail ischopped off.

Some of these forms are so common that dictionaries consider them full-fledged adverbs. Slow is an example. Merriam-Webster’s and other dictionaries listit as an adverb synonymous with slowly. So Drive slow is correct by any measure.But in light of the fact that adjectives can function adverbially, even Thinkdifferent, Talk good, and Decide quick are syntactically correct.

18

Less and Fewer

Less and fewer attract more than their fair share of criticism from languageobservers. Here’s what you need to know:

Less and fewer function as both pronouns and determiners.

He has less ambition.

He has less.

William has fewer friends than Ron.

William has fewer.

The controversy arises from the fact that less and fewer are traditionallyperceived to have distinct jobs. But the popular understanding of those jobs is alittle too simplistic.

According to conventional wisdom, less applies to noncount nouns like milkand gasoline.

The car has less gas than I thought.

She’s drinking less milk than she used to.

Fewer, then, applies to count nouns like apple and pencil.

I see fewer apples on the tree this year.

We go through fewer pencils now that we type everything.

But that’s not a rule. It’s a tendency. There’s a more meaningful way to viewthe difference between less and fewer, and it’s illustrated in the comparison ofthese examples:

That’s one less thing to worry about. (Correct.)

That’s one fewer thing to worry about. (Incorrect.)

Most people would agree that less works better in this sentence than fewer—afact directly at odds with the “rule” about count and noncount nouns. After all,thing is a count noun. Yet it clearly works better with less than with fewer.

The better way to understand the difference between less and fewer—one thatexplains why one fewer thing sounds so bad—is this: less goes with singularnouns. Fewer goes with plural nouns. This guideline accommodates the count-noun-versus-noncount-noun interpretation because noncount nouns aresingular. But when you follow this guideline, you’re not stuck having to say youhave one fewer something when, clearly, one less is better.

So when you’re in the express lane that serves customers with ten items orfewer and you realize you have eleven items in your cart, you can remove one,giving you one less item, not one fewer item.

But if you don’t want to fuss over less and fewer, good news: their definitionsoverlap. Less, according to many dictionaries, can be used to mean “fewer.”

19

Well as an Adverb and an Adjective

Everyone understands that well is an adverb—a rough adverbial equivalent ofthe adjective good. If you’re good at doing something, you do it well.

That’s good. But unfortunately, well comes with a twist that causes a lot ofconfusion about polite inquiries into a person’s health.

How are you?

I’m well.

This is a correct response, just not for the reason many people think. Acommon misperception states that well is correct in this sentence because it’s anadverb. Not so. These people are confusing the above scenario with thefollowing.

How are you doing?

I’m doing well.

When you say I’m well, you’re describing the subject, the noun phrase I.Nouns are described by adjectives, not adverbs. According to the dictionary, wellis an adjective meaning in good health. So when you say I’m well, you’recorrectly using an adjective to modify a noun phrase.

On the other hand, when you say I’m doing well, then you’re describing the

verb doing. That’s a job for an adverb, and well fits the bill.So when you say I’m well, you’re using an adjective, and when you say I’m

doing well, you’re using an adverb.That said, we turn to a more controversial issue.

How are you?

I’m good.

Sticklers say this is wrong. They say it means not that you’re in good healthbut that you’re either good at something or just all around a good person.That’s not exactly true. Many dictionaries allow good to mean in good health.

20

Possessive Plus Gerund (“FusedParticiple”)

Some people regard it as an error when you fail to use a possessive before agerund in a structure like this:

I appreciate you calling.

Instead, they say, that should be your. In fact, you is not really an error here.But when you look at the syntax, you can see why some people frown upon it.

Start by asking, what’s the object of the verb appreciate in I appreciate youcalling? It’s you. That puts calling in an awkward position. It’s not the object ofthe verb. It’s not anything. It has no clear syntactical role in the sentence.

Compare that to I appreciate your calling. Here, the object of appreciate iscalling. Remember that -ing forms can be gerunds, which are essentially nouns,which means they can function as the objects of transitive verbs like appreciate.

When you choose the possessive your instead of the non-possessive you, itbecomes a modifier of calling, meaning the two create a complete noun phrasethat makes perfect syntactical sense after appreciate. This is sometimes called thepossessive plus gerund. It’s considered superior by people who pay attention tosuch things.

The alternative, a non-possessive noun phrase like you before the -ing form, issometimes called a fused participle. The name suggests that the -ing form is just

fused to a noun phrase in a way that doesn’t make sense.In fact, both forms are acceptable.

21

The Confusing Roles of the Letter S

The letter s may be singlehandedly responsible for more errors in English thanany other letter. The roundabout evolution of the English language has giventhis letter four special jobs—all of them integral to the language.

The letter s is used to

form plurals of nouns

form possessives of nouns

inflect verbs for third person singular subjects

contract the verbs is and has

The only way to avoid errors involving the letter s is to have a solidunderstanding of all these jobs.

The Letter S to Form PluralsThe plurals of most nouns are formed simply by adding s: one house, two houses;one dollar, a million dollars.

Nouns that end in s, sh, ch, x, and certain other sibilant sounds often formtheir plurals with -es: bosses, matches, taxes, bushes, and so on.

Many irregular verbs don’t use the s to form the plural: children, geese, criteria,

men, and so on.Other nouns, especially noncount nouns, don’t have a plural form or are

already considered plural in form: politics, scissors, billiards, molasses, glasses, andso on.

The Letter S to Form PossessivesS is also the letter we pair with apostrophes to form possessives of singularnouns and plural nouns not ending in s:

the monkey’s paw

the company’s history

the media’s influence

the men’s department

Note how the s is used when forming the possessives of the irregular pluralchildren but not the regular plural kids:

the kids’ play area

the children’s play area

Both these nouns are plural. They even mean the same thing. But becausekids forms its plural the regular way, by adding s, but child forms its pluralirregularly with the word children, different possessives rules apply.

Another complicating factor: for proper nouns ending in s, for example James,there are two ways to form the possessive—both of them legitimate. Some styleguides say add both the apostrophe and the s after the last letter in the word:James’s friend. Others say to add only the apostrophe—James’ friend—eventhough their own rules say to keep the possessive s for common nouns. In thosestyles, boss’s role is written differently than James’ friend.

Old-fashioned stylists, most notably William Strunk and E. B. White in their

Elements of Style, create special rules for ancient names like Jesus and words thatend in sibilants like x and z. But rules like that are mostly obsolete.

To follow any one style with precision, you need to consult that style guide.But if you want an easy-to-remember guideline that’s always acceptable, opt foradding apostrophe plus s to form the possessive of every singular word:

the boss’s words

James’s words

Jesus’s words

Max’s words

Mrs. Chavez’s house

It’s never the wrong choice, and most would agree it looks better thandropping the s in the boss’ words.

Another curveball the letter s throws at us: pronouns turn the regular rule onits head. Possessive pronouns don’t have apostrophes, even though all but mineuse s.

hers

yours

ours

theirs

its

whose

mine

Compare The bike is the girl’s to The bike is hers. The rule that requires theapostrophe in girl’s goes out the window when you represent that noun withthe pronoun hers. Possessive pronouns like its and whose get confused with

contractions. We’ll look at those below.

The Letter S to Conjugate Verbs in the Third PersonSingularEnglish verbs don’t change much in their inflected forms. Setting aside thehighly irregular verb be, verbs conjugated in the past tense are identical forevery subject: I walked, he walked, we walked.

Only in the present tense do the verbs change form to reflect the number ofsubject and then only for one subject group: the third person singular.

I walk.

You walk.

He walks.

She walks.

It walks.

We walk.

They walk.

The verbs that change form do so by adding only one already overworkedletter: s. In day-to-day usage, this poses no problem for most native Englishspeakers. But there are a few instances in which folks tend to confuse theconjugated verb with a contraction. Most notable is let’s versus lets.

He let’s the cat out at night.(Incorrect because the conjugated verb lets does not contain an apostrophe.)

For writers less skilled at using apostrophes, this mistake can occur withalmost any verb (He think’s today is Saturday). But it is always a mistake to use anapostrophe to conjugate a verb.

The Letter S as a Contraction of the Verb Is or HasSimilar to our let’s and lets problem is confusion of whose and who’s and its andit’s.

Even people not prone to grammar errors sometimes incorrectly use who’s insentences like Who’s phone is this? and incorrectly use whose in sentences likeWhose there?

And even people not prone to grammar errors can incorrectly use it’s as apossessive, as in The dog wagged it’s tail.

It’s easy to see why: the apostrophe-plus-s combination we use to contract isand has is identical to the apostrophe-plus-s combination we use to showpossession of most nouns. So it can seem downright odd that the possessives itsand whose don’t take apostrophes.

The only way to avoid these errors is to stay vigilant.The verbs is and has are among the handful of words in English that can be

converted into contractions. In both cases, the contraction is apostrophe plus s,and it can be applied to almost any singular subject and some plural ones, too.

It’s raining today. = It is raining today.

Brienne’s in the house. = Brienne is in the house.

It’s been great seeing you again. = It has been greatseeing you again.

Brad’s known about it for years. = Brad has known aboutit for years.

There’s a can of soda in the fridge. = There is a can ofsoda in the fridge.

The pronoun there can even be contracted with apostrophe plus s in contextswhere it really means not there is but there are.

There’s some people here to see you. = There are some people here to seeyou.

This use of what is essentially a singular contracted verb (is) to correspond toa plural like people is somewhat controversial. But its use is so widespread thatthere’s no denying that there’s to introduce a plural is acceptable.

22

Choosing the Right Preposition

Do you have an affinity for your best friend, or an affinity with her? Are youenamored of a colleague, enamored with him, or enamored by him? Are youbored of, with, or by a bad TV show? These are just a few of the situationswhen it’s hard to know which preposition to use. Here are some more:

dissimilar from/with

differ from/with

embarrassed by/of

dissociate from/with

It sure seems like grammar should have an answer for how to approach thesequestions. It doesn’t. They’re purely a matter of idiom—what sounds “natural.”Sometimes, if you look up the adjective or verb in the dictionary, you can findhelp on which preposition to use—either in the usage examples or in sublistingsof the word. But that’s hit-or-miss. If you don’t know which preposition to usewith any given verb or noun, crowdsourcing is as good an approach as any: askfriends or the internet which sounds best or is more common, then go withthat.

23

Dangling Participles and Other Danglers

Modifying phrases should point clearly to the thing they’re modifying. Usually,this means they sit next to or very near the phrase or clause they modify. Whenthat’s not the case, the error is called a dangler or a dangling modifying phrase.When the modifying phrase is a participial phrase, hinged on an -ing participle,the error is sometimes called a dangling participle.

Humming a happy tune, the street seemed more cheerful than usual onDave’s walk to work.

In the above example, the introductory phrase is dangling because the nounphrase it’s closest to is the street, suggesting the street was humming. Andbecause this dangler hinges on the participle humming, it’s a dangling participle.

Prepositional phrases are often left dangling, too.

With children in tow, the park offers great family fun.

Noun phrases can dangle, too. In the following example, the underlined nounphrase seems to suggest the piano is the virtuoso.

A true virtuoso, the piano rang out its approval of Marilyn’s playing.

Fixing a dangler is sometimes a simple matter of moving the modifyingphrase closer to the thing it modifies.

Instead of

Humming a happy tune, the street seemed more cheerfulthan usual as Dave walked to work.

Change to

The street seemed more cheerful than usual as Dave,humming a happy tune, walked to work.

Other times, minor tweaks to the modifying phrase can clear up the sentence.Instead of

With children in tow, the park offers great family fun.

Change to

For families with children in tow, the park offers greatfun.

But for some danglers, it’s necessary to overhaul the original passage.

Marilyn was a true virtuoso. The piano rang out its approval of her playing.

Avoid danglers by keeping your modifying phrases as close as possible to thenoun phrase or other sentence element that they modify.

24

Oxford (Serial) Comma

How many commas belong in the following?

red, white, and blue / red, white and blue

The answer is more than a little divisive. The comma before the word and isa serial comma, which is defined as the comma before the conjunction in lists ofthree or more items:

I want pizza, a burger, or spaghetti.

But that last comma is optional. It’s just as legitimate to write:

I want pizza, a burger or spaghetti.

Most academic writing and book publishing favors serial commas, with theChicago Manual of Style specifically advocating their use. News media andbusiness writers tend to eschew serial commas, with the Associated PressStylebook instructing followers not to use them.

Passions run high on this controversy. Members of the pro–serial commafaction argue that the serial comma prevents ambiguity in sentences like this:

I’d like to thank my parents, God and Martha.

Without a serial comma, it’s possible to construe God and Martha asappositive of the word parents—in other words, this sentence could mean that

God and Martha are the speaker’s parents.But this pro–serial comma argument falls apart when you make the first noun

singular.

I’d like to thank my father, God, and Martha.

In this case, the serial comma creates the possibility that God is appositive ofmy father. Without a serial comma, this sentence would be unequivocal.

Another argument against the serial comma: it’s redundant. That’s becausecommas in lists of coordinate items represent a coordinating conjunction.

Gary and Leah and Ignacio and Deanna and Jeanettewent to the movies.

Gary, Leah, Ignacio, Deanna, and Jeanette went to themovies.

The latter example shows that commas between coordinate items representcoordinate conjunctions. Except for the final item in the list, you can use andbetween the items or you can use commas. They do the same job. So if thecommas stand in for and, putting one in front of and before the final list item is alittle redundant.

On the other hand, serial commas do seem to prevent confusion more oftenthan they create it. So the truth is that neither method is better than the other.The important thing is to be consistent and be aware of the rules of whicheverstyle, if any, you’re using.

25

Language Myths

Over a century ago, teachers were telling students they can’t use over to meanmore than. A prohibition against splitting infinitives by inserting an adverb afterthe particle to was also making the rounds. The belief that it’s wrong to end asentence with a preposition was already widespread. And children got badmarks for starting sentences with and and even but and so.

These “rules” have shown impressive staying power. From cocktail parties tokitchen tables, these seemingly fascinating bits of grammar trivia have beenrepeated over and over, in some cases for centuries.

Too bad they’re not true.These are just a few of the many grammar myths that have been handed

down from generation to generation, often making their way into classrooms.Most trace back to some overzealous language prescriptivist stating opinion asfact, often in the pages of misguided textbooks.

Here’s a good guideline: If someone tells you that it’s wrong to X, where X issomething native English speakers do regularly, you can be pretty sure the ruleis bogus. If it pertains to word usage, check a dictionary. The answer’s in there.If it pertains to syntactical structure, check your own newfound knowledge ofsyntax, along with your knowledge that there’s no such thing as the GrammarPenal Code. If it’s something people use regularly both in casual conversation andin published writing, it’s probably idiomatic.

Dictionary definition, syntax, and idiom are the only rules that apply. If yourusage meets any one of those criteria, it’s fine.

26

The Grammar Oracle on Your Bookshelf

Would you say you have drank a lot of coffee this week or you have drunk a lotof coffee? Yesterday, you hanged a picture on a wall or you hung it on a wall?What’s the plural of index? What’s the plural of medium? If you can make smartinto smarter, can you make intelligent into intelligenter? Can you use the noun guyas an adjective, as in It’s a guy thing? Which spelling is correct: doughnut or donut?Can you graduate college or must you graduate from college?

Questions like these can be baffling. Most people can make good guesses, butthey don’t know where to turn for real answers. It’s ironic because thoseanswers are already within reach: they’re all in the dictionary.

We’re taught to use dictionaries to look up word definitions and spellings.But few of us are ever taught that there’s a goldmine of additional informationin there. The catch is this: you have to know how to find it.

Most dictionaries have a section near the beginning called “Guide to theDictionary” or “How to Use the Dictionary” or “Explanatory Notes.” Most alsohave this information online, though it’s not always as easy to find.

This front matter includes sections with names like “Combining Forms,Prefixes, and Suffixes,” “Attributive Nouns,” “Variants,” and, the most helpful ofall, “Inflected Forms.”

Under “Inflected Forms,” a dictionary will explain how it indicates past tenseforms. Most explain that regular past tenses and past participles are not included

with the dictionary entry for the main verb because the inflected forms follow astandard formula: add -ed for both the simple past tense and the past participle.(Today I walk. Yesterday I walked. In the past I have walked.)

Irregular verbs, on the other hand, do show their past tense and past participleforms, often in bold and in a specific order: first the past tense, then the pastparticiple, then the progressive (-ing) participle.

If you look up eat in most dictionaries, you’ll see right next to the entry wordate, eaten, probably in bold. That means that ate is the simple past tense andeaten is the past participle.

But if you look up walk, you’ll see nothing of the kind next to the entry word.So you know it’s regular and you just add -ed for all its past forms.

When the past tense and past participle are the same, many dictionariesindicate that by showing it just once. For example, after sleep you might see onlyslept. That tells you that slept is correct in both Yesterday I slept and In the past Ihave slept.

Often there’s more than one correct option. In those cases, both are listed,sometimes with or or also or something along those lines: dreamed or dreamt.

Under hang, you might see hung, also hanged but it’s not followed by a pastparticiple entry. This means that both forms are correct for the simple past tenseand they’re the past participles, too. Yesterday I hanged the picture on the wall.Yesterday I hung the picture on the wall. In the past I have hanged the picture on thewall. In the past I have hung the picture on the wall.

When multiple options are listed, there may be a slight preference toward thefirst one. Dictionaries sometimes list the more standard form first. Plus, manypublishers and print media outlets have a policy of opting for the first form as away to ensure all their writing is consistent. And that gives further authority tothe items listed first.

Past tense forms aren’t the only grammar help you’ll find in the dictionary.Irregular plurals are noted, too. For example, look up index and you’re likely tosee right after the entry word indexes or indices, meaning both are correct.

After an adjective like smart you might see smarter, smartest. If you know howto read your dictionary, you know this means that smart has comparative andsuperlative forms, and that you can turn to the entry for intelligent to seewhether it, too, has -er and -est forms (it doesn’t).

Those parts-of-speech labels for verbs, nouns, and so on can be more helpfulthan most people realize, too. Entries for verbs tell you whether the verb istransitive, intransitive, or both, sometimes with abbreviations like v. tr., i.,which are explained in the dictionary’s front matter. This information isinvaluable when you want to know whether someone can graduate college orthey must graduate from college. If it’s a transitive verb, which it is, graduate cantake a direct object, like college.

Many words have multiple spelling options. Doughnut is among them.Sometimes dictionaries will note that the alternative spellings are “variants,”which means that the entry word is the main one (and the one you should optfor if you’re looking for the “better” alternative). And if you see that onespelling has its own entry in the dictionary but the other spelling of the sameword does not, that’s another sign that the former is more standard.

Some dictionaries even talk in their first pages about attributive nouns,explaining that even though a word like guy is listed only as a noun, it can beused attributively as an adjective.

This section of the dictionary is short—it takes just a few minutes to read.Once you have, the information you unlock will be well worth the time spent.

27

Sentence Fragments

If you’re a student handing in a paper, sentence fragments can be a good way tolower your grade. That’s because a lot of teachers consider sentence fragments amajor no-no.

That’s not exactly right. Fragments aren’t necessarily an error. But there’ssome wisdom behind those teachers’ thinking.

First, a definition: A sentence fragment is any group of words punctuated as asentence that doesn’t meet the basic criteria of a sentence. To meet that criteria,you need both a subject and a conjugated verb, and if the verb requires somekind of complement, you need that, too. In other words, you need at least oneindependent clause.

Chris slept.(Complete sentence because it has a subject and a verb.)

Mia wants.(Incomplete sentence, or fragment, because the transitive verb wants requiresan object.)

Mia wants the job.(Complete sentence because there’s a subject, a verb, and an object.)

The dogs became.(Incomplete sentence, or fragment, because the copular verb becamerequires a complement.)

The dogs became guide dogs.(Complete sentence because the verb has its required complement.)

Note that subordinating conjunctions render an otherwise independentclause into a dependent one that cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Zander threw the ball.(Complete sentence.)

Although Zander threw the ball.(Incomplete sentence because the subordinating conjunction althoughrenders the clause subordinate, or dependent.)

If Zander threw the ball.(Incomplete sentence because the subordinating conjunction if renders theclause subordinate, or dependent.)

When Zander threw the ball.(Incomplete sentence because the subordinating conjunction when rendersthe clause subordinate, or dependent.)

One-word commands, on the other hand, often are complete sentencesbecause the subject, you, is implied. So commands are the only types ofsentences that can qualify as complete sentences even when they contain justone word.

Eat!(Complete sentence because the imperative verb eat implies the subject you.)

Stop!(Complete sentence because the imperative verb stop implies the subjectyou.)

Wait!(Complete sentence because the imperative verb wait implies the subjectyou.)

Sentence fragments, on the other hand, can be serious writing errors—orthey can be legitimate and effective writing devices. The biggest difference is

usually whether the writer intended to write a fragment or not.

Ben: Did Jack ace the test?

Amy: Totally.

A freestanding adverb like totally is acceptable not only in dialogue, where it’san accurate reflection of how many people speak. It can also be an acceptablewriting device, even when it’s not dialogue.

Did the legislature fail to meet its obligation to the voters? Totally.

Usually, this is done for effect, either to create a breezy tone or to createemphasis. And in these cases, incomplete sentences punctuated as completesentences are fine. Here are a few more examples.

The grocery store was out of milk. Milk.

We saw her in the 1984 Olympics. An incredible athlete.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So true.

The reason sentence fragments get such a bad rap is that when they’reinadvertent, they can be awful.

Upon hearing the explosion, knowing full well her house was no longerstanding.

Most of the time when people write sentence fragments in error, it’s becausethey had set out to write a complex sentence and forgot halfway through thatthey hadn’t yet included a main clause.

You know that I’ll follow through with you, I always do. When I’m ready.

Other times, it seems that bad fragments happen because the writeraccidentally punctuated a single sentence as two. In the prior example, when I’mready would work fine as a subordinate clause to the main clause preceding it.But because it’s punctuated like a complete sentence, it’s a fragment.

Anyone can make this kind of slip-up, especially while composing a longersentence. The only way to avoid bad fragments is to proceed with caution andto keep an eye out for them when proofreading.

28

One Word, Two Words, or Hyphenated?

In the English language, it seems nothing causes more confusion than the one-word, two-words, or hyphenated conundrum. If a longtime water-skier water-skis long-term on water skis, which he does, how can we ever hope to knowwhy those compounds are written the way they are?

Your first stop for these matters is always the dictionary. If your term is inthere either as one word or hyphenated, your best bet is to just do the same.Longtime, for example, is in most dictionaries as one word—a closed compound.Water-skier, however, has a dictionary entry with a hyphen.

If you look up water ski, however, you see something interesting. The noun,the piece of sports equipment, is in there as a two-word compound with nohyphen. But under that same entry, you might see that the verb form ishyphenated. So you water-ski on water skis.

Many terms listed in the dictionary have different forms—closed compounds,open compounds, or hyphenated compounds—depending entirely on the partof speech. You make up a story about makeup, for example. You pick up yournew pickup truck. The adjective good-looking is in the dictionary, too. That’s allyou need to know about those terms. But here’s where it gets tricky: eventhough good-looking is in the dictionary, bad-looking is not.

So what do you do?For terms not in the dictionary, you turn to the rules of hyphenation,

prefixes, and suffixes. Here are the steps to follow in those cases.First, note whether your compound is made of whole words only or whether

you’re using a prefix or a suffix.To combine whole words, you need to first decide whether you’re making an

adjective, a noun, or a verb. The rules for hyphenating compound adjectives areeasy: hyphenate any two words used as an adjective (or even an adverb) if itmakes the term clearer. But there’s an exception for -ly adverbs. Don’thyphenate those.

So if you want to talk about a monster crustacean, a woman-eating lobster usesa hyphen to make clear you don’t mean a single person eating shellfish. That’swhat we mean by making the term clearer: any time you need to show thatmultiple words are working together to modify another, that’s when thehyphen is your friend.

If the compound you want to create is for use as a noun or verb, that’s a littletrickier because hyphenation rules don’t really address those situations. Mosttalk only about modifiers. But because the hyphen’s job is to prevent confusion,you can use it as needed. The boxer’s head-punch knocked out his opponent.

Prefixes and suffixes have no set rules, either. If you want a precise system,you have to consult a style guide like the Chicago Manual of Style or the AssociatedPress Stylebook. Both of those lay out specific rules for many specific cases. Butnot all of them. Also, the two styles contradict each other.

Here’s a simplified system: all prefixes and suffixes should be attachedwithout a hyphen unless the result looks awkward. So, nonprofit but non-Appleproduct; prefabricated but pre-1950.

29

Usage Guide

Choosing the right word can be hard. In fact, some of the most commonmistakes in the language happen when a writer uses accept instead of except oreek instead of eke. So here’s an alphabetical list of some of the most troublesomewords and how to use them perfectly.

accept, except The verb except means to exclude something. He likes everyonewho works there except his boss. Be careful not to confuse it with its homophone,accept, which means to take, receive, endure, or believe something. He acceptedthe reality of his situation. Accepting can be used as an adjective to describetolerance. He is an accepting person.

acronym Dictionaries are split on whether acronym can mean an initialism likeFBI or CIA. All agree that it refers to terms like NAFTA and radar, which arepronounced as words. But they disagree on whether a term customarilypronounced as individual letters, eff bee eye, can rightly be called an acronym.

adieu, ado Without further ado and much ado both use ado, not adieu. Ado meansfuss. Adieu means good-bye, derived from a dieu (“to God” in French). You bidsomeone adieu.

adrenalin, adrenaline According to the two dictionaries most used inpublishing, the form without the e is a trade name for epinephrine and should

begin with a capital A. The preferred spelling for the hormone that increasesheart rate is adrenaline.

adverse, averse Adverse is often misused in contexts like He’s not adverse tohaving a little fun or She’s a risk-adverse person. Both these sentences, however,call for averse. Adverse means unfavorable, such as stormy weather conditions.Averse means opposed to or disinclined to.

advise, advice The verb advise ends in a z sound, like rise, and means to give arecommendation about something that should be done. The noun that means asuggestion or shared insight rhymes with rice and is advice.

affect, effect Be careful choosing between affect and effect. Affect is almostalways a verb: Caffeine doesn’t affect me. Effect is almost always a noun: Themedication has some awful side effects. However, there is also a verb spelled effectthat means to bring about. This is the spelling you want in the expression toeffect change or to effect positive change. You never affect change, as that would havethe nonsensical meaning of to change change. Finally, there is also a nounspelled affect that means an outward show of emotion or state of mind—a termthat sometimes comes up in psychology when describing a patient’s affect.There is also a noun form of effect, meaning items or belongings, most oftenheard in the term the prisoner’s personal effects.

aggravate, irritate It’s okay to use these words as synonyms sometimes. Theidea that aggravate can only mean to intensify a problem, as in Playing sportsaggravates his bursitis, isn’t true. Aggravate can also mean irritate, as in The way heinterrupts me is so aggravating.

aisle, isle A grocery store lane is an aisle. An island is an isle.

all intents and purposes This is considered the correct expression, not allintensive purposes.

all ready, already Do not use all ready in place of already, which means before

a certain time or soon. Only when you’re talking about multiple things that areready, use the two-word form: the musicians are all ready to begin playing.

all right, alright Editors and publishers prefer the two-word form, all right.Alright is recognized by some dictionaries.

all together, altogether The adverb altogether means wholly, completely, infull, or entirely. He’s altogether mad. That’s another thing altogether. The only timeto use all together is when you’re describing multiple things as being with eachother. The cheerleaders, hipsters, and outcasts were all together on this point.

all told There’s a popular myth that the expression all told is properly written alltolled. That’s not true. The correct term is roughly equivalent to “onceeverything is said and done.” It has nothing to do with tallying or collecting.

allude, elude To allude is to hint at something. What, exactly, are you alludingto? The word that means to evade something or someone is elude. They managedto elude the police for three weeks.

allusion, illusion An allusion is an implied or indirect reference to something.The author made many allusions to the Second World War. An illusion is a magictrick, a deception of the eye, or a misapprehension.

a lot This should always be two words. Never use alot.

alter, altar Alter is a verb meaning to change. It’s the root of the nounalterations. The place where people get married and where sacrifices are made isan altar.

among, between There’s a common belief that between is for relationshipsbetween two things and among is for more than two. Not true. Use these wordshowever they come naturally to you.

anxious, eager Anxious has a negative connotation. Eager has a positiveconnotation. But anxious can be used to mean eager when those subtleties are

not important to the writer.

any more, anymore The one-word anymore is an adverb, so it can’t modify anoun. I don’t want any more carrots requires the two-word form because carrots isa noun, and an adverb like anymore can’t modify a noun. Customarily, anymoreis used to modify verbs, as in I don’t exercise anymore. But as we saw in chapter 2,noun phrases can function adverbially. So it’s not incorrect to say I don’t workout any more.

a while, awhile For awhile is a grammatical error. Awhile is an adverb andadverbs can’t be the objects of prepositions like for. However, both awhile and awhile can function adverbially in a sentence like I hope you’ll stay awhile/a while.This is because, as we saw in chapter 8, it’s not just adverbs that can functionadverbially. Noun phrases like a while can, too. So the only time you can makean error in choosing between a while and awhile is after a preposition like for orin.

bad, badly The grammatically correct form is I feel bad because feel is a copular(linking) verb and copular verbs take adjectives as their complements. I feel badlyis acceptable as an idiom, but it’s a mistake to opt for this form on theassumption that it’s more proper. It’s not. For more on copular verbs, seechapter 6, this page.

bald-faced In traditional usage, a lie is bald-faced, and text in bold letters isbold-faced. However, bold-faced to mean bald-faced has gained some acceptanceas an idiom. Dictionaries now recognize bold-faced as an alternative to the morewidely accepted bald-faced. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, which most publishersfollow, contains an entry for the adjective bald-faced, complete with hyphen.That means that you can hyphenate it in any context, regardless of whether itprecedes the noun it modifies, a bald-faced lie, or comes after it, that lie was bald-faced.

bare, bear Use bare only to mean exposed or uncovered. The truth laid bare.

Bare of clothes. If someone can’t endure or carry something, that means he can’tbear it.

bated breath The correct expression uses bated, not baited: it’s derived fromabate. They listened with bated breath.

because, since Editors avoid using since for because in any context in which itcan cause ambiguity or even momentary ambiguity. Since you graduated fromHarvard, you know a lot of well-connected people. In this example, does since mean“because”? A cause-and-effect relationship between the clauses? Or does it referto a time element, meaning “in the time following”? Probably the first one. Butyou can help your reader sidestep the question by using since only for temporalreferences.

beg the question This term is rooted in the study of logic and refers to any ofseveral fallacious forms of reasoning. Traditionally, it’s been construed as anerror when used to mean “raise the question.” That usage is now acceptable,but it’s not recommended if you’re concerned about what sticklers will think.

between you and me The grammatically correct expression uses the objectpronoun me and not the subject pronoun I. This is because between is apreposition and prepositions take objects (me, him, us, etc.) as theircomplements. Between you and I is acceptable idiomatically, but it’s an error tochoose it on the assumption it’s more proper than between you and me.

bizarre, bazaar Bizarre is an adjective meaning strange. It should not beconfused with the noun meaning an outdoor marketplace, which is a bazaar.

brake, break Don’t confuse brake, meaning stop, with break, which means aninterruption or splitting. We took a coffee break. They break with tradition. They’regoing to break up. And don’t confuse it with the form of break that means anunfortunate or fortuitous incident: Tough break, kid. Those are the breaks. Shefinally got her big break.

breath, breathe Spell-checker can let you down on this one: breathe is a verband breath is a noun. The noun is used in contexts like He took a breath and She’sa breath of fresh air. It’s easy to accidentally use breath when you mean breathe,which is a verb that rhymes with seethe. I can’t breathe.

bring, take It’s not true that bring and take can never mean the same thing. Andthe idea that bring is only for motion toward the speaker (Bring me those cookies)and take is only for motion away from the speaker (Take those cookies to worktomorrow) is useless when the speaker is moving along with the item in question(I will take/bring these pretzels to the office with me). In that case, either word iscorrect. Use these words in whatever way seems natural.

broach, brooch The preferred spelling for a piece of jewelry pinned to clothingis brooch. Use broach as a verb to mean to open up or approach, as when youbroach a delicate subject.

burglarize, rob In journalism and law, these words have distinct meanings andare not interchangeable. In those realms, burglary happens out of plain sight,often with a burglar sneaking into a building undetected. Robbery, conversely,means a face-to-face confrontation. In the broader English language, however,there’s no such line in the sand. If someone sneaks into your house and stealsyour TV, you can say either that you were burglarized or that you were robbed.

cache, cachet Cache rhymes with stash and has a very similar meaning: eitherplacing something in a hidden or secure place or the stuff that’s hidden there (acache of weapons, files cached on your hard drive). Cachet has two syllables, with asilent t, and means having some quality that conveys prestige.

canvas, canvass When cops or political volunteers go door to door, you saythat they canvass the neighborhood. With just one s, canvas is a fabric.

chord, cord The expression strike a chord, meaning to hit home or resonatewith someone, is a reference to a musical chord. The expression cut the cord is a

reference to the umbilical cord.

cite, sight, site To cite usually means to quote someone or to give them acitation, be that a parking ticket or a medal of honor. He cited the works ofShakespeare as an example. She was cited for parking at a broken meter. The corporalreceived a citation for bravery. Sight means vision or something seen. Hetemporarily lost his sight. The Napali Coast is a sight to behold. A site is a location, asin The killer returned to the site of the crime.

click, clique A tightly knit group of people is a clique, not a click.

clothes, cloths If you want to refer to a person’s clothes, spell-check probablywon’t correct you if you accidentally type cloths, which means not clothing butdifferent types of fabric.

coarse, course Something rough in texture is coarse. A course is a class, onedish in a meal, a direction of travel, a golf course, and so on.

complement, compliment, complimentary, complementary Acompliment is a flattering remark. They paid us a nice compliment on our home. Acomplement is something that goes well with or completes something else. Thiswine is the perfect complement to the meal. Complimentary can mean making aflattering remark or that something is free, such as a complimentary drink.Complementary means going well together in a way that makes somethingcomplete, as in complementary furnishings.

compose, comprise If you think of comprise as meaning to contain and composeas meaning to make up, you can easily follow the leading style guides’ rules forthese terms. In reality, both words are more flexible than that and theirdefinitions more complicated. For one thing, they overlap: dictionaries allowcomprise to be used as a synonym of compose. But if you want to observe adistinction between these words, note that the dictionary defines comprise asmeaning to include or to be made up of. Now notice that the relevant definition

of compose is to make up. In other words, compose means essentially the oppositeof comprise. Note, too, that to be made up of is a passive form of to make up. So thewhole comprises the parts. The parts compose the whole. But compose is usuallyused in the passive. Instead of saying the parts compose the whole, we usually say,the whole is composed of the parts. Meanwhile, the style rules essentially forbidusing comprise in the passive: any time you write comprised of, you’re probablyviolating the style rule, though not the dictionary definition.

corps, corpse Without an e at the end, corps is pronounced like core and refersto a body of people, usually a military body, like the Marine Corps. A dead bodyis a corpse, with an e at the end and the letters p and s enunciated.

could care less In language, popular usage plus time equals correctness. As aresult, could care less is now defended by many experts who argue it has becomea standard idiom. However, the illogic of its verbatim meaning causes a lot ofpeople to frown upon this usage. The idea is that the original expression, Icouldn’t care less, means the speaker has so little interest in the subject that itwould be impossible to have any less. Without the negation, it means it wouldin fact be possible to care less than you do. So you care some. That’s not whatpeople usually mean when they say could care less. Be sure to include thenegation n’t or not anytime you care what your listener thinks.

could of This is an error. The contraction could’ve, which means “could have,”is often pronounced as though it contains the word of. But it’s always a mistaketo write of in this term.

council, consul, counsel A council is a group that assembles or the assemblyitself. The city council voted on the housing development. The leaders held a council todiscuss strategy. A consul is a government official appointed to live in a foreigncountry. It’s the root of consulate. Counsel is a verb meaning to give advice or anoun meaning the advice itself. She needs someone to counsel her on her retirementplan. If you get injured in a car accident, consider seeking counsel.

councilor, councillor, counselor The nouns councilor and councillor are oftenerroneously used in place of counselor. A councilor is a member of a council.Councillor is a variant spelling. The noun counselor is more common and meanssomeone who gives advice, such as a school counselor, a lawyer, or a therapist.

cue, queue A cue is a signal or prompt, as in That’s my cue to leave. It’s also apool cue, as in billiards. A queue is a line, as in There was a long queue of cars, orsequence of things held in a storage place, like a queue of computer files waitingto be read.

decimate The original use of this word, to kill one in ten soldiers to punish thelot, is now archaic. It’s acceptable to use decimate to mean to destroy a largeportion of. It’s considered bad form, though, to use it to mean to completelydestroy or eradicate.

defuse, diffuse Diffuse is an adjective meaning spread out, not concentrated inone area. It can also describe communication that is wordy and poorlyorganized. To talk about removing tension or volatility from a situation, usedefuse, a reference to removing a fuse from a bomb.

descent, dissent Related to the verb descend, a descent is the process of goingdownward (The mountain pass has a steep descent) or a reference to lineage (He’s ofScottish descent). Don’t confuse this with dissent, which means disagreement.

desert, dessert Dessert, with two s’s, means sweets served after a meal. An aridlandmass like the Sahara takes just one s (desert).

different from, different than Traditionally, prepositions like from introducenoun phrases (different from him) and conjunctions like than introduce wholeclauses (different than he is). But applied to different from/than, this distinction isnot a rule. The terms are interchangeable to the extent that the result is naturalsounding and logical.

disburse, disperse To disperse means to spread out or break up. You disperse acrowd. To disburse means to distribute money, as in disbursing funds.

discreet, discrete Discreet means concealed, unnoticeable, or prudent. Acouple having an affair tries to be discreet. Discrete means separate and distinct.The executive branch and the judiciary are discrete entities.

disinterested, uninterested The idea that you can’t use disinterested to meannot interested is archaic. Grammar prescriptivists used to say that disinterestedmeant only impartial, like The matter should be decided by a disinterested jury.That’s less true today than it was at the height of prescriptivism. Disinterestedcan be used as a synonym of uninterested.

done, finished There’s no truth to the old belief that you can’t use done tomean finished, as at the end of a meal: I’m done. One of the meanings of done,per leading dictionaries, is finished.

donut, doughnut Both forms are acceptable, but dictionaries seem to preferdoughnut. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, which is a backup reference of the ChicagoManual of Style, calls donut the less common spelling. Webster’s New World CollegeDictionary, which is the backup reference for the Associated Press Stylebook, callsdonut the “informal” spelling.

doorjamb The frame around a door is a doorjamb. The two-word form, doorjamb, is also allowed, though not preferred.

double negative Though there’s no rule in English that says one form ofnegation cancels out the other, the double negative, as in I don’t have no money, isconsidered informal and colloquial.

dreamed, dreamt Both spellings are correct as both the simple past tense (Idreamed of Paris, I dreamt of Paris) and the past participle (I have dreamed of Paris, Ihave dreamt of Paris). However, because American publishers usually opt for the

first form listed in American English dictionaries, dreamed is more popular inAmerican writing as both the past tense and the past participle.

drink, drank, drunk, drunken The simple past tense is drank (He drank twoglasses of water). The preferred past participle is drunk (Over the last hour he hasdrunk two glasses of water) but drank is also acceptable as a past participle (Over thelast hour he has drank two glasses of water). Drunk is also an adjective (He was verydrunk), as is drunken (a drunken sailor).

dyeing, dying Changing the color of a fabric is dyeing. Ceasing to live is dying.

eek, eke When you’re talking about scraping out a living, using resourcessparingly, or otherwise barely getting by, the correct verb is eke. The farmerscould barely eke out a living. Conversely, eek is an exclamation of shock or disgust.

elicit, illicit Illicit is an adjective meaning illegal or, sometimes, immoral: illicitactivity. Elicit is a verb meaning to evoke or get: The editorial elicited a number ofangry letters to the editor.

enormity In publishing, it’s considered bad form to use enormity to refer to size.Most editors prefer to limit it to its traditional sense meaning great evil orwickedness. Scholars were shocked by the enormity of the war crimes committed. But itcan also be used to mean great size or great importance, as in The enormity of thesituation.

envelop, envelope The verb meaning to enclose or surround something doesnot end with an e. An envelope is a piece of stationery.

every day, everyday The one-word form is always an adjective and oftencomes right before a noun. The store offers everyday values. Gunshots around hereare an everyday occurrence. The two-word form works as a noun (Every day aboveground is a good day) or a noun phrase functioning adverbially (She visits him everyday).

exercise, exorcise To get rid of demons, literal or figurative, is to exorcisethem. To expend physical energy or to act on a right or privilege is to exercise:He exercises daily. She will exercise her right to a trial by jury.

fair, fare Use fair only for lightness, beauty, or justice: fair-haired, my fair lady, afair punishment. A taxi driver picks up a fare, who pays a fare. The type of foodserved at a restaurant is its fare.

farther, further Publishing likes to keep these words distinct. According tocommon publishers’ guidelines, only farther can refer to physical distances (Hewent three miles farther than he ever had before), while further is used for thingsother than physical distance (He went further in his attempts to succeed than he everhad before). In everyday use, however, these words do have overlappingdefinitions.

faze, phase The verb meaning unaffected or unimpressed is spelled faze. Herwords didn’t faze him. She was unfazed. Don’t accidentally use phase in thesecontexts. It means a stage or point in a process.

firstly, secondly, etc. These terms are permissible as sentence adverbs. Thesame sentences can also be modified with first, second, and so on. Firstly, we willprepare our work area. First, we will prepare our work area. The one without the -lyis considered better form by most people with an opinion on the matter.

flaunt, flout When people openly defy or disrespect authority, they flout it.Don’t use flaunt in this sense. Instead, use flaunt to mean to show off, as in Heflaunts his wealth.

flounder, founder A sinking ship or a business going under doesn’t flounder, itfounders. Think of flounder as to flop around, as a fish does on the deck of aboat. Think of founder as to sink.

forbear, forebear Forbear is a verb meaning to hold yourself back. I’ll forbear

from making any snap decisions. A forebear is an ancestor.

forego, forgo The word forego seems to be used wrong more often than it’sused right. To do without something is to forgo it, not forego. She decided toforgo alcohol over the holidays. The spelling with the e is rare and means to comebefore or precede. The rumors will forego his arrival.

foreword, forward Be careful not to use forward to describe an opening passagein a book, which is a foreword. Forward has a number of meanings, includingthe direction you move when you proceed toward whatever is ahead of you.But the one with the word word in it means only the part of the book that offerssome introductory thoughts or information. Our plans continue to move forward.My favorite author wrote the foreword.

forth, fourth Forth means onward or forward. Fourth comes after third. So to goforth means to go forward; to go fourth means to go after three others havealready done so.

good, well Answering “I’m good” when someone asks about your health isacceptable according to dictionary definitions of good, which include “free frominjury or disease.” See chapter 19, this page, for more on well as both anadjective and an adverb.

gorilla, guerilla Guerilla warfare is never spelled like the animal, which is agorilla.

grisly, grizzly A grizzly is a bear. A murder is grisly.

guarantee, guaranty Guaranty is the preferred spelling for a legally bindingagreement to cover a debt or loss. Guarantee is the preferred spelling of the verb,I guarantee you’ll be happy, and the noun meaning a general promise orassurance, I gave him my guarantee.

hanged, hung The past tense and the past participle of hang can be either hung

or hanged, with a seeming preference for the former. He hung the picture on thewall. He hanged the picture on the wall. He has hung the picture on the wall. He hashanged the picture on the wall. This applies equally to the sense of the wordmeaning execution.

healthy, healthful It’s not true that only healthful can mean promoting goodhealth. You can describe carrots as a healthy snack or a healthful snack. Both arecorrect.

here’s Before a plural noun, especially one that’s preceded by adjective phrases,like a lot, here’s is acceptable even though it’s a contraction of here with thesingular verb is. Here’s some tools you’ll find helpful. Here’s a lot of tools you’ll findhelpful. Note that the non-contracted form doesn’t work that way: Here is sometools. Here is a lot of tools. That’s because the contracted form, over time, hasgained acceptance as an idiomatic alternative to here are.

historic, historical Historic usually means momentous or of great significancein history. Historical usually means pertaining to history, like the historicalrecord. However, their definitions overlap. So this distinction need not beobserved as a strict rule.

hoard, horde Hoard is a verb meaning to collect and hold on to something. Hehoards gold. Don’t confuse it with horde, which is a large group of people,especially nomadic people.

hoarse, horse If a person’s throat is raspy or he loses his voice, he’s hoarse, nothorse.

holidays, apostrophes in Holidays like Veterans Day and Mother’s Day andPresidents’ Day are inconsistent in their use of apostrophes. Some treat the firstword as genitive, that is, possessive: Mother’s Day. Others treat it as attributive—essentially, an adjective: Veterans Day. Presidents’ Day is particularlytroublesome because major editing styles and dictionaries disagree on how to

write it. Book editing leans toward the plural possessive Presidents’ Day. But theAssociated Press Stylebook instructs news editors to omit the apostrophe:Presidents Day. Just check a dictionary when you want to know if it’s MothersDay, Mothers’ Day, or Mother’s Day (spoiler: it’s that last one).

home in The original expression is to home in on something, not to hone in on it.It’s reminiscent of a homing pigeon. Conversely, the verb hone means tosharpen or polish, as in honing a sword or honing your skills. However, thesimilarity between these words and popularity of the usage to hone in haverendered this form somewhat acceptable.

hopefully It’s a common misconception that hopefully can’t be used as asentence adverb, as in Hopefully, we’ll get some rain. The myth argues that theadverb means only “in a hopeful manner” and can’t mean “I hope that” or “it ishoped that.” Not true. The main job of hopefully is as a sentence adverb (disjunctadverbial) expressing hope that something stated in the sentence will happen.

I Use of subject pronouns in compound noun phrases like John and I is discussedin detail in chapter 16, this page. In brief, it’s a common mistake to assume that Iis always correct in a coordinate noun phrase like John and I. When the nounphrase is the subject, then the subject pronoun I is correct: John and I wanted tothank you. But when the noun phrase is an object, the object pronoun me iscorrect. They thanked John and me. When in doubt, check by dropping the firstpart of the compound subject, leaving just the pronoun. I wanted to thank you,not Me wanted to thank you. They thanked me, not They thanked I.

impact Acceptable as a noun or a verb.

imply, infer To imply means to indirectly suggest. To infer means to draw aconclusion.

irregardless Yes, it’s a real word. But every dictionary that says so also cautionsagainst using it, calling it “substandard” or “variant” or “associated with being

uneducated.” Opt for regardless instead.

it’s, its The one with the apostrophe is never possessive. It’s a contraction of itis or it has. It’s raining. It’s been nice talking to you. The one without theapostrophe is the possessive form. The dog wagged its tail.

ladder, latter The one that means later and that is often paired up with theword former is spelled with t’s. The one with d’s is something you climb. I’dprefer the former but I’ll take the latter. His latter-day work was excellent.

lay, lie Lay is something you do to something else. Lie is something you do toyourself. More precisely, lay is a transitive verb, which means it takes a directobject, whereas lie is intransitive, which means it does not take a direct object.So you lay a book on a table, but you lie down to rest. The past tense formscause the most confusion. For lay, both the past tense and the past participle(the one that goes with a form of have) are laid. Today I lay the book on the table.Yesterday I laid the book on the table. In the past I have laid the book on the table. Forlie, the simple past tense is lay and the past participle is lain. Today I lie down.Yesterday I lay down. In the past I have lain down. Note the unfortunatecoincidence that the past tense of lie just happens to be identical to the otherword, lay. So use the examples above as a guide and remember that in thepresent tense, lay takes a direct object. In the past tense, it does not.

lead, led It’s a very common mistake to use lead as the past tense of a verb, butthe real past tense form does not have an a in it. We led the horse to water. Thisprobably happens because the element lead rhymes with led, making it easy toconfuse the two.

let’s, lets The first is a contraction of let us. It’s used as an invitation or asuggestion to do something: Let’s go out. Lets is the verb to let conjugated in thethird person singular: He really lets his hair down on weekends.

lighted, lit Both lighted and lit are acceptable as the past tense and past

participle of the verb light, though there seems to be a slight preference inpublishing for lit in both instances. He lit a candle. He lighted a candle. They had litup the night. They had lighted up the night.

lightening, lightning Lightening means to make lighter. Electrical activityassociated with a storm has no e. Peroxide is used for lightening hair. The tree wasstruck by lightning.

like, such as It’s a myth that like can’t be used to mean “such as”: They offeractivities like kayaking and surfing.

literally Careful writers use this word to mean “in a literal sense or manner.”Denise literally kicked the bucket, then, would mean that Denise’s foot struck apail. Controversially, dictionaries also allow literally to be used as an intensifierof statements not intended in a literal sense. The town was brought literally to itsknees. Prepare to be laughed at if you opt for this usage.

loose, lose It’s a very common error to use loose in place of lose. The one withtwo o’s is an adjective that rhymes with goose and means the opposite of tight.The verb lose, which rhymes with fuse, means to misplace or be stripped ofsomething. Loose morals caused him to lose their respect.

medal, metal, meddle, mettle A medal is a token of recognition, often a pinthat’s worn as part of a uniform. Metal is a category of substances that includesiron, lead, and copper. The verb meaning to stick your nose in someone else’sbusiness is meddle. The word mettle comes up most often in the expression to testone’s mettle, meaning fortitude or strength.

media Though traditionally a plural of medium, the concept of the media as asingular has gained a place in the language. It’s acceptable to say The media isreporting on the legislation or The media are reporting on the legislation.

mete out When you issue a punishment, you mete it out. You don’t meet itout.

miner, minor A minor is a person younger than eighteen. A miner works in amine.

more importantly Contrary to popular myth, more importantly can be used as asentence adverb meaning “it is more important that.” However, more importantis less likely to draw criticism.

myriad This word is both an adjective and a noun. You can say They discussedmyriad issues or you can say They discussed a myriad of issues.

myself Using the reflexive myself as an object pronoun, as in Talk with John ormyself, is considered by some to be poor form. To adhere to these standards,avoid myself in any context in which me is grammatical: Talk with John or me. Formore on proper use of myself and other reflexive pronouns, see chapter 5, thispage.

nauseated, nauseous Old-school sticklers used to insist that nauseous meansnausea-inducing. There was great fun to be had with the example I’m nauseous,which according to them meant that you make others sick. But regardless ofwhether this was true in the mid-twentieth century, it’s certainly not true today.If you’re feeling ill, both I’m nauseous and I’m nauseated are accurate ways to sayso.

naval, navel A navel is a belly button or a type of orange. The adjective navalrefers to the navy or other maritime activity.

none This pronoun is most often treated as a singular meaning “not one” andpaired with a singular verb: Of all the dogs at the park, none is as cute as Lexie. But itcan also be plural, meaning “not many.” None are as cute as Lexie.

one of the only Acceptable to mean “one of the few,” as in, She’s one of the onlypeople who know Jerry is leaving.

only The placement of only is surprisingly flexible. You can say I only have eyes

for you, I have eyes only for you, I have eyes for only you, or I have eyes for you only.They all mean the same thing. The position of only, then, is flexible as long asthe meaning is clear.

ordinance, ordnance You explode ordnance, which has no i in it. The spellingcontaining an i is not an explosive but a statute or rule.

over, more than Over can be used to mean “more than,” including for ages andnumbers. He was over eighteen. She makes over a million dollars a year.

palate, palette, pallet A sense of taste or the roof of the mouth is spelledpalate. It is commonly misspelled as palette, which is a color scheme or an artist’sboard dabbed with paint, or sometimes as pallet, which is a square woodenplatform used for stacking and moving merchandise.

passed, past Past means a time gone by. Passed is usually a verb: The car passedthe house three times.

peace, piece You hold your peace, but you speak your piece.

peak, peek, pique A peak is a pinnacle. A peek is a look. His career peaked afterhe peeked into the boss’s office. Pique is a verb meaning to stimulate and most oftencomes up in the expression to pique one’s curiosity.

pedal, peddle, petal Pedal means to use the foot controls of a bicycle, piano,or sewing machine. It can also be a noun meaning the lever you put your footon (Put the pedal to the metal). Peddle means to sell. A petal is a part of a flower.

plane, plain A plane is an aircraft, a level surface, a level of existence, or a toolused to even out a surface. Don’t misuse it for plain, which is unadorned,unattractive, or a large flat landmass, as in the Great Plains.

pole, poll A pole is a long, narrow rod like a fishing pole or a telephone pole. Apoll is a survey of people’s opinions.

pour, pore When you carefully study something, you don’t pour over it, youpore over it. Small openings on the skin are pores. Pour is the act of makingliquid flow, as from a bottle.

precede, proceed To precede is to go before. George Washington’spresidency preceded John Adams’s. To proceed is to begin to do something. Thecrowd proceeded to cheer. Proceed can also be a noun meaning revenue, but that’susually in the plural: The proceeds will benefit cancer research.

principal, principle A principle is a concept or moral value. He objected onprinciple. What’s the first principle of customer service? Principal means something isthe first or leading example. His principal virtue is kindness. The noun principalusually refers to the head of a school.

raise, raze If you level a field or burn down a town, you raze it. To raze meansto demolish and should not be confused with raise, which means to elevate.

rational, rationale Rational is an adjective meaning logical thinking. Its lastsyllable rhymes with pull. Rationale is a noun meaning the thought process orreason through which you arrive at some conclusion or action. Its last syllablerhymes with pal.

reason is because Considered by some as inferior to the reason is that.Longtime and widespread use has rendered this expression idiomatic andacceptable.

regards In the term in regards to, the plural regards is considered substandard.Consider instead the singular: in regard to. However, as regards takes the pluralform.

reign, rein To reign is to rule like a king or queen. It’s also a noun: Elizabeth’sreign lasted seventy years. This is the word in the expression to reign supreme,meaning to rule over all others. The noun and verb rein refers to the reins of a

horse. To rein in spending or to rein in your anger means to get it under control theway a horse’s reins allow you to control the ride.

role, roll The actor landed the leading role, not roll. The one with two l’s is averb meaning to turn over or a noun meaning a type of bread. You get cast in arole, you play an important role, or you know your role.

should of This is an error. The contraction should’ve, which shortens shouldhave, is often pronounced as though it contains the word of. But it’s always amistake to write of in this term.

sleight of hand A magician’s trick or a con artist’s maneuver is written sleight ofhand, not slight.

sneak peek Be careful not to use peak in this expression. A first glance, aninsider’s premiere, an early showing—these are all sneak peeks, not peaks.

sneaked, snuck Sneaked and snuck are acceptable as both the past tense andthe past participle of sneak, with dictionaries seeming to show a slight preferencefor sneaked in both uses. Yesterday I sneaked out. Yesterday I snuck out. In the past Ihave sneaked out. In the past I have snuck out.

stationary, stationery Paper products are stationery, with an e. The spellingwith an a means not moving, like a stationary bicycle.

statue, statute A legal statute has three t’s in it. With just two t’s, you getstatue, which is a sculpture or other three-dimensional representation.

straight, strait A narrow body of water is a strait, not a straight.

swam, swum The past tense of swim is swam. The past participle is swum.Yesterday they swam in the pool. In the past they have swum in the pool.

tense shift Accidentally using mismatched tenses in the same sentence is calleda tense shift. When it rains, Carla liked to take a nap. Our second clause is in the

past tense and our first is in the present, and the thoughts they express don’tmake sense this way. Fix these by determining whether the action is past,present, or future, and whether they’re ongoing or complete. Then make surethe actions are expressed in a way that make logical sense. Either, When it rains,Carla likes to take a nap, or if in the past, When it rained, Carla liked to take a nap.

than, then Comparisons use than. You’re taller than your sister. The presidenttalked longer than the senator. Something is better than nothing. The word then isabout time or a result. I’ll see you then. If you don’t take precautions, then you’ll haveno one else to blame.

that, which The two major editing style guides, the Chicago Manual of Style andthe Associated Press Stylebook, do not allow which for restrictive clauses, as in Thecar which I was driving is red. The English language, however, does. If you’reinterested in following the style rule, avoid which for restrictive clauses (alsosometimes called essential clauses or defining clauses). Chapter 5, this page,contains a complete discussion on the difference between restrictive andnonrestrictive clauses.

their, there, they’re These terms are all too easy to confuse when you’re notbeing careful. Their is possessive (They bought their first house). There is a place(Put it over there). They’re is a contraction of they and are (They’re happy).

there’s Before a plural noun, especially one that’s preceded by adjectivephrases, like a lot, there’s is acceptable even though it’s a contraction of there withthe singular verb is. There’s some people here to see you. There’s a lot of people here tosee you. Note that the non-contracted form doesn’t work that way: There is somepeople. There is a lot of people. That’s because the contracted form, over time, hasgained acceptance as an idiomatic alternative to there are.

they, their, them Singular they, as in Everyone here knows they are welcome backany time, is controversial, but getting less so all the time. Traditionally, they isconsidered a plural pronoun, as are its forms their and them. If these pronouns

were exclusively plural, it would be wrong to use them to refer to a singularantecedent like everyone. (To confirm that everyone is singular, note that it workswith the singular verb in Everyone is but sounds wrong with the plural verb:everyone are. But the absence of a gender-neutral third person singular pronounin English has slowly morphed they and its cousins into a gender-neutralalternative. Use of they, their, and them to refer to singular subjects of unknowngender is now accepted by most publishers and academics, especially when itwould be too cumbersome to use he or she, his or her, and him and her instead.)

’til, till, until Using ’til sends a clear signal that your writing wasn’tprofessionally edited. It’s not that ’til is wrong, exactly. The English languageallows you to drop letters and replace them with apostrophes in a wide varietyof situations. So shortening until into ’til is not a grammar error. It’s just thatprofessional publishers overwhelmingly prefer till, which is actually an olderword than until. Yes, a till is also a place where cash is kept, as in He was dippinginto the till. But it’s also a synonym of until.

too…of The preposition of is usually erroneous in uses like I’m too big of a moviefan and He’s too smart of a kid. These forms should drop the of: I’m too big a moviefan. He’s too smart a kid. However, with the word much, the preposition of isoften the correct choice. He didn’t make too much of a fuss about it.

try and An informal but acceptable alternative to try to. Try and get it right thistime.

unclear antecedent Whenever a sentence leaves the reader unclear on whichperson or thing a pronoun refers to, that’s an unclear antecedent. As Elizabethand Renee chatted, she continued to glance at her cell phone. Who was looking at herphone? Elizabeth or Renee? We don’t know, so the pronouns she and her haveunclear antecedents. The easiest fix is to replace unclear pronouns with nouns,though this can get repetitive. As Elizabeth and Renee chatted, Elizabeth continuedto look at her own cell phone. Sometimes it’s best to just recast the sentence.

under, less than Mirroring the belief that over can’t mean “more than,” manypeople think under can’t mean “less than.” But in fact, this use is correct in thetechnical sense and proper in the practical sense. Avoid this usage of under tomean less than only in contexts in which it might be ambiguous.

vain, vane, vein Someone who is vain is overly concerned with his or herappearance. Vain can also mean futile or worthless, as in a vain attempt at anapology. Don’t confuse it with vein, which is a blood vessel or channel of gold orsome other substance. Don’t confuse it with vane, which seldom comes up otherthan in reference to a weather vane.

vice, vise Something gets squeezed in a vise, not a vice. A vise is a tool thatholds things in place with screws. Vice means either moral depravity orweakness, or it can mean a substitute or secondary thing, as in vice president orvice principal.

waist, waste The narrow point of a human torso is a waist. She has a tiny waist.Waste is garbage or letting something valuable go unused.

waive, wave You don’t wave your rights, you waive them. A wave is a handgesture or the motion of water. To waive is to relinquish.

waiver, waver A waiver is a document you sign to relinquish your rights. Towaver is to hesitate or lose your resolve.

was, were In hypotheticals, suppositions, wishes, or any situation contrary tofact, the subjunctive were is often preferred. I wish he were here. However, there’sno rule requiring the subjunctive in these situations. So I wish he was here is alsogrammatical. For more, see chapter 6, this page.

weather, whether Be careful not to mix up weather, meaning temperature,precipitation, and so on, with its homophone whether, a conjunction meaning “ifit is true that.”

whom, whomever, who, whoever This issue is discussed at length in chapter16, this page. In brief, whom and whomever are objects of a clause, while who andwhoever are subjects of a clause. When the pronoun is in a position where itappears to be both an object and a subject, as in They will hire whoever has themost experience, the subject form prevails because the second clause needs asubject. That whole second clause, not just the pronoun, is the object of theverb hire.

who’s, whose The contraction who’s always means either who is or who has.Who’s coming to the store with me? Who’s been wearing my sweater? The possessiveform is whose. Whose idea was it to go to the store? Whose sweater is this?

your, you’re People who know the difference between these terms can still getthem wrong if they’re not careful. Your is possessive (Know your rights). You’re isa contraction of you are (You’re the greatest).

GLOSSARY

A

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Adverb: A diverse class of words that perform any of a number of functions.Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They can answer thequestions “When?” “Where?” or “In what manner?” Or they can provide furtherinformation on whole clauses or sentences, in which case they’re calledsentence adverbs.

Appositive: A noun phrase that restates another noun, usually for clarity,effect, or added specificity. As in A passerby, a jogger, witnessed the accident.

Aspect: The way the action of a verb either extends over time or is indicated ascomplete. There are two aspects in English: perfect, which means a completedaction, as in He has finished, and progressive, which indicates an ongoing action,as in She is listening.

Attributive noun: A noun that modifies another noun, like shoe in shoe store.

Auxiliary verb: A helper verb that works with another verb to express time orduration or, in the case of modal auxiliaries, qualities like ability and possibility.The main auxiliaries are be and have. Modals include can, might, and should.

C

Case: A property of a noun or pronoun that indicates whether it’s a subject (He

likes pizza), an object (Pizza doesn’t like him), or possessive (His pizza arrived cold).

Clause: Usually, a unit containing both a subject and a conjugated verb.

Conjunction: A class of words that connect other words or groups of words.

Coordinating conjunction: A closed set of words that includes and, but, and orand that connect units of equal grammatical status.

Coordination: Using coordinating conjunctions to join units of equalgrammatical status, be they nouns, verb phrases, whole clauses, or other units.

Copular verb: Also called linking verbs, copular verbs deal with being,seeming, becoming, or the senses. The most common copular verb is be (and itsconjugated forms), as in They are happy. Because copular verbs reflect back onthe subject, a noun phrase, they usually take adjectives (like happy) instead ofadverbs (like happily) as their complements.

Count noun: A noun that has a possessive form and expresses as individualunits, as opposed to a noncount noun, which emphasizes a single quantity.

D

Dangler: A modifying word or phrase that, due to its location in the sentence, isnot clearly associated with the word it’s modifying.

Dependent clause (also called a subordinate clause): A unit containingboth a subject and a predicate that cannot stand alone as a sentence, oftenbecause it’s subordinated with a conjunction like unless, if, or until.

Determiner: An article, demonstrative, quantifier, or possessive that modifies anoun to indicate definiteness or possession.

Dummy operator: The word do and its inflected forms when it’s inserted into asentence to perform a specific operation, most notably forming a statement like

You know algebra into a question like Do you know algebra?

F

Flat adverb: A word without a -ly ending that is used to modify an action, asslow in Go slow.

Fragment: A grammatically incomplete sentence punctuated as if it were acomplete one.

G

Gender: Indicating male or female, the way he and she do.

Genitive: Another word for possessive.

Gerund: The -ing form of a verb when it’s used as a noun.

Grammar: Can mean several things. It’s most useful to think of grammar assentence mechanics—things like the way in which verbs are conjugated tomatch subjects and how to form plurals. But the term is sometimes used sobroadly as to mean proper language including usage and punctuation. It’s alsoused narrowly to refer to “a grammar”—a book analyzing and explaining howlanguage works.

I

Idiomatic: Describes a usage that is so popular it’s considered correct eventhough it does not conform to the rules of syntax.

Imperative: A command. Get out! is an example of an imperative.

Independent clause: A clause that can stand alone as a sentence.

Inflect: The way a word changes form to express tense, number, gender, and soon. When verbs are inflected to match their subjects, the process is often calledconjugation.

Interrogative: Forming a question.

Intransitive verb: A type of verb that does not take a direct object, forexample, swim in We swim.

Irregular: A word that doesn’t follow the regular pattern for forming its pasttenses or plurals. For example, unlike the regular verb walk, which forms its pasttense and past participle by adding -ed, the irregular verb think forms its pasttense and past participles with the irregular form thought.

M

Modal auxiliary: A class of verbs including can, might, and should that usuallywork with other verbs to add information about ability, possibility, and so on.

Mood: English grammar has three moods: indicative, which means directstatements; imperative, which means commands; and subjunctive, whichindicates contrary to fact situations like wishes and suppositions. I wish you werehere is an example of the subjunctive mood, using the verb form were where theindicative form would be was.

N

Nominal adjective: An adjective functioning as a noun, like the underprivilegedor the meek.

Noncount noun: A noun that emphasizes a single quantity and, as such, is notcustomarily considered to have a plural form: gasoline, wealth, and politics areexamples.

Noun: A person, place, or thing, which includes abstract things like fear andpersistence.

O

Object: A noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause that functions as the object of atransitive verb or a preposition.

Operator: An auxiliary verb used to perform a specific grammatical operation,the way do works in turning the statement You like bagels into the question Doyou like bagels?

P

Participle: A form of a verb used with an auxiliary verb to indicate time orduration, including past participles like bought in He has bought and progressiveparticiples like snowing in It is snowing.

Phrasal verb: A combination of a verb plus one or two words, often includinga preposition, that give the verb distinct meaning from the same verb standingalone. For example, give up is a phrasal verb because it means somethingdifferent than give.

Phrase: A unit of one or more words doing the job of a noun, verb, adjective,etc., in a sentence.

Predicate: The part of a sentence containing the verb and, often, otherinformation about the subject.

Preposition: Any of a specific set of words that pair with objects to provideadditional information to a sentence. In many cases, that information islocational: on, in, above, below, etc.

Pronoun: Any of a finite set of words that stand in for nouns. These include

personal pronouns like I and them, relative pronouns like who and that, indefinitepronouns like anyone, and other subcategories of pronouns.

R

Relative clause: A clause that is headed by a relative pronoun or an impliedrelative pronoun and that postmodifies a noun.

Relative pronoun: The relative pronouns are that, which, who, and whom.Their special function is to head up relative clauses, which modify a noun, as inThe apple that had a brown spot.

Restrictive: A modifying element that narrows down the scope of a noun issaid to be restrictive. The concept is most useful in dealing with relative clauses.In I want the car that goes fastest, the that clause adds specificity to the noun carand is therefore restrictive. In I drove Sherry’s car, which is the fastest, the whichclause does not narrow down the scope of the noun. Because Sherry’s car refersto a specific car already, stating that it’s fastest adds description but notspecificity.

S

Subject: A noun, pronoun, or other part of speech that does the action of theverb, even if that action is being or something equally static.

Subjunctive: One of three moods in English grammar, the subjunctive is usedin contrary-to-fact situations like wishes and suppositions. I wish you were here isan example of the subjunctive mood, using the verb form were where theindicative form would be was.

Subordinate clause: A dependent clause.

Subordinating conjunctions: Conjunctions like although, until, and as render a

clause subordinate, meaning it cannot stand on its own as a sentence.

Syntax: The way that words, phrases, and clauses work together to formsentences.

T

Tense: The time expressed by a verb. For example, I see is present tense and Isaw is past tense.

Transitive verb: A verb that takes a direct object, as caught in He caught the ball.

U

Usage: Often considered a part of grammar, usage considers the appropriateway to use words, phrases, and structures. For example, whether you can usehealthy as a synonym for healthful is a matter of usage. (Note: This usage isconsidered acceptable.)

V

Verb: A word that expresses an action, state of being, or state of becoming andthat usually is inflected to correspond in number with a subject or to expresswhen the action occurred and whether it’s ongoing.

Voice: Distinguishes passive voice sentences from active voice sentences. Inactive voice, the object of a transitive verb is in its standard position, like coffee inWill made coffee. In passive voice, the object of the verb is made the grammaticalsubject of the sentence: The coffee was made by Will.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

STEPHANIE DIANI

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of the weekly “A Word, Please” languagecolumn that appears in newspapers in California, New York, Florida, and Texas.A former news reporter and city editor for the community news division of theLos Angeles Times, she now does freelance copyediting and podcasts atGrammarUnderground.com. She’s also the author of Grammar Snobs Are GreatBig Meanies; Mortal Syntax; It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst ofSentences; and The Best Punctuation Book, Period. She lives in Pasadena, California,with her husband, Ted, and three cats.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S TU V W X Y Z

INDEX

Aaccept vs except,acronymsactive voiceadieu vs ado,adjective clauses. See relative clausesadjective phrases, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1adjectives

adverbs vs, 7.1, 17.1attributivecomparativescoordinate vs noncoordinate, 12.1, 14.1nominalas nounspredicate, 2.1, 2.2, 7.1superlativesafter verbsverbs as

adjunct adverbsado vs adieu,Adrenalin vs adrenaline,adverbial clausesadverbials

adjuncts, conjuncts, and disjunctsadverbs vs, 8.1, 8.2identifying

adverb phrases, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1adverbs

adjectives vsadjunct

adverbials vs, 8.1, 8.2common errors withcomplexity ofdefinition offlatmannerpostmodifierspremodifierssentence

adverse vs averse,advice vs advise,affect vs effect,aggravate vs irritate,agreement

of indefinite pronouns with verbs and other pronounsproblems withrelative pronoun antecedentsubject-complementsubject-verb, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2

ain’t, usage ofaisle vs isle,all intents and purposes, spelling ofall ready vs already,all right vs alright,all together vs altogether,all told, spelling ofallude vs elude,allusion vs illusion,along with, usage ofa lot, spelling ofalready vs all ready,alright vs all right,altar vs alter,altogether vs all together,among vs between, 1.1, 29.1antecedents, unclearanxious vs eager,any more vs anymore,apostrophes

in holidaysfor possessives

appositivesAssociated Press Stylebook,as well as, usage ofattributive adjectivesattributive nouns, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 12.1auxiliary verbs

averse vs adverse,a while vs awhile,

Bbad vs badly, 6.1, 29.1bald-faced vs bold-faced,bare vs bear,bated breath, spelling ofbazaar vs bizarre,bear vs bare,because vs since,beg the question, usage ofbetween vs among, 10between you and me, usage of, 10.1, 16.1, 29.1bizarre vs bazaar,bold-faced vs bald-faced,brake vs break,breath vs breathe,bring vs take,broach vs brooch,burglarize vs rob,

Ccache vs cachet,canvas vs canvass,casesChicago Manual of Style,chord vs cord,Churchill, Winstoncite vs sight vs site,clauses

adverbialcomparativecoordinate, 2.1, 9.1definition offiniteidentifying mainnominal (noun)nonfiniterelative, 2.1, 5.1, 12.1, 13.1restrictivesubordinate, 2.1, 9.1, 13.1verbless

click vs clique,

clothes vs cloths,coarse vs course,collective nounscommas

between coordinate adjectivesserial (Oxford), 9.1, 24.1

comment clausescommon nounscomparative clausescomparativescomplementary vs complimentary,complement vs compliment,complex sentences, 2.1, 9.1compose vs comprise,compound objectscompound sentencescompound subjectscompound words, hyphenatingcomprise vs compose,conditional determiners, 11.1, 11.2conditional pronounsconjunctions

coordinatingcorrelativesubordinating

consul vs council vs counsel,contractions, 6.1, 21.1coordinate clauses, 2.1, 9.1, 14.1coordinating conjunctionscoordinationcopular (linking) verbs, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 6.1, 8.1cord vs chord,corps vs corpse,correlative conjunctionscould care less, usage ofcould of, usage ofcouncillor vs councilor vs counselor,council vs consul vs counsel,count nounscourse vs coarse,cue vs queue,

Ddanglersdecimate, usage ofdefinite article, 4.1, 11.1

defuse vs diffuse,demonstrative determiners, 11.1, 11.2demonstrative pronounsdescent vs dissent,desert vs dessert,determiners

definite and indefinite articlesexamples offunction ofpronouns vstypes of

dictionaries, 1.1, 26.1different from vs different than,diffuse vs defuse,direct objectsdisburse vs disperse,discreet vs discrete,disinterested vs uninterested,disperse vs disburse,dissent vs descent,ditransitive verbsdone vs finished,donut vs doughnut,doorjamb, spelling ofdouble genitivedouble negativedoughnut vs donut,drank vs drink vs drunk vs drunken,dreamed vs dreamt,dummy operatorsdyeing vs dying,

Eeager vs anxious,editing styleseek vs eke,effect vs affect,elicit vs illicit,elude vs allude,enormity, usage ofenvelop vs envelope,every, in coordinate subjectsevery day vs everyday,except vs accept,exclamative determiners, 11.1, 11.2exercise vs exorcise,

Ffair vs fare,false attractionfarther vs further,faze vs phase,fewer vs less,finished vs done,finite clausesfinite verb phrasesfirstly, usage offlaunt vs flout,flounder vs founder,forbear vs forebear,forego vs forgo,foreword vs forward,forth vs fourth,founder vs flounder,fragmentsfurther vs farther,fused participles

Ggendergeneric pronounsgerunds

definition ofpossessive plus

good vs well, 6.1, 19.1, 29.1gorilla vs guerilla,grammar

definition ofmythsas standards based on practice

grisly vs grizzly,guarantee vs guaranty,guerilla vs gorilla,

Hhanged vs hung,head nounhealthy vs healthful,here’s, usage ofhistoric vs historical,

hoard vs horde,hoarse vs horse,holidays, apostrophes inhome in vs hone in,hopefully, usage ofhorde vs hoard,horse vs hoarse,hung vs hanged,hyphenation

II, usage of, in compound noun phrasesidiomsillicit vs elicit,illusion vs allusion,impact, usage ofimperative moodimperative sentences, 2.1, 6.1, 27.1imply vs infer,indefinite articles, 4.1, 11.1indefinite pronouns, 5.1, 15.1indicative moodindirect objectsinfer vs imply,infinitives

form ofsplitting, 1.1, 25.1

initialismsin regard to, usage ofinterrogative determiners, 11.1, 11.2intransitive verbs, 2.1, 6.1irregardless, usage ofirregular verbs, 6.1, 6.2irritate vs aggravate,isle vs aisle,it, special functions ofit’s vs its, 11.1, 21.1, 29.1

Lladder vs latter,lay vs lie,lead vs led,less than vs under,less vs fewer,

let’s vs lets,lexical verbslie vs lay,lighted vs lit,lightening vs lightning,like vs such as,linking verbs. See copular verbsliterally, usage oflit vs lighted,loose vs lose,

Mmanner adverbsmedal vs metal vs meddle vs mettle,media, usage ofmete out, usage ofminer vs minor,modal auxiliary verbs, 6.1, 6.2monotransitive verbsmoodsmore importantly, usage ofmore than vs over, 25.1, 29.1myriad, usage ofmyself, usage of

Nnauseated vs nauseous,naval vs navel,negation, 6.1, 12.1nominal adjectivesnominal (noun) clausesnominal relative determinersnominal relativesnoncount nounsnone, usage of, 15.1, 29.1nonfinite clausesnonfinite verb phrasesnonrestrictive modifiersnoun clausesnoun phrases, 2.1, 9.1, 12.1nouns

adjectives asattributive, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 12.1case and

collectivecommoncount and noncountdefinition ofheadplural, 4.1, 21.1possessives of, 4.1, 21.1pronouns vsproper, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3singularverbing ofverbs as

Oobject complementobject predicative, 2.1, 12.1object pronounsof-phrases, to show possessionone of the only, usage ofonly, placement ofoperatorsordinance vs ordnance,over vs more than, 25.1, 29.1Oxford comma, 9.1, 24.1

Ppalate vs palette vs pallet,parallel construction, faultyparticipial modifiersparticiples

danglingfusedpastprogressive, 6.1, 6.2

parts of speech. See also individual parts of speechpassed vs past,passive voicepast participlespast perfectpast vs passed,peace vs piece,peak vs peek vs pique,pedal vs peddle vs petal,personal pronouns

phase vs faze,phrasal verbsphrases

adjective, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1adverb, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1definition of, 2.1, 2.2noun, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1prepositional, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1verb, 2.1, 6.1, 12.1, 14.1

piece vs peace,pique vs peak vs peek,plain vs plane,plural nouns, forming, 4.1, 21.1pole vs poll,pore vs pour,possessive determinerspossessives

attributive forms vsforming, 4.1, 21.1of-phrases vsof pronouns, 5.1, 11.1, 21.1quasishared

postmodifiers, 8.1, 12.1pour vs pore,precede vs proceed,predicate adjectives, 2.1, 2.2, 7.1predicate nominativeprefixespremodifiers, 8.1, 12.1prepositional phrases, 2.1, 12.1, 14.1prepositions

choosing the right, 10.1, 22.1common errors withcomplements of, 12.1, 12.2definition ofstranded

present perfectprincipal vs principle,proceed vs precede,progressive participles, 6.1, 6.2pronouns

case and, 4.1, 4.2categories ofconditionaldemonstrativedeterminers vs, 5.1, 11.1

gender ofgenericindefinitenouns vspersonalpossessive, 5.1, 11.1, 21.1reciprocalreflexiverelative, 5.1, 15.1subject vs object

proper nounscapitalizing, 4.1, 4.2common nouns vs, 4.1, 4.2plurals of, 4.1, 4.2possessives of, 4.1, 21.1

Qquantifying determiners, 11.1, 11.2quasi possessivesquestionsqueue vs cue,

Rraise vs raze,rational vs rationale,reason is because, usage ofreciprocal pronounsreflexive pronounsregardless vs irregardless,regards, usage ofregular verbs, 6.1, 6.2reign vs rein,relative clauses, 2.1, 5.1, 12.1, 13.1relative determiners, 11.1, 11.2relative pronouns, 5.1, 15.1restrictive clausesrestrictive modifiersrob vs burglarize,role vs roll,

Ss (letter), roles of

secondly, usage ofsentence adverbssentence fragmentssentences

basic structures forcomplex, 2.1, 9.1compoundimperative, 2.1, 27.1simple, 2.1, 9.1

sentential relative clausesserial comma, 9.1, 24.1should of, usage ofsight vs cite vs site,simple sentences, 2.1, 9.1sleight of hand, spelling ofsneaked vs snuck,sneak peek, spelling ofstandard English, 1.1, 15.1stationary vs stationery,statue vs statute,straight vs strait,stranded prepositionsstyle guidessubject-complement agreementsubject predicative, 2.1, 6.1, 12.1, 12.2subject pronounssubject-verb agreement, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2subjunctive mood, 6.1, 6.2subordinate clauses, 2.1, 9.1, 13.1subordinating conjunctionssuch as vs like,suffixessuperlativesswam vs swum,syntax, definition of

Ttake vs bring,tensestense shiftthan vs then,that

which vs, 1.1, 5.1, 29.1who vs

theiras singular pronoun

there vs they’re vs,them, as singular pronounthen vs than,there

existentialtheir vs they’re vs,

there’s, usage of, 15.1, 21.1, 29.1they, as singular pronoun, 15.1, 29.1they’re vs their vs there,’til vs till vs until,too…of, usage oftransitive verbs, 2.1, 6.1try and vs try to,

Uunder vs less than,uninterested vs disinterested,until vs ’til vs till,

Vvain vs vane vs vein,verbless clausesverb phrases, 2.1, 6.1, 12.1, 14.1verbs

as adjectivesadjectives afteragreement of subjects and, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2analyzingaspectsauxiliarycontractions, 6.1, 21.1copular (linking), 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 6.1, 8.1dummy operatorsforms, 6.1, 21.1functions ofgerundsintransitive, 2.1, 6.1lexicalmodal auxiliary, 6.1, 6.2moodsas nounsnouns asoperatorsparticipial modifiers

phrasalregular vs irregular, 6.1, 6.2tensestransitive, 2.1, 6.1voice

vice vs visevocativesvoice

Wwaist vs waste,waiver vs waver,waive vs wave,was vs were,weather vs whether,well

as adverb and adjectivegood vs, 6.1, 19.1, 29.1

were vs was,whether vs weather,which vs that, 1.1, 5.1, 29.1who

as singular vs pluralthat vswhom vs, 16.1, 29.1

whomever vs whoever, 16.1, 29.1who’s vs whose, 21.1, 29.1word classes and word functions

Yyour vs you’re,

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S TU V W X Y Z

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