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Grammar Basics: How to Use Singular “They”

You probably learned about “they” and other pronouns in the first grade. “They” is the third-person plural pronoun, used for talking about groups of things or people.

Henry and Lucy want to go to the movies, but they (Henry and Lucy) don’t have enough money.

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they (people in general) will surprise you with their ingenuity.” —George S.

Appositives—What They Are and How to Use Them

An appositive noun or noun phrase follows another noun or noun phrase in apposition to it; that is, it provides information that further identifies or defines it. Such “bonus facts” are framed by commas unless the appositive is restrictive (i.e., provides essential information about the noun).

Appose is a very old word that one doesn’t cross paths with much except in the realms of grammar and science.

12 Essential Books to Read on LitMas

Merry LitMas!

Joy to the world, the bookish holiday has arrived! How will you celebrate?

We will be cracking the spines of a few of our favorite reads from this year (which, incidentally, make great last-minute gifts for that other holiday that rhymes with LitMas). We may curl up with a book and some tea, stretch out with cocoa and a sweater, or bring a book to a favorite literary haunt.

3 Cool Ways English Evolved in 2015

It’s hard to keep up with a language evolving as fast as English. Before you know it, a new turn of phrase has come and gone before you can say selfie. That’s so passé. Do try to keep up. Let’s have a look at some trends from 2015.

1 Portmanteaus, or word mashups

It’s been climbing the charts for a few years now, but in 2015, the portmanteau officially arrived. Portmanteaus are nothing new, but lately they’re “spiviralling” out of control.

5 Ways to Stop Having a Bad Day

Your alarm fails to go off and you wake up twenty minutes late. You take a hasty shower, and for some reason the water temperature will only fluctuate between tepid and truly frigid. Despite those setbacks, you manage to grab a cup of coffee for the ride in, which you promptly spill down the front of your shirt. Then, when you arrive at the office you learn that your partner on a critical project has called in sick.

Fantastic Lists and How to Use Them

If you want to get more done, lists are potent tools that can make you a productivity wizard. Our grimoire will reveal the most fantastic lists and teach you how to wield their power.

via GIPHY

Goal Lists

Goal lists are for plotting your long game strategy. What do you want to accomplish in the next six months, year, five years? Odds are, you already have some things in mind.

“Seasonal” Words: Do They Exist?

Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language,

Henry James once wrote.

With the start of spring and the promise of summer, now is a good time to think about seasonal words. Writers, by nature, are collectors of words and catchy turns of phrase, but are there some that should be retired when they fall out of season?

8 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Return from Vacation

What follows a fantastic vacation? For many, it’s the post-vacation blues. What you might not realize is that small, correctable mistakes may be the cause of your slump. Let’s learn the eight most avoidable of these errors so you can return from your next vacation on a high note.

1 Staying Gone Too Long

How can you guarantee yourself a horrifically stressful Monday? Arrive home from vacation late Sunday night!

8 Weird Techniques to Beat Writer’s Block

You’ve already taken ten deep breaths, made coffee, gone on a walk, had a snooze, made more coffee, looked at colossal lists of inspiring ideas, and made another cup of coffee for good measure. It’s time to break out the big guns—er, pens.

Everyone has their way to push through mental blocks and get things done . . . but what are the weirdest strategies? Here are eight odd but useful ways to reset your brain.

Republican Primary Candidates Grammar Power Rankings

At Grammarly, we believe that every time we write, we make a statement. Technology encourages fast-paced typing and textspeak—and while we don’t think that’s always bad—we do think it can fuel misconceptions and get out of hand.

In the interest of fun and a little gamesmanship, we’ve started a series of studies to award Grammar Power Rankings to different categories of commenters across the web.

What Is Verbing?

• To verb a noun means to use an ordinary noun as a verb in a sentence.
• English is flexible about the grammatical function of individual words. If you use a noun in the verb slot of a sentence, most people will understand what you mean.
• Be careful about verbing in very formal contexts, especially when there is already a common verb that would convey your meaning. Some people find verbing annoying.

Make Friday Your Most Productive Day

Is Friday a super productive work day? Or are you starting to wonder why you bother coming in at all? For many of us, getting through the day on Friday (especially the afternoon) can be a real struggle.

Who doesn’t get that #FridayFeeling?

Leaving the Office on a Friday GIF from Scrubs GIFs

After a long week of getting stuff done, we’re just ready for the weekend to begin.

How to Use “-Esque”?

• The suffix -esque means “like” or “resembling.”
• You can add -esque to almost any noun, including proper nouns.
• Use restraint. Too many -esque words in the same passage may seem clumsy and repetitive.
• Don’t pile on redundant suffixes that mean the same thing as -esque (e.g., “picturesque-like”).

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If someone called you a statue, you might not find it so flattering. However, if someone called you statuesque, you would probably thank them for the compliment.

Why Do We Say ’Tis the Season?

If you’ve seen the classic holiday movie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, then you’ll probably remember this scene. Family man Clark Griswold stands at the lingerie counter of a large department store chatting up the pretty sales girl. After bumbling through the conversation and making a fool of himself, he smiles and says, “‘Tis the season to be merry!”

But where did ’tis the season, a phrase we use during the festive build-up to the end-of-year holidays, originate?

How to End an Email: 9 Best and Worst Email Sign-Offs

You’ve worked to make your email clear, and you’ve carefully edited to streamline your writing. The body of your email might well be perfect, but it can all go awry if you use the wrong sign-off. It’s just a word or a short phrase, followed by your signature, and yet finding the right tone to close your email often requires a surprising amount of thought and finesse.

“How Well Can You Translate Business Jargon to Plain Language?” Quiz

“Synergistic.”

“Alignment.”

“Piggyback.”

“Engagement.”

“Low-hanging fruit.”

Business jargon seems to be taking over our offices. Aside from being cringe-worthy and borderline cliche, business jargon or “management speak” makes communication vague and unhelpful.

Additionally, this kind of “code language” can be extremely isolating to new people or people from other cultures, where business jargon is not widely used.

The Basics of Good Proofreading

After you finish writing something, do you read it over? Hopefully yes, but reading is not proofreading. The process of reading for enjoyment or information is significantly different from the process of proofreading. How so? To proofread is to examine a document with the express purpose of finding and correcting errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Let’s compare and contrast reading and proofreading.

Grammar Basics: What Is Sentence Inversion?

Besides the question mark, how can you tell a question from a statement? One way is to look for sentence inversion. In statements, the subject usually comes before the verb. Questions invert the subject and the verb. In other words, the verb comes first, as in this example: Are you going to need a ride home from school? Sentence inversion isn’t a foolproof method for identifying a question, however.