How many of us are honest enough to say that we have made grammatical errors either in speech or written text? I know I have, but I don’t like to admit it. Although it is easier to get away with making such errors when speaking, unfortunately that is not the case when it comes to […]
When I mention contractions, I am not referring to ladies in childbirth nor my hubby whose muscles contract at the mere thought of pulling out his wallet at the mention of a new designer handbag. I am talking, of course, about two words that are combined and certain letters omitted. We put an apostrophe where
Any one Any one is a term that means any single object or person. Any one of those fools could be the next in charge. (Both any and one are referring to ‘fools’.) Any one of these films would keep you entertained. (Both any and one are referring to ‘films’.) The teacher never raised her
Every one Every one can be substituted for ‘each one’ or ‘every single one’ and is referring to individuals in a group. It can be used to refer to people, animals or objects. Every one of them went to the bar. (Every single one of them) Every one of those girls got drunk. (One refers
I am sure most of you reading this blog will have heard, or are familiar with the works, of the famous Irish playwright, poet and author, Oscar Wilde. To some he was a genius but to us at Libertad Communications he was as fallible as he was human. Below is a written quote, which might
Lots of things annoy me about written English and this heinous crime is probably the most irritating of them all. In fact, it bothers me so much that I feel compelled to hit things whenever I see it. It’s just an accent! In some regional accents, I totally understand that ‘should’ve’ may sound very much
Who is a word that replaces the subject pronoun (he/she/we/they). Therefore, use who when you don’t know the identity or gender of the subject of the sentence – the person performing the action of the verb. As an example: ‘Who punched Fred in the face?’ ‘Who (subject pronoun) punched (verb) Fred (object) in the face?’ If you can
There are two little words that are so often brutalised in written English that they sometimes look like characters out of Eastenders. I am considering issuing a warrant for the arrest of anyone caught abusing the words your and you’re. Why is it wrong to confuse these two words when they sound the same? Well
I have a confession to make. I suspect that I am a bit dyslexic. I have written professionally for the last twenty years and have been a published author for the last seven but still I struggle to get Affect versus Effect into my head. To be honest, in the past, I have totally relied
